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Week 11 - T.S. Eliot
Week 11 - T.S. Eliot
Week 11 - T.S. Eliot
Alfred Prufrock
(1917; segments published in the the Harvard Advocate in 1906)
SUMMARY
original title: “Prufrock Among the Women”
J. Alfred Prufrock, a prototypical modern man
would like to “force the moment to its crisis”
emotional distance from the world and feeling of inferiority
FORM
a variation on the dramatic monologue
refrains
fragmentation + juxtaposition
The Title
Love Song – implies romance
J. Alfred Prufrock – a romantic hero?
Allusions to Marvell: Eliot recognising and mocking the “carpe diem” tradition
Instead of “forcing the moment to its crisis”, Prufrock presents us with his inadequacies.
Prufrock
A) is beset by an “overwhelming question” that cannot be articulated directly
B) cannot initiate (“how should I begin?” “How can I presume?”)
C) sees the natural world as polluted and disgusting (yellow fog)
D) sees the human-made world as equally prosaic and disgusting (apartments, tea, ritual)
E) outdoes Hamlet in debating with himself endlessly
o (1) wonders repeatedly is it “worth it” - “do I dare/Disturb the universe?”
o (2) compares himself unfavourably with heroes (“I am no prophet”; “I am not Prince
Hamlet” - but Polonius), not Lazarus, not John the Baptist, not Michelangelo of whom
the women speak (Not David either!).
F) cannot make himself understood (she says twice “that is not what I meant at all”)
G) is physically unattractive, aging, ridiculous (balding, obsessing about trousers, thinking,
describes self as would-be crab, an insect pinned to the wall)
H) The mermaids - mythical seductive females - have been singing to each other, not to him - but
he lingers underwater to hear them. Instead of drowning there with the mermaids and Prufrock,
however, WE are drowned when WE wake to HUMAN voices.
“If I thought that my reply would be to someone who would ever return to the world, this flame
would stay without further movement; but as no one has ever returned alive from this depth, if
what I hear is true, I answer you without fear of infamy.”
1
Guido de Montefeltro, lost soul, damned to Hell for the attempt to buy absolution in advance of
committing a crime
Correlation: Prufrock's need to know the answer to the question he wants to ask as a condition
of asking it.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the comers of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
2
Talking of Michelangelo.
***
3
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...
***
4
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.”
**
Themes
Alienation / Loneliness / Paralysis
o Poor ability to relate to other people, esp. women
o “you and I” – possibly addressing himself
o Shrinks from social contact (feels like specimen, fears eye-contact)
o Cause: his low self-esteem (ragged claws reference)
Time
o He doesn’t have time, but fear of rejection leads him to constantly rethink his actions,
paralysing him
5
Style
Four sections, separated by ellipses
Do I Dare?
o Underscores the essential spiritual and moral cowardice of the man
o Starting with disturbing the universe to eating a peach