–The poem opens, “Let us go then, you and I….” Whom do you think the speaker is addressing here?
–What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
–Look at the description of the yellow smoke in the second and third stanzas of the poem. What do you make of this description?
–“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
–Describe the overall mood of the poem. What feelings does it leave you with?
–In the final lines of the poem, the speaker shifts from “I” to “We.” How do we explain this shift?
14 thoughts on “T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock””
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In the final lines of the poem, the speaker shifts from “I” to “We.” How do we explain this shift?
This shift most likely means that he finally feels both emotionally and physically connected with the woman he is trying to get. Initially, the poem starts off with just him imagining and trying to conquer her heart through his smooth words. He has become one with the woman and feels like everything now is meant to be shared by both if them. In a way, this symbolizes marriage and the transformation in one’s vocabulary to include both people in a relationship and create equality. This might also mean that he has gone completely mad and only imagines that he is together with the woman he seeks and is delusional to the reality of the situation.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
In Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent, he asks the question “How do you measure a year in [one’s] life?” His answer is, “In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.”
Could there be a more routine, habitual or pedestrian task than stirring milk and/or sugar into one’s morning coffee? With the coffee spoon metaphor, it seems as though Prufrock is monotonously counting the days (with their “evenings, mornings, afternoons”), and Eliot is evoking the ordinariness of Prufrock’s life.
–The poem opens, “Let us go then, you and I….” Whom do you think the speaker is addressing here?
I think the speaker is addressing the women who he wrote this “love song” to. I think he is trying to tell her that they should give their relationship a try. On line 10 he says, “To lead you to an overwhelming question..” so maybe the overwhelming question can be him asking her out.
What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Prufrock constantly refers to time in saying that he has time to do the things he fears such as approaching the women. He contradicts himself when he says he is getting old but constantly says he has time because as he gets old, his time declines. Instead of accepting and tackling the challenges he faces ( approaching the women), he pushes it back in saying he has time to do it.
What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Prufrock mentions time periodically throughout the poem. He says that he has a lot of time left to do what he wants but there are clues within the poem that indicates he is old. This is odd because usually, when people are getting old, they talk about how they don’t have enough time to do what they want. In the poem, he also mentions measuring his life in terms of coffee spoons. This is a strange measurement of life because coffee spoons are small and it’s like him figuratively saying that he has a lot of time left. It takes longer to measure something in coffee spoons vs measuring something in tablespoons.
–What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Throughout the poem, Prufrock continuously repeats that there will be plenty of time for him to ask this mysterious question that he has. It seems as though he is stalling because he is constantly changing the topic, then repeats, “Do I dare?”. In reality, time is not always guaranteed especially since we know that Prufrock is getting older.
–Describe the overall mood of the poem. What feelings does it leave you with?
The overall mood of the poem is filled with regret and sadness. It leaves the reader with a melancholy like feeling knowing the unfortunate feelings of Prufock. In the poem, Prufock is an aging character who is insecure of what others think of him. He prolongs and never completes his actions, such as facing women. As Prufock ages, his insecurities grow and prolong his behavior in taking the initiative.
Describe the overall mood of the poem. What feelings does it leave you with?
The poem sets a somber mood where one can feel Eliot’s emptiness and insecurities. His mental struggles with his superego have refrained him from doing what he wants with continuous thoughts of “should I” and “what ifs”. He fears that time and his appearance are growing thin, pulling him back from approaching and conversing with sophisticated women. He feels unable to impress the cultured women and leads him to not act on his intentions.
–Describe the overall mood of the poem. What feelings does it leave you with?
The overall mood of the poem seems sad and sorrowful. Prufrock mentions many times that he feels insecure, especially with and/or around women. The poem tells us that Prufrock is getting old and starts to feel lonely. It gives you the feeling that he seems to be slowly giving up on life and failing to see the good and fun parts.
Describe the overall mood of the poem. What feelings does it leave you with?
The mood of the poem is gloomy and mournful. Prufrock seems like he battling time and age. As an aging man, who has major insecurities, it seems that he’s involved in an internal battle between hope and hopeless. In one instance he says “there will be time, there will be time, to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet,” and then later on says “I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” It’s almost like he is bipolar with extreme shifts of emotions. It leaves the reader with a sense of sorrow and pity.
–What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Prufrock’s refers to time as something rolls in his favor by saying that he has a lot time to do what he is afraid to do(approaching women). i think Prufrock is saying that also to hide his fears of women. Meanwhile is giving himself the power to control the time he also contradicts himself when he says that he is getting old as time pass.
–“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
I believe that this line is supposed to represent the Prufrock’s detailed view of his life. Coffee spoons are a very small unit of measurement, meaning that Prufrock spent too much of his life worrying about the small details, and being too critical of himself. Maybe if Prufrock were to focus more on the major beneficial things he has been able to do with his life he would have a more positive outlook on himself, and be able establish more self confidence. Measuring his life with coffee spoons gives too much credit to things that are unimportant in the grand scheme of life, I think with this statement Prufrock begins to see the negativity that is associated with viewing his life in this way.
What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Throughout the essay, Prufrock has been mentioning time giving us an indication that there is a lot of time for a lot of things that he would like to do. However it becomes apparent that he is elderly and does not have a lot of time on his hands. While he was younger, he had insecurities one in which was talking to women and I guess he thought he could perhaps work on that but now time has passed and he was not able to do anything.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
Since coffee spoons are tiny I think Prufrock means that he has not done a lot in life that he is able to measure what he has done in coffee spoons.