By T.S. Eliot

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

"The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr Eliot is surely of the very smallest importance to anyone, even to himself. They certainly have no relation to poetry…" (Times Literary Supplement 21 June 1917, no. 805, 299).

The poetic term “stanza” also means a “room” or a “habitation.”

We are going to stand in each of Eliot’s “rooms” for a while to help us figure out what he is

saying.

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosseA persona che mai tornasse al mondo,Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondoNon torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.If I thought my answer were givento anyone who would ever return to the world,this flame would stand still without moving any further.But since never from this abysshas anyone ever returned alive, if what I hear is true,without fear of infamy I answer you.

Guido da Montefeltro, a false counselor concealed within a flame

Dante's Inferno, Canto XXVII, 61-66

Why would Guido da Montefeltro not tell this “answer” to someone who could “return to the

world?”

*Let us go* then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; 

How does the Romantic poem below contrast with the point of view of Prufrock?

It is a beauteous evening calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquility;

-- William Wordsworth

*Let us go*, through certain half-deserted streets,  The muttering retreats  Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels  And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: 

What are the key words here? What mood do they evoke?

Could this setting be seen as a type of “Hell,” similar to the Hell of Dante’s Inferno?

Streets that follow like a tedious argumentOf insidious intentTo lead you to an overwhelming questionOh, do not ask, “What is it?”*Let us go* and make our visit.

What might this “overwhelming question” be?

What does this stanza suggest about our character, Prufrock?

In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo.

Are these “women” the type of society Emily Dickinson might have wanted to avoid?

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the

window-panes,

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the

window-panes

Licked its tongue into the corners of the

evening,

Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from

chimneys,

Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,

And seeing that it was a soft October night,

Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

How does this fog “character” contrast with the poem below?

“Fog” by Carl Sandburg

THE FOG comeson little cat feet.

It sits lookingover harbor and cityon silent haunches

and then moves on.

And indeed there will be time

For the yellow smoke that slides along

the street,

Rubbing its back upon the window-

panes;

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that

you meet;

There will be time to murder and

create,

And time for all the works and days of

hands

That lift and drop a question on your

plate;

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.

How does the last line compare with what comes before it?

What is its effect?

And indeed there will be time For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,  Rubbing its back upon the windowpanes; 

An allusion to Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 :1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo.

Why repeat these lines?

What do you think Eliot’s opinion of Prufrock is? Use

evidence from the text!

Why is this Prufrock’s “love song?”

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) -- 1850By Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 - 1861

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of being and ideal grace.I love thee to the level of every day’sMost quiet need, by sun and candle-light.I love thee freely, as men strive for right.I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.I love thee with the passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.

“Ho Hey” by The Lumineers

(Ho!) I've been trying to do it right(Hey!) I've been living a lonely life(Ho!) I've been sleeping here instead(Hey!) I've been sleeping in my bed,(Ho!) Sleeping in my bed(Hey!)

(Ho!)

(Ho!) So show me family(Hey!) All the blood that I would bleed(Ho!) I don't know where I belong(Hey!) I don't know where I went wrong(Ho!) But I can write a song(Hey!)

1, 2, 3I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheartI belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart

(Ho!) I don't think you're right for him.(Hey!) Look at what it might have been if you(Ho!) took a bus to China Town.(Hey!) I'd be standing on Canal(Ho!) and Bowery.(Hey!)(Ho!) And she'd be standing next to me.(Hey!)

1, 2, 3I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheartI belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart

Love – we need it nowLet's hope for someSo, we're bleeding out

I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheartI belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart