T.S. Eliot

The beginning of the poem starts off with a quote from Dante's Inferno in Latin. Then J. Alfred Prufrock, or just Prufrock for short, starts to speak directly to the reader. he is describing the setting of his inhabinits, a city in decay. He goes in depth about disgusting it seems to him. this could be seen as a look into modern cities as compared to different how they were compared to before the turn of the centenary. In stead of everybody being so alienated, it was more of a friendly welcoming spirit to the populace of cities. Now the modern city is lit with an ominous yellow glow from street lamps. There is a brief interruption of his description back to reality of him in a room with women coming and going making small talk about Michelangelo. Prufrock goes back and watches carefully as yellow fog, which could be seen as smog from the modern city, take form of a cat and move around a property. They might be giving personally to the smog about how it snuck in at the night and stayed in the city. The reader can see how observant Prufrock is.

He then ponders about time and how there will be time for certain thinking and pondering about different things such as the fog, murdering and creating, and time for questions to be answered and goes throws in how there will be time to answer all his indecisions. He stresses how much he has.

Suddenly he is pulled back into the room with women. He isn't active in the conversation, instead thinking about his own insecurities if he were to engage in social interaction. He has great self esteem issues as he believe the women would just judge his looks while he is talking. Prufrock says he knows it all, he knows how his life will play out. he has measured out his life carefully with coffee spoons. he knows all the phrases the women are formulated to say to make small talk. he feels like a fly on a wall. he wonders if he will be doing this until he dies. Prufrock then goes on about how he observes the little stuff. How he should have been a pair of claws, scuttling across the room very animal like, as if he is saying how he isn't human. His thoughts take a darker turn as Prufrock again talks about his balding head on a platter, then says he isn't great and in fact, he has seen the moment of greatness flicker. He has seen death laugh at him. He is very fearful of this.

Prufrock then says how it wouldn't be worth even talking to the women. after all the small talk he would just be repeating "That is not what I meant to say at all. that is not it, at all.", basically saying how not matter how hard he tried he would always just embarrasses himself in the end, its not even worth talking to a women. Even if it progressed to the point of sexual intercourse, he would still be repeating the same phrase.

He then goes on about his age. the contemplates on how to wear his pants, if following a trend would make him seem younger. Then he thinks about his hair style, which then leads him to the thought on a beach. Prufrock then says he has heard the mermaids. According to legends, mermaids sing to everyone to lure them into the ocean. He doesn't think the mermaids will sing to him, account of him being him. He goes on about the sea and how beautiful it is, until he is one is woken up by human voices and drown. Much like how life is simple if it wasn't for humanity.

Prufrock is a gentle, sad, observant, thinker. He is aliened from modern society and is frustrated with everything he thinks about. He is mostly frustrated with interacting with in society. He wants nothing to do with it. His life is full of insecurities, doubts and depressing beliefs because humanity has made him this way. The entire poem goes in his own mind while he is at this party. It is delivered by a stream of consciousness, like a stream of thought. This is how a human thinks, always jumping around in their head with different ideas and thoughts.

Analysis of T.S. Eliot's 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock