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The Long Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Images, Essay, and Collage
By: Maddie Jackson
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Maddie Jackson
Miss Wilson
English 3B
April 7, 2013
A Glimpse of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
How do people's opinions and attitudes about themselves affect their decision-making?
Each individual's self-esteem levels and opinions or attitudes about themselves can have both
positive and negative effects on their decisions made throughout life and love. T.S. Elliot uses
literary devices such as Allusion, Repetition, and Dramatic monologue to reveal the narrator's
complex attitude toward love to the reader in the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
T.S. Eliot, the author of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, was born on September
26
th
, 1888. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri with his Mother, Father, and 6 other siblings. He
attended Sorbonne, Harvard and Merton College, where he studied philosophy. In 1914, he
moved to England to begin working as a teacher as well as a bank clerk. He became a literary
editor and eventually the director for a publishing house called Faber 8 Faber. There, he met his
wife, Valerie, who worked as a secretary at the publishing house. Around 1937, Eliot gained
citizenship in Britain and joined the Anglican Church. He died in January if 1963. (Nobel
Lectures) Eliot's poetry is known today for its aim toward problems and challenges in human
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life. He is also known for his work during the Imagist Period. Many people study Eliot and his
work to this day.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock reveals that Prufrock is very insecure, causing
him to over think every decision he makes. This inhibits him from taking risks in fear of the
outcome. He is without a significant other since he will not take the risk of trying to begin a
relationship, in fear of getting hurt. The author uses dramatic monologue and repetition to show
the reader how fearful the narrator is of taking risks when he says, 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!) (lines 37-
41) The narrator repeats the phrase, Do I dare? throughout this quote and the whole poem to
emphasize how he is afraid to take risks, because he is always questioning himself. He is not
confident enough take a risk, thus he does not have the courage to fall in love since he may get
his heart broken. Also, this quote uses dramatic monologue to show the narrator is insecure with
his appearance, and this also holds him back from trying to find love. He is very concerned of
what women will think of his thinning hair and the way he has aged. He has not approached any
women yet, but is already calculating a scenario in his mind where they will not like the way he
looks, so talking to them is too much of a risk for him. His lack of self-confidence revealed in
this quote shows an aspect of his complex attitude toward love is he is afraid of the rejection that
comes when love does not work out. Daring to take the risk of being rejected is too much for the
unconfident narrator, causing him to avoid falling in love.
T.S. Eliot uses imagery to show how precisely and carefully the narrator decides his
every move. The specific image he uses is when he says, I have measured out my life with
coffee spoons (line 32) Cream must be poured carefully and slowly into a coffee spoon to get
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the precise amount the person drinking the coffee desires. The image of taking life and
measuring every next step the narrator may take in something as precise as a coffee spoon
reveals to the reader that the narrator plans his next step very cautiously, avoiding any risk of
getting hurt. This image shows a part of the narrator's complex attitude toward love. Since he
measures every move he makes, trying to avoid pain and rejection, he is afraid of love, yet he
desires it. But, after he has measured out the risks that come with falling in love, his fear of
heartbreak and rejection are more powerful than his desire for love, so he never seeks love.
In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the narrator uses allusions to the play and
character Hamlet in order to reject his importance. The narrator states, 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. (lines 113-119) Prince Hamlet is protagonist in the play
Hamlet. When Prufrock says he is not Prince Hamlet, he is saying he is not an important person.
He goes on to say that he is more like a minor character in the play, one who helps the play
progress but is not the character to actually take the main action. He devalues himself by
claiming he is not Prince Hamlet. Ironically, Prufrock does have similarities to Prince Hamlet.
Like Prufrock, Hamlet's flaw is that he fails to take action. Prufrock spends the whole poem
analyzing every possible decision over and over, and never actually takes action. This allusion
reveals that Prufrock thinks he is not valuable, and over analyzes decisions. These two aspects of
Prufrock contribute to his complex attitude toward love. Since Prufrock thinks he is less than
what he is, he also thinks he is unworthy of love or unsuitable for a woman. Also, it shows that
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the way he analyzes every move he makes but never takes action is a reason he does not have a
relationship.
Prufrock's lack of self-esteem influences his actions. Since he has no self-confidence, he
believes he is not good enough for love. Also, he over analyzes situations, fearing the decision
he makes will cause him to feel rejection or heartbreak. Because of this, he does not take action
to begin a relationship.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
List of Images
1. The sky in the evening, line 2
2. A patient lying on an operating table, line 3
3. Half-deserted streets, line 4
4. One-night cheap hotels, line 6
3. Sawdust restraints that serve oyster shells, line 7
6. Streets that follow, line 8
7. The room where women come and go, line 14
8. Yellow fog on the window panes
9. Yellow smoke on the window panes
10. A bald spot in the middle of the narrator's hair, line 40
11. The narrator's outfit (morning coat, ect.), lines 42-43
12. Thin arms and legs, line 44
13. Measuring in coffee spoons, line 31
14. Eyes fixing in a formulated phrase, line 36
13. Sprawling on a pin, line 37
16. Being pinned to the wall, line 38
17. Pale arms with bracelets, 64
18. Arms downed with brown hair in the lamplight, line 63
19. Arms lying on a table, line 68
20. Arms wrapping around a shawl, line 68
21. Dusk in the narrow streets, line 70
22. Smoke rising from the pipes of lonely men in shirt sleeves that lean out their windows, lines
71-72
23. A crab moving about the ocean floor, line 73-74
24. The narrator's slightly bald head on a platter, line 82
23. The eternal footman holding the narrator's coat and laughing, line 83
26. Skirts that trail along the floor, line 102
27. The bottoms of trousers rolled, line 121
28. Hair parted behind/ a comb over, line 122
29. Mermaids signing to each other, line 124
30. Mermaids riding on waves, line 126
31. White caps on waves, line 127
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32. Sea-girls with seaweed on them, line 130
33. Drowning, line 131
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Works Cited
"T.S. Eliot - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 7 Apr 2013
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html

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