Hello, 2A and 2B classes! Here are your syllabus and assigned reading in a Word document Make sure you print the whole thing and bring it to your next class:
Your assignment is to read and blog T.S. Eliot's long narrative poem, "Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Think of it a story told through a sometimes-vague poem that you have to interpret for yourself. An "interpretation" doesn't have a right or wrong answer, so don't look one up online - I already know what it says about the poem on Sparknotes and Shmoop and GradeSaver. I want to know what you think: who is Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock, the speaker? Why does he use such weird images and metaphors (anesthesia, lobster claws, hair, Michelangelo)? He keeps saying he can't say what he's trying to say - but can you? What's on his mind? Your post doesn't need to be very long, as long as it's quality. You can build off others' comments as long as you give them credit by name.
49 Comments
Olivia Barkey
9/6/2015 07:08:07 am
In my opinion, when the author talks about the women talking about Michelangelo, he means that the women are sophisticated and don't have time for people below his status. When Elliot talks about the yellow smoke and how one day the yellow smoke will have it's time to come out I think he's trying to make it a metaphor for J. Alfred Prufrock, coming out and making an advance on the women. And the author talks about how every action has a time. I also think that though Prufrock is trying to court women, he is also finding it pointless because he is growing old and he's been with many women. But at the end of the poem he references mermaids and their song, as a way of trying to tell the reader how he just can't leave women alone.
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Daisy Major
9/6/2015 11:55:36 am
I believe that this poem is about how Prufrock wants to have a relationship with women but is afraid of being rejected. He decides to live on with his life and avoids taking chances. He still wants to be with a woman but doesn't trust that they will want to be with him. This shows how a decision and action can affect your life because now Prufrock is living alone. When Elliot mentions Lazarus I believe that this shows how he is coming back from the dead to tell the present Prufrock to take chances especially with women. Even to think of the little things like "parting his hair behind" or "daring to eat the peach." Now he is getting old and still hasn't done anything for himself. He says how he likes to listen to the mermaids singing but they don't sing for him. This shows how Prufrock may not have pride in himself and doesn't believe the mermaids like him or want to sing for him. This connects back to the women and how he doesn't believe woman will like him either. If a mermaid won't sing for him than why would woman like him?
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Biggs
9/7/2015 03:04:56 pm
Lots of good observations! A lot of the things you point out (wants people/scared of people; life/death; young/old; song/silence) involve opposites and dualism (two-sidedness). Does this relate to the mermaid at all?
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Willow Martin
9/9/2015 08:23:54 pm
The mermaids' relation to this dualism can be seen in the stanza in which Prufrock claims, "I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." The song of the mermaids is like that of a siren in Prufrock's opinion. He is tempted by them, drawn to the mermaids, symbolizing women, in pursuit of love, but he believes that their call summons him to his doom. If Prufrock was to pursue this love and strike up a conversation with a woman, he fears he would stumble on his words and not be able to properly formulate his thoughts, making a fool of himself and this suffering a sort of social-doom. Prufrock is subsequently tortured by the mermaids' song, love's temptation, and wishes he had never been exposed to it in the first place. Without ever hearing the song of love, he would have never known what he was missing, and would have been able to be ignorantly content, unaware of all the joys and tortures of love. If Prufrock had never been conscious of the existence of love, he would not also have to constantly feel insecure about his ugliness, fearing his appearance will repel potential lovers from him. Without the pressures of love, Prufrock could be ugly, like a "pair of ragged claws," and not have to feel discouraged for being so. Overall, Prufrock feels in many ways he would just be better off if he had never heard the mermaids' song, and been able to go about his life, numb to the pains, as well as the graces, of love.
Rachel Kline
9/7/2015 09:43:09 am
I think Prufrock is trying to say that he wants to go on adventure of some type with someone he loves, but this person is hesitant about going with him. He's naming all of these things that are just part of life, like getting older and making decisions and saying that they can wait. All he wants to do is go on this adventure, but his partner does not want to. He is trying very hard to convince this person to go with him and at the end, he says "Till human voices wake us, and we drown." I think by this he is saying that this adventure could let them get away and not think about the real world and just worry about themselves and their imaginations until they have to go back into the "human world".
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Makenzie Lowrey
9/7/2015 09:44:20 am
I think I great majority of this poem is about time and misinterpretation. They use the line "That's not what I meant at all," at least twice in the poem. I think the speaker is tired of people taking what they're saying the wrong way. They also talk a lot about time. They talk about their hair thinning and how they're gonna start rolling their pants up and wearing white flannel shirts. They also talk about how there "will be" time for the smoke to curl, to put on a good face, to destroy and create, and for indecision and vision and revision. I think they think that there's time for them, but also none at all.
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Biggs
9/7/2015 07:11:04 pm
"There's time for them, but also none at all" - meaning, they might happen but also might not? Or that they won't matter even if they happen. You're absolutely right to notice these contradictions ("paradoxes") at the heart of the poem. But what is he getting at, and how does it relate to his sense of getting old and being misunderstood?
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Jackie Izzo
9/7/2015 10:42:50 am
In the poem “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot, Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock is an older man who has seen a lot. He is an wise old man that has been through many things. In the poem he says “and time for a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions” (Eliot 30). This proves that he has made many decisions, regrets, and has a wise eye. He uses metaphors such as hair and Michelangelo to signify time and elderly thoughts. For example he states “In the room woman come and go talking about Michelangelo”(Eliot 14) and “with a bald spot in the middle of my hair” (Eliot 40). He has lived for a long time. I feel Mr. Prufrock is stating he can’t say what he is trying to say because he does not want to face the reality of being aged and lonely.
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Courtney Fenty
9/7/2015 02:11:50 pm
Who I think J. Alfred Prufrock is, is the speaker of the poem. Prufrock is most likely a middle-aged man, or an elderly man who still looks for love. He knows that he has a bald spot and than he is thin, but he wonders if he dare say anything to a woman or women because of his appearance. He knows that there will be time to think of love and talking to different people but will it be worth it to wait? J. Alfred Prufrock thinks that he has no chance of love anymore because he is old and the woman that he wants looks for someone much younger than him.
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Seamus cochrane
9/7/2015 02:58:56 pm
Of what I understood from this poem, I think that this poem is about Prufrock's realization that he has wasted his life. After my first reading, I could tell that the tone of the poem was regretful and melancholy. You can find the tome through his word choice, such as his use of the words "insidious intent, indecisions, dying with a dying fall" and his extensive description of a serpent-like yellow fog. After discovering the tone, it was a bit easier to see Prufrock's message. The first clue is him saying "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons". Using that as a reference, you can see him mentioning several times the act of drinking tea with toast. With these textual clues and the overall tone of the poem, I can guess that this poem is about Prufrock's realization that he's wasted his life drinking tea and watching the world pass him by.
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Biggs
9/7/2015 03:14:30 pm
Great focus on tone here. Tone is critical in reading - it's like the music or atmosphere of a written piece. Given the regretful, melancholy, indecisive, self-critical tone you've identified, what do you make of the images in the last stanzas of the poem, especially the images of the beach and mermaids?
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Sydney Gannon
9/7/2015 03:04:05 pm
I believe “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is about an adventurous older man wanting to go on one last adventure with a woman who is unsure. He tells all the tales of what he has seen and has done to this woman trying to convince her to come along and have no cares. He wants to make the rest of his life worth living. He knows he has made mistakes when he says “And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions,” (Eliot 32). He has regrets and unmade decisions, but there’s more time for that and many other things he speaks of, but he’s only worried about that moment and making it worthwhile.
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Hannah Daitz
9/7/2015 03:16:04 pm
In the poem “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot I think Prufronk, the narrator, is an older man looking to love a younger woman. He is cautious about talking to the women and does not have self-confidence. He often asks himself if she could love him despite his balding hair signifying his age. “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—“ (They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”) (Eliot 40-41) He is afraid of rejection and doubts himself very often. He asks himself “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?” (Eliot 38) when referring to ask the women to adventure the rest of his life with him. When he finally talks to her he is trying to tell the women to live freely and enjoy the pleasures of life such Michelangelo and tea and marmalade.
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Suubi Mondesir
9/7/2015 03:53:25 pm
I think J. Alfred Prufrock is an elderly man that has had time to do and experience many things in his life, but he doesn't want to rush anything. However one thing he hasn't set aside time for, is love. This is because he believes love may not be worth the time it takes, especially if it could end in heartbreak. Even so, you can tell, love is something Prufrock wants to have. In the beginning of the poem he talks about wanting to give time to letting love form in his life. However, towards the end of the poem he seems to lose confidence in finding the love he desires and starts using weird metaphors and words to disguise and distract the reader from his true feelings, which could also imply him accepting he will remain aged and lonesome.
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Biggs
9/7/2015 07:05:33 pm
Hmmm, that's pretty interesting. I've never heard the images described as distractions. Like he's retreating into a fantasy world. Think of the ending, with the talk of mermaids, mythical creatures...
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Allie Talavera
9/7/2015 04:52:11 pm
I believe that the poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock" expresses how Prufock is regretful that he has wasted his life holding himself back and not taking risks, especially with women. From what i understood he is getting old and bald and he has the let the world pass him by. He has always been scared when it comes to putting himself out there with women so he holds himself back. At the end of the poem he states, "I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me" (Eliot 124-125). This goes back to when he is first talking about how women never go to him. He believes his luck with women is so bad that not even a mythical creature would sing to him. Overall, I think this poem is about Prufock expressing his regret with women and how he regrets not taking risks when he was young.
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Biggs
9/7/2015 07:07:46 pm
Why "mermaids," though. He could have just said "ladies" or something. And why "singing" instead of just talking. Your understanding of Prufrock is right now - now see if you can apply it to the little "nuances" of word choice. For some reason, Mermaids and Song always makes me think of Disney's The Little Mermaid - which is an old fairy tale, and might be relevant here ...
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Willow Martin
9/12/2015 03:32:16 am
I think that Prufrock refers to the women as mermaids because he is comparing the to sirens. Ever since he has heard their "song," he has been strongly drawn to the ladies, wanting to be with them. If we were to look at Prufrock while thinking about Freud's ideas on the human mind, we see the ID motivates him to try to approach/ court the women, (as a result of his instinctive desire for love, and thus, sex), but his superego holds Prufrock back from doing so. His superego latches on to Prufrock's insecurity, caused by societal standards of male beauty, and causes his ego to decide that the probability of rejection is this too high to bother risking himself by approaching a woman. Prufrock believes it will lead to his social doom if he goes to talk to a girl, so he thinks of the mermaids', or women's, song as that of a siren, drawing the men to their demise.
Kaitlyn Viola
9/7/2015 06:00:34 pm
After reading the poem, "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, I came to the conclusion that the main idea of the poem is that the narrator, Afred Prufrock, is coming to regret the opportunities he's missed and chances he hasn't taken. He is realizing that he is now aging and running out of time to experience beautiful things. On the other hand, he is unsure of his chances with love. He implies that he may not even see the worth in taking a chance at love, in fear of rejection or heartbreak. After reading the poem, you can conclude that Prufrock has a desire for love, but he is afraid to take the leap. It seems as though he is too insecure to take such risks, even after finding regret in his wasted past.
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Akin Gaddis
9/7/2015 06:52:00 pm
In my opinion the poem “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” chronicles an aging man, J.Alfred Prufrock’s realization that he has somewhat wasted his life. It also talks about how he is conflicted about whether or not he should change himself to fit in. He specifically talks about women when wondering about changing himself to fit in. He feels that normal him is inadequate and will not be desirable. He has wasted his life doing other things less important than looking for love and now that he wants love he cannot find it. He feels that if he cannot eventually find love he will forever regret his decisions both past and present.
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Kay Franzese
9/7/2015 07:02:01 pm
In the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S Eliot, I have concluded that the narrator is an old man telling the readers of the regret he has. He is bald and thin but he still wants love from a women. He feels that since he is an elderly man, women would not like him. He has feared rejection from a women which has kept him lonely so long. I think he has feared mistakes which had kept him from living an eventful life. He realized that if he should ever talk to a woman, he would tell her to live a life full of adventure and don't waste it like he did.
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Sarah Bailey Lakatos
9/7/2015 07:26:32 pm
I believe that in the poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, Prufrock is regretting the decisions that he made in life. He is reflecting back at his choices and wishing he had been more spontaneous, especially with women. He has never wanted to be the center of attention and always hesitated to be outgoing. Prufrock was always apprehensive to take chances for love because of fear of rejection. At the end of the poem, you can come to the conclusion that he is desperate for love but needs the extra push to go for it all. After looking back at his past and realizing that he let life pass him by, he needs to make a decision whether to branch out to a new life full of oppertunities and adventure or stick to the same life full of regrets.
