“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem that shows the consciousness of a man. He knows he is not the ideal man, who all the women will swoon over. He knows he has flaws and is aware of all these aspects. He feels as if everyone is judging him based on how he appears, such as his balding head and how his arms and legs are thin. No one has said anything to him about his appearances, but he mentally thinks about what people will say about him and how he looks, because he does not have that perfect male physique that women desire. He does not seem happy with how he looks and is very conscious about his life, especially since he does not seem to live it to the potential that he would want.
“Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to each 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.”
This quote shows one of the instances where Prufrock is once again worried about his appearances, such as his hair and what pants he should wear on a trip to the beach. He then talks about mermaids, which in reality are mythical, so he speaks of women who do not even exist but they are still ignoring him because he is not the best looking.
“No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was that 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.”
Another quote about his appearance and how he is feels about himself is shown here. He compares himself to Prince Hamlet, but then to a fool. He believes he can never be someone as great as Hamlet, but instead only look like a fool or a jester. He looks at himself as a simple, ordinary man, who is nothing above that, but maybe below.
- Who are the women and what room are they in?
- Where is Prufrock in the poem?
- How is this a love song?
To Bhatti at the question one:
In the poem of “the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. Perhaps is indicated the women are imagery, hard approach like a piece of art work exist in Michelangelo. They exist in red districts. These women exists in “one-night cheap hotels” with “sawdust restaurants with “oyster-shells”.
Response to question 2 and 3:
2. I think that Prufrock is wandering through a run down town. Maybe it is his hometown.
3. I believe that this is meant to be a love song showing love for contentedness with ones existence. The lines containing “there will be time” led me to this. That line makes me think that the author uses a higher power to justify things not going his way.
Interesting questions and responses here. Some of these questions are difficult to answer conclusively. I think that the women are clearly part of society. Where the room is is less important than the anxiety that Prufrock feels at the prospect of entering the room and facing their scrutiny. We don’t know exactly where the poem’s setting is, but it’s important that it is an urban poem. Prufrock is clearly an urban 20th century character, and his loneliness, isolation, and self-consciousness are typical of a certain kind of 20th c anti-hero. Is it possible that this is not a conventional love song in any way? I have a hard time buying Brandon’s suggestion that Prufrock is content (in love with himself? with his life?). That hardly seems to be the case. I think the repetition of the “there will be time” (itself an allusion to a much earlier poem by the poet Andrew Marvell about time’s swift passage) speaks, more than anything, to Prufrock’s tendency to procrastinate. He puts off going to speak to the women by saying “there will be time,” but really he’s just afraid and making excuses for putting it off. I don’t see much evidence here that Prufrock has faith in a “higher power.” Do you see any explicit suggestion of this in the poem?
JS