–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?
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–“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
When we get coffee we generally don’t limit ourselves to drink it a coffee-spoon at a time. We sip it, we drink more of it, or less of it when it’s hot; we’re flexible with it, and act according to our desire for coffee, temperature, mood, environment, time, and more. We can choose how to drink that coffee, free from constraints, free from a constant worry.
I think that by measuring out his life with coffee spoons, Prufrock shows his fear of life and time passing by, coming to an end; he tries to get the most of life, living it moment-by-moment, yet not with joy and gratefulness, but with fear of the time he’s losing. And so he measures those moments as they pass, as his coffee slowly empties. He still got some more spoons before the drink is over; this distresses Prrufrock.
–What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Prufrock’s relationship to time is nostalgic because of how deeply he connects time to different periods of his life. At first, he transitions to the time when he is young and how he sees time as an ongoing movement in which he has many choices and possible decisions available to him, “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.”(31) In this quote, Prufrock is young and believes he has enough time for everything. Even when it comes to doing something as simple as having tea, he feels that there is enough time in those minutes to make decisions, and visioning, or revisioning something. Later on, Prufrock transitions back to his older life, when he already has grey hair and grows old. He no longer has so much time on his hands because, in the last stanza, the phrase, “we drown,”(130) signifies his feeling that death is approaching. This makes Prufrock’s relationship to time be nostalgic because he seems to look back at different points in time and reflect on them. He even imagines himself as an “attendant lord” and mentions artists like Michelangelo, who lived during the Renaissance. This time traveling to the past shows that Prufrock feels nostalgic of how he used to feel energetic (with enough time on his hands to do something), yet now he feels tired and thinks that time is no longer as flexible towards him.
–Look at the description of the yellow smoke in the second and third stanzas of the poem. What do you make of this description?
In these stanzas, Prufrock depicts the yellow fog or smoke as some kind of creature; the creature seems to be a cat. Prufrock characterizes the yellow fog by having it “rub its muzzle” and “licked its tongue.” While not really painting a story of this creature, Prufrock chooses to place importance on the creature’s interactions with its urban environment that gradually shifts to the subject of time and finally back to Prufrock’s musings. It’s quite unusual for Prufrock to suddenly shift attention to this creature, but the diction presented in the stanzas creates an almost serene atmosphere. “And seeing that it was a soft October night, curled once about the house, and fell asleep.” Prufrock highlights how this creature peacefully spends its time and juxtaposes it to Prufrock’s own time and his “hundred indecisions” and “hundred visions and revisions.”
–“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
I think this means that Prufrock lived his life with limitations. He didn’t live to the fullest. Everything was limited, moderated, paused and slow. Prufrock let his fears and insecurities control his life. He was so afraid to die that he limited his life, which doesn’t make any sense because a person who is afraid of death would enjoy life.
1) I think that the speaker is adressing to the people who are reading this poem meaning us in this line.
Q) “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
By this line I think Prufrock wans to say that life is very small for him and he limit himself very much . By measuring his life to spoon he is showing that his life was boring and he has nothing special in his life. He thought he was never able to do anything and he could never talk to women whom he like because he is losing his confidence. I think that’s why he is comparing his life to coffee spoon.
–Describe the overall mood of the poem. What feelings does it leave you with?
Prufrock’s approach to life evokes a very stressful mood. Stressful as in the feeling you would get if you procrastinated a lot. His decisions or lack there-of simply puts his possibilities in a standstill, he has no direction in life and he knows his time is running out. His hair is turning grey, and he is not getting any younger. Prufrock leads his life in a senseless daze, and without any purpose. Reading this poem leaves me with the feeling of discontentment and emptiness.
–What is Prufrock’s relationship to time?
Prufrock’s relationship to time is linear whereby it passes fast as he gets older. Meantime, he is more than aware of it and indeed profounds the time spent as an accomplishment. Doubtless, the thing that he defines as accomplishments completely differs from what the majority might think off. Whereas, we define accomplishments as thing such as finding the job that we like, marry, and lastly live a happy, long life and manage to see the grandkids. On contrary, Prufrock’s interpretation of accomplishments is things that he couldn’t achieve like, talking to women under the fear of being rejected. That indefinitely shows his believe of alternatives and perspective on certain things in life that completely differ from everyone.
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
Laments Prufrock meant by, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons, was meant to show its unsatisfied and boring lifestyle, he was facing many insecurities during his life which made him less confident to find the person he can be with. His insecurities ended up taking up his life in such a bad manner that he could not live the fulfilling life one might have. This is why he “measured his life in coffee spoons”, he’s comparing his life to be as boring as a spoon of coffee.
–“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” laments Prufrock. What do you think this line means?
I think Prufrock meant to show how he had wasted his time, slowly. There are many ways of measurements, yet he chose coffee spoons. I think its to emphasize on the fact that he slowly procrastinated his time throughout the years, little by little and of something rather strange and unordinary,