The Love Song of J--eliot.doc

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The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockis the poem that marked the start of T. S. Eliot's career as

one of the twentieth century's most influential poets. "The Love Song of J. Alfred rufrock"!

also referred to as Prufrock! is one of the most anthologied #$th century poems in English.

The poem is a dramatic monologue! a form that had %een much favored %y &o%ert rowning!

and uses the "stream of consciousness" literary techni(ue.

Composition and publication

)omposed mainly %etween *e%ruary +,+$ and July +,++! the poem was first pu%lished in

the June +,+- issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse )hicago/ afterEra ound! the

magaine's foreign editor! persuaded 0arriet 1onroe! the magaine's founder! that Eliotwas uni(ue2 "0e has actually trained himself A34 modernied himself 53 06S 573.

The rest of thepromisingyoung have done one or the other %ut never %oth." 89:This was

Eliot's first pu%lication of a poem outside of school or university pu%lications.

6n June +,+;! The Egoist! a small pu%lishing firm run %y Leonard and


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The title

6n the drafts! the poem had the su%titlePrufrock among the !omen.Eliot said "The Love Song

of" portion of the title came from "The Love Song of 0ar 4yal"! a poem %y &udyard ?ipling.

The form of rufrock's name is like the name that Eliot was using at the time2 T. Stearns Eliot.6thas %een suggested that rufrock comes from the @erman word "rfstein" meaning

"touchstone".

There was a "rufrock>Littau )ompany" in St Louis at the time Eliot lived there! a

furniture storeB in a +,-$ letter! Eliot said! "6 did not have! at the time of writing the

poem! and have not yet recovered! any recollection of having ac(uired this name in any

way! %ut 6 think that it must %e assumed that 6 did! and that the memory has %een

o%literated."

The epigraph

6n conteCt! the epigraphrefers to a meeting %etween 4anteand @uido da 1ontefeltro! who

was condemned to the eighth circle of 0ellfor providing false counsel to ope oniface


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Although he finally chose not to use it! the draft version of the epigraph for the poem

came from 4ante'sPurgatorioFF+GH/2

'sovegna vos a temps de ma dolor'.

oi s'ascose nel foco che gli affina.

Eliot provided this translation in his essay "4ante" +,#,/2

'%e mindful in due time of my pain'.

Then dived he %ack into that fire which refines them.

The (uotation that Eliot did choose comes from 4ante also! Inferno FF==/!

which reads2

"#io credesse che mia risposta fosse

A persona che mai tornasse a mondo$

%uesta fiamma staria senza piu scosse&

Ma perciocche giammai di uesto fondo

(on torno vivo acun$ s'i'odo i vero$

"enza tema d'infamia ti rispondo&

5ne translation from thePrinceton)ante Pro*ectis2

"6f 6 thought my answer were given

to anyone who would ever return to the world!

this flame would stand still without moving any further.

ut since never from this a%yss

has anyone ever returned alive! if what 6 hear is true!

without fear of infamy 6 answer you."

Interpretation

As it shows us only surface thought and images! it is considered difficult to interpret

eCactly what is going on in the poem. Laurence errinewrote! "8the poem: presents the

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatoriohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighierihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laurence_Perrine&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laurence_Perrine&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatoriohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighierihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Universityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laurence_Perrine&action=edit


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apparently random thoughts going through a person's head within a certain time interval!

in which the transitional links are psychological rather than logical". This stylistic choice

makes it difficult to determine eCactly what is literal and what is sym%olic. 5n the

surface! "The Love Song of J. Alfred rufrock" relays the thoughts of a seCually

frustrated middle>aged man who wants to say something %ut is afraid to do so! and

ultimately does not. The dispute! however! lies in who rufrock is talking to! whether he

is actuallygoinganywhere! what he wants to say! and what the various images refer to.

*irst of all! it is not evident to whom the poem is addressed. Some %elieve that rufrock

is talking to another person or directly to the reader! while others %elieve rufrock's

monologue is internal. errine writes "The 'you and 6' of the first line are divided parts of

rufrock's own nature"! while 1utlu ?onuk lasing suggests that the "you and 6" refersto the relationship %etween the dilemmas of the character and the author. Similarly! critics

dispute whether rufrock is going somewhere during the course of the poem. 6n the first

half of the poem! rufrock uses various outdoor images the sky! streets! cheap

restaurants and hotels! fog/! and talks a%out how there will %e time for various things

%efore "the taking of toast and tea"! and "time to turn %ack and descend the stair." This

has led many to %elieve that rufrock is on his way to an afternoon tea! in which he is

preparing to ask this "overwhelming (uestion". 5thers! however! %elieve that rufrock is

not physically going anywhere! %ut rather! is playing through it in his mind .

erhaps the most significant dispute lies over what the "overwhelming (uestion" is that

rufrock is trying to ask. 1any %elieve that rufrock is trying to tell a woman his romantic

interest in her! pointing to the various images of women's arms and clothing and the final few

lines in which rufrock laments that the 1ermaids will not sing to him. 5thers! however!

%elieve that rufrock is trying to eCpress some deeper philosophical insight or disillusionment

with society! %ut fears reection! pointing to statements that eCpress a disillusionment with

society such as "6 have measured out my life with coffee spoons" line -+/. 1any %elieve that

the poem is a criticism of Edwardian society and rufrock's dilemma represents the ina%ility to

live a meaningful eCistence in the modern world . 1c)oy and 0arlan wrote "*or many readers

in the +,#$s! rufrock seemed to epitomie the frustration and impotence of the modern

individual. 0e seemed to represent thwarted desires and modern disillusionment."

G


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*inally! readers and critics are not sure what the many images refer to and what they represent.

*or eCample! "yellow fog that ru%s its %ack upon the window>panes" line +-/ has %een

interpreted as many things! from sym%olism for the decline of society in a similar manner as

the


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The Love Song of J--eliot.doc

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