The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was written by T.S. Eliot and published in 1915. It is a dramatic monologue that is reminiscent of Freud’s “stream of consciousness” theory. The poem is distinctly modern, written with a high degree of intellectuality, and intended for educated readers. It seems to be a lament about Prufrock’s missed opportunities and neurotic insecurity. Eliot presents Prufrock as a hopelessly shy man who is incapable of forming relationships, or even talking, to women. This is evident in line 69 when Prufrock asks, “And how should I begin?” after an entire stanza of descriptions of women’s arms...

I’m not sure how I feel about this poem. I like how it rhymes, and I appreciate how Eliot uses repetition and a seemingly random rhyme scheme, but the larger purpose of the poem is lost on me (perhaps I’m just too tired to understand it?!)

Eliot repeats several lines throughout the poem:

• “In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” (13-4 & 35-6)
• “And indeed there will be time” (23 & 37)
• “So how should I presume?” (54) … “And should I then presume?” (68)
• “For I have known them all already, known them all” (49) … “And I have known the eyes already, known them all” (55)
• “Should say: ‘That is not what I meant at all. / That is not it, at all.’” (97-8) … “That is not it at all, / That is not what I meant, at all” (109-10)

These lines seem to underscore Prufrock’s insecurity.

I find it ironic that throughout the poem Eliot presents Prufrock as an eloquent writer, and yet the purpose of the poem seems to be to explore his insecurity and inability to develop relationships. Prufrock is overly concerned with what other people think about him and he’s afraid to communicate with other people because they may judge him based on his appearance. Prufrock’s melancholy is clear throughout the poem.

Eliot’s inclusion of an epigraph, a short portion of Dante’s Inferno, provides some insight into the poet’s purpose. According to the text, the speaker openly confesses his shame in this epigraph because he doesn’t believe that Dante can report it because he can’t return to earth. This suggests that Prufrock’s honesty and articulateness (in writing) comes only as a result of introspection and in hindsight after a life-changing event. The paradox of the poem is that if Prufrock had pursued introspection and been able to identify and express the emotions that are present within the poem, he may have gained some confidence and negated the need for such a poem.

Ultimately, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock seems to be a poem about self-realization and self-actualization and the potential that every person has for introspection and insecurity. While Eliot obviously uses Prufrock’s character to communicate various observations about the human condition and thus give the poem some redeeming value, I am so aggravated by the degree to which Prufrock wallows in his own self-defeating stupor that I am perhaps unable to appreciate the poem for its intended purpose. Much of its meaning is decidedly, at this point, lost on me.