“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?…” (Eliot, lines 70-73)
In the literal sense, these three lines are quite basic. They describe Prufrock walking through the streets of some unknown city and regarding numerous men he sees leaning out of their respective windows alone. The only term I was unsure of was “shirt-sleeves”; after looking it up I found it means to be informally dressed.
I chose this passage, not because it was difficult to understand, but the imagery of these few lines was a poignant representation of the theme of loneliness in the modern age this poem explores. Through the time of modernity, urbanization was at the forefront. As we spoke about in class, although the technological advancements of the age brought people closer together whether, in proximity or means of communication, it also brought devastation at much higher rates. In a city where millions of people live together, the world Prufrock sees is full of lonely men.
Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” 1922. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Volume F, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012, p. 543.
Audre, I agree that this image evokes the loneliness of the city at dusk in a moving way. This image also allows us to imagine that the city is full of men who are like Prufrock in their isolation and yearning.