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Sarah Bailey
9/7/2015 07:27:24 pm
opportunities**
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Kathleen Patterson
9/7/2015 07:40:23 pm
T.S. Eliot`s poem, “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, is not about love at all, to me. Rather, it seems to be what happens when one wonders about life in itself. The poem is written in a progression, as though it was a thought process that he happened to be writing down as he was thinking it. In stanzas one and three, he hints at sleeping, and introduces the question that is life. Sleeping, to me, seems to be the young stages of life, during a baby`s time in the womb and when they are first born. Then, he starts with the “yellow smoke”, which is an almost tangible but gentle way of introducing aging and sickness. In stanzas two and four, he notes the chatter of Michelangelo. While my knowledge of this artist is limited, I do know that while he was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and every day the priest would come in and ask if he was almost done painting. Therefore, I believe that Michelangelo alludes to the feeling of being rushed, while also never knowing quite when something will end. Next, in stanzas four and six through eight, the recurring themes are time and wonder. Here, he starts to realize that he is aging, and bringing about the questions of if his decisions and himself matter, as well as the effect they both have. He says that he has “measured out [his] life with coffee spoons” (Eliot 51), just going through the motions of every day. In stanza ten, he touches on everyday things, like hair, which to me signifies growth. In the eleventh and twelfth stanza, Prufrock is realizing that his aging means his time is coming to an end, like dusk, and soon it will be over, like smoke is the after`effect of fire. He is grasping at what he has, and he wishes he could hold on to life stronger, so he wishes for claws. The thirteenth stanza is thinking about after, how he will be sleeping again, and even though he is old he hasn`t gained enough wisdom to know if the afterlife will be what he imagined. In the fourteenth through sixteenth stanza, Prufrock wonders if life is really worth it, and that nobody can come back from the dead and tell you if it`ll all be worth it. Finally, in the nineteenth and twentieth stanzas, he does a mini recap of his thoughts, that he is getting old, and as he gets towards the end of life, it seems to be so short, like rolled up trousers. He wonders once again if his decisions matter in the grand scheme. Finally, in the last two stanzas, he talks about beautiful mermaids- beautiful illusions of life- that seem to always stay in the sea, until “the human voices wake us, and we drown” (Eliot 131), when the beauty and illusions come to their deathly end.
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Biggs
9/10/2015 08:58:18 am
This is REALLY impressive!! Excellent analysis, especially the use of textual evidence, and the transitions :)
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Willow Martin
9/7/2015 07:43:37 pm
J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who is aging quickly, but wants one more chance to love and be loved by a woman before he dies. This poem is an invitation from Prufrock to some unknown woman to come with him, so they may “make [a] visit” together to the “room [in which] the women come and go.” This room, which Prufrock repeatedly mentions, symbolizes opportunity. When the room is occupied with women, it specifically symbolizes the opportunity to find love. The narrator describes a “yellow” fog which “rubs its back… [and] its muzzle upon the window-panes” of this room, and Prufrock is this “yellow fog.” The fog’s yellow color gives it a sickly quality, alluding to Prufrock's fading health, as it continues to diminish with age. Prufrock, like the fog, hangs outside his room of opportunity, looking in and scratching at the window (as he “rubs [his] back upon the window-panes”), wanting to but never actually entering. He always puts off going inside and taking his opportunity, for he is afraid of rejection and believes he still has plenty of time before his time to take his opportunity runs out. The world to him is akin to a “soft October night,” for he does not yet feel the cold of death’s harsh winter. Because of these “soft” conditions, he feels comfortable waiting outside the room and wasting all his opportunities, believing he has an infinite amount of years before winter will come to claim him. Prufrock, represented by the fog, “curl[s] once about the house” gazing at the house and considering his opportunity. But instead of jumping at his chance, he acts indifferent to the fact that he has been gifted with the opportunity to find love, and “[falls] asleep.” Prufrock continues to do this, whittling away his time and opportunities until he has almost none left. He has lost all the opportunities that have ever been given to him for love, and now in his poem, he is pleading for a girl now to come with him before he dies and give him one last chance. His need to beg stems from his belief that his situation is otherwise hopeless. He knows no woman will come on her own to him now. He does, and has always, feared women with their high standards, as they “[talk] of Michelangelo,” illustrating Prufrock’s belief that women desire a man who is beautiful, like a piece of priceless art. Prufrock has always felt inadequate when comparing himself to these standards, even before he became an old man. Now with his old age intensifying his ugliness, he feels his chances of wooing a lady have diminished to nothing. He believes that he has wasted all his chances, that no mermaid, or woman, will ever sing to him again before he dies. His only option left for him is to sing his own song, and pray that he is so lucky to have someone answer his desperate siren call.
