The Love Song of J.Alfred Pruf
“For I have known them all already, known them all: - . . . I have measured my life with coffee spoons . . .I have known the eyes . . .known the arms . . .And how should I begin?”(lines 49,51,55,62). As Mr. Prufrock, T.S. Eliot manifested, looks upon his life and his acquired knowledge of women, he begins to portray a picture. A picture of experience and inexperience, of knowing so many women and yet missing the only one that’s really worth the effort. He longs for the warmth and depth of a different woman, one that he has not already known. Yet, as he looks upon this woman he imagines to be different, he is so afraid of destroying the perfect image he has created for her that he can’t even approach her to discover if he is correct. T. S. Eliot begins his poem by quoting Dante’s Inferno. In this pas
sage Dante is explaining to the man that the only reason he is telling him any thing is because he will not escape hell to inform anyone else. Mr. Eliot is telling us that we are about to enter into his, or Mr.Prufrock’s, most personal thoughts and feelings, not to be seen or heard by any one else. The passage may also be referring to the hell that Prufrock has created for himself, he has trapped himself in his own mind, doomed for eternity to analyze every move he makes. “And indeed there will be time To wonder ‘Do I dare?’ and ‘Do I dare?’”(lines 37-38). He watches her, ever wondering if he should go up and say hello, “Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?”(lns.79-80). But he is wary, he wants so much to believe that this woman is truly different, and he has imagined a millio
Some topics in this essay:
Dante’s Inferno,
TS Eliot,
Alfred Prufrock,
arms,
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Approximate Word count = 578
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)
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