Assignment:
Poem is put into 11 sections.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
By T. S. Eliot
1915
1.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
2. Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
3. 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 corners 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.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
4. In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair -
(They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!")
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin -
(They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
5. For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all-
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
6. And I have known the arms already, known them all-
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
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? ...
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
7. And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet - and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
8. And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"-
If one, settling a pillow by her head
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all;
That is not it, at all."
9. And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor-
And this, and so much more?-
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
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."
10. No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous-
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
11. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown
Section 1: Do a little research on the epigraph to the poem, which is in Italian. Believe it or not, it isn't hard to find out what the epigraph is saying and where it's from. You can find what you need just by googling: "Epigraph to "Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Quote the translation and origin of the Italian for us. What does it mean in relation to the whole poem? Also, how does the epigraph relate to Section 8, in which Eliot mentions Lazarus? Need Assignment Help?
Section 2: Who is the speaker (the "I" of the poem) speaking to? What is the significance of the simile? What do you think the overwhelming question is? Is there rhyme throughout the section? Is it regular or irregular? Do you notice it or does it surprise you? What do you think the last two lines of this section mean? Who is Michelangelo?
Section 3: In this section, Eliot personifies the fog. What does it sound like it is? What mood does Eliot create in this section? What is Eliot referring to when he talks about "time to murder and create" and "revisions." What is the problem with time? What does he mean by the metaphor of dropping a question "on a plate"? Is there any rhyme in this section?
Section 4: We encountered these first two lines of this section in Section 2. Who is Michelangelo? Why does Eliot repeat the lines, as if they are a refrain? What is the problem of time? Why bring up the fact (out of nowhere) that he has a bald spot on the back of his head? Are there rhymes? What does he mean by the metaphor of rolling universe up into a ball?
Section 5: Who is "all"? Explain the metaphor that he "measures" his life with "coffee spoons." Presume to do what? What are the "butt-ends" he refers to? Is he being metaphorical when he uses this term? What is Prufrock comparing himself to when he pictures himself "pinned and wriggling on a wall"? Why does he focus just on someone's eyes? Do body parts seem to be fragmented in this poem? Any rhymes in this section?
Section 6: In the last section, Eliot focuses just on a human's eyes. In this section, he zeroes in on the arms. What kind of human is he talking about? Why does he fragment humans in this section (and the last) and throughout the poem? What is Prufrock afraid to presume? Are there rhymes in this section? Who is the first (and only) whole human mentioned in the poem (found in this section)? Why might that be significant? Explain the metaphor of the "ragged claws."
Section 7: Is this the same afternoon and evening as earlier, or is this a repetition of an event that already happened that Prufrock neurotically keeps returning to? (Answer could go both ways! Support your choice). What is Prufrock talking about forcing? Which prophet's head was brought in on a platter? Why does that matter here? (Google the religious allusion). Is there rhyme in this section? What does Eliot mean by the "Eternal Footman"?
Section 8: Who is Lazarus and what is his story? How does this section relate to section 1? (see my advice to the student who completes section 1). What is the overwhelming question? Why is this repeated? What else is repeated in this section that we've already seen before? What's going on with all the repetition in the poem? What does Prufrock mean by saying that he will attempt to "squeeze the universe into a ball"? Is there rhyme in this section?
Section 9: What is a magic lantern? (google it and read what Wikipedia has to say). This section bears a resemblance to section 8, doesn't it? Name some of the repetitions and similarities. Why does Eliot (or Prufrock) keep going backwards and repeating himself? Are there rhymes in this section?
Section 10: Who is Hamlet, and what prevented him from avenging his father's death? Is this Prufrock's problem? What does the word "politic" mean in this section? What role does a "Fool" have in a Shakespearean play in general? The statement, "I grow old," relates to what lines in sections 4 and 7. Why all the repetition? Can't Eliot come up with anything new? What does he mean when he says he will have to "roll the bottoms of [his] pants"? Is there rhyme in this section?
Section 11: What is Prufrock talking about when he suggests that he will "part [his] hair from behind"? Why would he do this? Why should eating a peach be such a brave thing to do? Who might be the "we" he refers to? What are mermaids, and do they really exist? What is the meaning of the last 3 lines, especially the very last line? Isn't the idea that one drowns when waking a paradox? Is there rhyme in this section?