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Biggs
9/10/2015 08:59:32 am
Two excellent responses in a row! This too is great and epitomizes what I'm looking for. Again, everybody, this is how its done! (I like the equation of his decrepit physicality with the surroundings in particular).
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Tyhler Harty
9/7/2015 07:51:50 pm
I believe the speaker Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock in the poem " The Love-song of J.Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Lewis to be an elderly man who is past his prime and has anxiety. The reason why I believe he is past his prime and is elderly is because during the poem Prufrock mentions how he has a bald spot in the middle of his head and how his hair is growing thin. The reason why I believe Prufrock has anxiety is because of these lines," They will say: " How his hair grows thin!."( Eliot 41) and "They will say:" But how his arms and legs are so thin!"". When Prufrock uses the name Michelangelo in the poem, I believe it refers to a younger man that the women in the room. What J. Alfred Prufrock is can't put into words is that he feels love towards someone in the poem but can never put say the word since he doesn't now how.
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Brad Chavero
9/7/2015 07:52:26 pm
I believe that Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock, in this poem, is actually a man with a woman in his life. I feel that throughout the whole poem, he cotemplates saying something, but this is something big as he worries "Do I dare?"(Eliot 38) meaning he's not confident, "how should I presume" (Eliot 54) meaning he doesn't know how to handle it, and "It is impossible to say what I mean"(Eliot 104) combined with the title, likely means it's love related. All this leads me to believe that our speaker here, is worried sick to propose marriage to this special woman. I think this is the case as it is indeed an "overwhelming question"(Eliot 10) and one where it could take lots of time for our speaker to make up his mind. As for all the random and vague parts, I believe these are all minor outbursts of nervousness as Prufrock really thinks about this proposal and how it could go. The final 10 lines in particular, I believe our speaker gets so close to actually proposing, mentioning in detail how he'll have his hair and even where he'll walk. However, as he gets too close to this reality, he finds himself veered off course thinking of mermaids and eventually death which can only lead him to being even more scared on following through on his question. Additionally, phrases used like "would it have been worth it"(Eliot 42), "I'm not Prince Hamlet"(Eliot 111), and "How should I begin"(Eliot 59) only add to the high levels of low confidence Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock has.
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Luke Devine
9/8/2015 08:33:07 am
The poem "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S Eliot describes a man's monologue as he talks to the reader. J. Alfred Prufrock is an old man whom is looking back on his life. He remembers the events that occurred during his life, such as traveling the seas. He also talks about people saying that he looks old, by the way he wears his pants and has thinning hair. Lastly, he wonders how his life turned out the way it did, as he questions decisions he made and even thinks that he could have been a crustacean rather than a human. T.S Eliot's poem "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" describes the story an old man tells the reader about his life.
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Griffin Cole
9/8/2015 01:36:05 pm
I think that throughout "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", the speaker, T.S. Elliot, was a very experienced man in his youth. He talks all about these philosophical questions and experiences in his life all the while, it seems like he is yearning to be the man he was when he was younger. He talks about how his body and hair are thinning and even the way he wears his clothes is growing old. Also, throughout the story he grows more and more upset at himself it seems. The stories seem more saddening and targeting towards him and his line "I grow old... I grow old... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled" says how he is accepting the fact that he is not the man he was before and that he knows he will soon be dead and his life of adventures and experiences will soon be over. The ironic part though is how he seems to mention how there is always time to do something else in the beginning of the story. Theres time for the smoke to appear, there will be time to murder, to meet another face. I think he realizes by the end of this that his time is slowly but surely running out and that he has ran out of time
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Biggs
9/10/2015 09:00:18 am
So saying "there will be time" is a way of lying to himself, and at the end he realizes that. I like that! He is talking to himself, after all.
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Melissa Velazquez
9/8/2015 01:45:57 pm
I believe "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S Elliot is about a character, Alfred Prufrock thinking about his past. I think his poem means that life's too short to not do unusual actions. He cared to much of what people would think and say. The title mentions love. I think it does not involves him being in love with someone necessarily. He talks about how losing his hair and being too thin was his only concern and he did not have a chance to do thing he wanted. I know many people who miss out participating in anything because insecurities get in the way. The writer mentions "women talking about Michelangelo". This line has a deeper meaning. I believe he means how most women or anybody in general, have high standards when it comes to being in a relationship. Being in a Relationship is something most wanted in society. What J, Alfred means is that there is time to fit in and do anything before it is too late.
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Will Spencer
9/8/2015 03:34:03 pm
After reading the poem “Love-song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot many times, I have come to the conclusion that the narrator in this story is a wise old man who has been through many different scenarios throughout his life. He also has a regretful tone while he tells us these things. He says how there is time for everything, and that everyone should use that time very wisely. It’s almost like Alfred is afraid to mess up the universe, or disturb it, as he tells us here: “Do I dare, disturb the universe?”(Eliot lines 45-46). I think he uses the word “hair” to show how old he is. In one occasion, he says: “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair, (They will say “How his hair is growing thin!)”. (Eliot 40-41). He also brings in love as a factor, he’s almost like a “hopeless romantic”, or someone who is in love with love, and can’t find that special someone. Overall, Alfred is a very wise man, but seems depressed.
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Ash Riegler
9/8/2015 04:32:04 pm
After reading this poem, "The LoveSong of Alfred Prufrock", by T.S. Elliot I am left with quite a puzzle of thoughts. I can not come to one true conclusion about what this poem is about and perhaps that is the whole point for writing such a thing. But what does seem to comes as one point is the fact that Alfred, the speaker, talks of women. He talks of wanting to be with them in a way and all, such as with his lines, "Is it perfume from a dress that makes me so digress." Perhaps that gives some insight about the reasoning behind this poem. He says that thinking of these women takes him away from his point so perhaps this poem is in fact not centered around women but instead around his life instead and how he is growing older. He does begin the whole poem describing that which is around him and such. He also speaks of his own aging, gray hair and bald spots, and how others would notice such a thing and comment. So while the true reason isn't very clear to me, perhaps this poem is simply writing about Alfred's life and others misinterpretations of his words.
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Olivia Jordan
9/8/2015 04:39:36 pm
J. Alfred Prufrock, the speaker of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” written by T.S. Eliot, is at the middle of his life, “I grow old…I grow old” (Eliot 120) reflecting on his past choices and regrets, as well as the rest of his life that he has yet to live. He appears to be addressing a person, possibly a significant other or himself, “you and I” who he feels comfortable sharing his inner thoughts with. Prufrock sets the tone of uncertainty when he consistently questions his life choices, “And would it have been worth it, after all” (Eliot 99). There are moments in the poem where you are confused by the speaker’s thoughts, such as when he explains his frustration towards not being able to express himself, “It is impossible to say just what I mean”, (Eliot 104) this adds to his uncertainty. In the end, although Prufrock contemplates his failures, it seems that he is optimistic about the future, when he speaks about hearing mermaids sing.
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Ford Zacks
9/8/2015 04:43:24 pm
J. Alfred Prufrock seems to be a regular man reflecting on life. There is a sad tone to the poem. This is mostly because of Alfred’s somber view on his life. The beginning seems to be about being at a gathering of people. He wants to leave and do something more interesting. This is why he lists all of these things that there will be time to do. He is saying that he can do something fun now and be serious and fix his mistakes later. He shows this when he says, “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” (30-34 Eliot). He talks about saying do I dare. He worries about missed opportunities. He also shows this when he says, “I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker” (84 Eliot). This implies that he saw that he could be great, but he was never able to fulfill his potential. He says he grows old and then he talks about mermaids that he sees in his dreams. This, in my opinion, is the most interesting topic in the poem: the meaning of the mermaids. He seems to be referring to the mermaids as perfect bliss. When he starts to talk about the mermaids the tone changes from serious to peaceful. He talks about how they will not sing to him. Possibly, this means that he thinks he has not earned what the mermaids can give him. Then someone wakes him from his dream and his perfect world is ruined. He says this in the last line of the poem. J. Alfred Prufrock is a boring man that does not take risks. He is so pathetic that he does not even achieve anything great in his dreams.
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Biggs
9/10/2015 08:56:50 am
I like the comment about how even his dreams are failures rather than fantasies. And also the idea that he doesn't think he DESERVES to have the mermaids' song (which he doesn't openly say but you can definitely infer it). Interpreting it as a poem about wasted potential ("I have measured out my life with coffee spoons") is along the same lines as my reading.
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Alexis Disbrow
9/8/2015 06:22:31 pm
In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" Prufrock, the narrator, is an older man who searches for the love of a younger woman. He feels very insecure about himself because he fears rejection and thinks that no woman will love him because he is aging and has a blad spot. He feels as if they won't see him and will only the thinning of his hair. Prufrock misses opportunities because he feels he has more time to do it. He talks about singing mermaids and how they will not sing to him. By the mermaids he is referring, in my opinion, beautiful woman that he feels don't sing to him because of his age. The singing meaning they aren't interested and won't flirt or start a conversation with him.
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Erin Ostrowski
9/8/2015 06:32:18 pm
In this poem, the narrator is J. Alfred Prufrock and he is an elderly man speaking about his love. He knows that even though he is growing old, love is never on a time limit and they can make time for whatever they want to get out of life. Although he is confident in this, he is also unsure if the woman he is in love with will love him back because of his appearance. He tells us about the “bald spot in the middle of [his] hair” and how “his arms and legs are thin” (Eliot 40-44). At times he seems like a very confident, loving old man, but then he thinks about things too much and becomes self-conscious. Finally, at the end of the poem he realizes that as long as he has love and happy memories with the woman of his dreams, his life will have been worth-while. Overall, the T. S. Eliot is trying to tell us that to be happy, you should be yourself, go after love, and forget about what everyone else thinks.
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Keira Albano
9/8/2015 06:37:36 pm
After reading the poem "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" I believe that Prufrock is telling the reader how he regrets not loving anyone and wasting all of his time as he's aged through the years. "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-" (Eliot, 37-40). I believe this quote means that you do have time to make mistakes but not to spend your whole life repeating those mistakes or else you'll be where you started and it'll be too late.
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Trey Soya
9/8/2015 06:38:50 pm
The poem, “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, is a very interesting poem. I believe that the speaker, J. Alfred Prufrock is an older man trying to create a relationship with a women, but he is too nervous to talk to her and thinks that he is too old for love. Throughout the poem Alfred questions himself “ 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-”(Eliot 38-40) Prufrock questions himself if he should talk to the women but then decides not to because he was embarrassed how he would look old with a bald spot on his head. Prufrock always second-guesses himself about trying to make a relationship with the women. He says “And would it have been worth it, after all, would it have been worth while”(Eliot 99-100) He questions that if he wasn’t so nervous to talk to the women would his life have a fairy-tale ending and would all the time he wasted being nervous to talk to her be worth it.
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Shelley Banfield
9/8/2015 06:43:16 pm
I believe that T.S Eliot is attempting to show his frustration with life throughout the poem "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". In the beginning of the poem, he wants to leave and go somewhere beautiful without having to label anything. He seems to be so caught up in his memories that he cannot move on yet when he realizes this, he claims to need more time. No matter how much he prepares for things, Eliot fails many times before things become good. He often questions whether or not he wants certain things and becomes incredibly stressed out but in the meantime he just keeps becoming older. Planning too much just causes people to feel trapped by their own ideas and confused as to where to go once those plans end. He sees others pursuing his goals and becomes envious sometimes. Eliot often wonders if it will all be worth it in the end, the good and the bad. He just wants to love the life, opportunities and memories he has but unfortunately he has not done enough to do so. I think he is trying to tell everyone to stop worrying about the past and focus on the future because no matter how much you worry about certain things, time goes on and everyone is running out of it. It is the one thing you cannot ascertain again once it is gone. He knows that he is not perfect and will not have the perfect life but once he finally knows what he wants, he is too old to finally pursue it so he is trying to warn people to live life with no regrets and follow what they want.
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Arianna Manino
9/8/2015 07:01:17 pm
After reading this poem, I came to the conclusion that this is his "sad ending" and he cannot make it in the human world or his own imaginative world with the mermaids because the human voices eventually woke him up. The human voices is reality, the mermaids are women, and he is just very insecure. Prufrock also questions himself a lot throughout the poem, he often uses the term "Do I dare?". He also holds feelings and ideas that we can all identify with. The imagery of a man that's too scared and shy to go after what he thinks and wants for fear of never really being satisfied. It mirrors true feelings of others today. This poem is definitely deep and wide.
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Bridget Kelly
9/8/2015 07:41:22 pm
I feeling I got from T.S Eliot while reading "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was regret and some sort of anger with time. The poem starts off with him speaking of love and wanting to run away to forget everything else. But time distracted him. It all happened so fast and before he knew it, he found himself knowing everything. He was becoming bored of the things he was once intrigued by. Even with of all this knowledge, he doesn't seem happy. "And I have known the eyes already, known them all - . . . But how should I presume?" (55-61 Eliot), here is he stating that he has all this knowledge, yet doesn't find it to make him happy. It seems that over all this knowledge, he would prefer to have love or a relationship over all this wisdom. But because of time distracting him, he never had the chance to have that relationship he dreamed of and now he is only left to wonder what could have been. This shows me that people with lives of wisdom and success may not be the happiest lives. There could be that one thing that's always there in the back of their mind holding them back from their perfect life.
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Biggs
9/10/2015 08:53:08 am
Is a perfect life possible? Or does everything have something holding them back from perfection? I feel like Prufrock thinks others do have perfect existences, but that's an illusion...
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Kelly Farley
9/8/2015 07:47:46 pm
In the poem, "Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot, the speaker is J. Alfred Prufrock. In the beginning of this poem, Prufrock starts out sad and lonely. He constantly thinks about what would happen if he had the love from a women asking himself, "do I dare?" (Eliot 38). Sometimes he decides to go and try to talk to a woman but then he gets scared and gives up. Prufrock does not stop bringing up the fact that he is getting older, saying things about his hair and body becoming thin. I think this is something is also certain a woman would ins unattractive and he thinks he would get rejected. I interpreted that maybe he is thinking about a certain person in particular that happens to be of a higher social class than he is. He talks about a Footman holding his coat and things such as marmalade, tea and porcelain. When I heard these things in the poem I begin to think of a rich social class. He worries about this and believes that eventually "his moment of greatness [will] flicker" (Eliot 84). I'm not sure if these are his thoughts or this rich lifestyle is actually happening. He repeatedly says, "That is not what I meant at all" which I believe he is referring to when he was saying he wanted love. He got his love but not in the way he wanted it. He wants to stay the same way he was and not change his life. At the end he says he is not prince Hamlet and he was not meant to be and is referring to liking his social class and he is happy with who he is. Towards the end of the poem I believe that he is starting to come to terms with the fact that he is growing old. He says, "I grow old...I grow old..." (Eliot 120). He then rambles on about mermaids singing and other random thoughts. He is going back to the way he was, liking who is is. At the end, he says, "Till human voices wake us, and we drown" (Eliot 131). He is being awakened by reality and he does not like it. This poem could be interpreted different ways, it contains many difficult sentences that all have deeper meanings behind them.
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Olivia Smelas
9/8/2015 07:57:51 pm
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot describes a man who has yet to find love in the world, though he desperately wants it, despite his climbing age and diminishing good health. Prufrock seeks love but is shy in his approach of women because of his various age-related insecurities. Eliot writes, "And indeed there will be a 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!') My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, my necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin-(they will say: 'but how his arms and legs are thin!') Do I dare disturb the universe?" (Eliot 37-46). Prufrock takes pride in his appearance, clearly, as to attract women, but is afraid they will point out his real insecurities under the facade of nice clothing, contributing to his fears of approaching women. I like what Willow Martin mentioned about the "yellow fog", around line 15, and how this might allude to Alfred's poor health, and maybe even hint at his frustrations-- he may have limited time to fall in love, but yet, he remains too timid and aware of his appearance to approach women, little does he know, a little confidence can make all the difference.
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Olivia Jordan
9/10/2015 05:34:49 pm
I enjoy your interpretation of the "yellow fog", its nice to see someone else's perspective and it really makes you have to think further about specific segments in a poem.
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