T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

I started my college education at Harvard University. There, I also wrote some of my earliest poetry. I completed my degree in only three years. Some of my observations concerning the social elite in Cambridge served as the background for my early poems. I wrote some of my first poems while at Harvard. After I completed my degree, I began working on my postgraduate degree. Irving Babbit was my most influential instructor during my post-graduate years. From his lectures, I developed an interest in Buddhism and Sanskrit. I then went to Paris to study literary criticism. In Paris, I especially appreciated Henri Bergson's lectures on the nature of time.

After a brief stint as a teaching assistant at Harvard, I opted to complete my Ph.D. at Oxford. I remained in Europe for most of the remainder of my life. At Oxford, I met Conrad Aiken, whom I had previously known at Harvard. He introduced me to Ezra Pound. Ezra helped me to publish my first book of poetry and helped me refine my poetry. While in England I also met Vivien Haigh-Wood, who would become my wife. Our marriage was rocky, and we soon separated.

One of my longest and most discussed poems, The Waste Land, was written while I was in England. It began it as a series of verse fragments. Ezra Pound helped me to edit it and mold into an acceptable born. My experience in Europe during the time of World War I provided influence for many of the images in the poem.

In addition to poetry, I also wrote a large amount of literary criticism. I have an immense appreciation for classical literature. One of my favorite classical writers was Dante. I have alluded to his characters in many of poems. I have also directly quoted him. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" opens with an epigraph from Dante's Inferno.

I joined the Church of England in 1927. This would serve as a primary influence for my later poetry. "Ash Wednesday" and "The Journey of the Magi" both have great religious overtones stemming from my new-found church affiliation. "Four Quartets", also written during my church affiliation was considered by some to be my finest work.

Later in my career, I began to write theatrical works. My first play, Murder in the Cathedral was based on the murder of Thomas Becket. The Cocktail Party, first performed in 1949, was well received, and helped to bring about my career as a playwright. Furthermore, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats has become the basis for the Broadway musical, Cats.

I had received many honors in my career, but none of them compares to the Nobel Prize I received in 1948.

That is my life in brief. I could go into greater detail, but a fear it will create false impressions about my poetry. Often detailed knowledge of a poet will cause the reader to falsely connect events in his life to his poetry.

Prufrock is one of my few named characters. Even with a name, he is still left in an ambiguous state. Prufrock is an aging man, contemplating whether he should "Dare Disturb the Universe?" by proposing his love to a woman. He suffers through a great amount of internal conflict before finally retreating back to his melancholy life, without confessing his love.

Social customs dictated that manners must take precedence over the expression of internal feelings. I noticed that it was almost impossible to express true inner feelings. However, the trivial day-to-day routine needed to be preserved. Prufrock was faced with this same conflict brought on by society. He was not willing to express his true feelings because he believed society saw him as an older man who could have no claim on a younger woman.

I wrote "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" using a non-uniform meter and rhyme. Also the various stanzas are not of uniform length. These elements helped to represent the stream-of-consciousness technique I used in the poem. Most of the other literary devices I used here were intended to be 'purposeful accidents', happening just as they would in somebody's thoughts. This also leads to ambiguity. For example, in line one, the you and I could be referring to Prufrock and himself, or Prufrock and his 'lover'.

Similes and metaphors are abundant in the poem. One of the first examples is line 3. This helps to set the tone of the poem, and also emphasizes Prufrock's lack of control of his own life. Also, in the third stanza, an indirect metaphor is used, comparing the yellow smoke to a cat.

Because we are viewing Prufrock's thoughts, a great amount of repetition should be expected. Lines 13 and 14 are repeated again at lines 35-36. Line 26 repeats "There will be time, there will be time". Time is one of the key problems which Prufrock is facing. Has time taken the irreversible toll upon his body? Doesn't he have all the time he wants to confess his love for 'her'? Thus the remainder of that stanza points out different uses of time. (closely paralleling a chapter in Ecclesiastes, which was later turned into a song by the Byrds.) In line 38, "Do I dare?" is repeated twice, interrupted by some tangent thoughts, and finally concluded with "Do I dare disturb the universe". In both of these places repetition is used to emphasize a key point which is later expounded upon.

In his doubting state, Prufrock compares himself to others. In line 94 he alludes to Lazarus. He uses this allusion to exaggerate his oldness. Lazarus was an aged man who was restored from death by Jesus. Prufrock considers his age to be a 'death' to his romantic zeal. Being raised from the dead would restore the romance to his life. However tells himself this is impossible.

The dramatic climax of this poem occurs in line 111. here, Prufrock alludes to Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet. He uses this allusion to show his inferiority, and his inability to declare his love. This is also the dramatic climax of his poem, where all the internal debating comes to an end. He finally gives in to his timid character and starts his journey into a 'dream world'.

In the last three lines, he paints a contrasting picture of a serene ocean setting. Like line one, line 129 includes a mysterious second person. Who is "we" referring to? It could be Prufrock and himself, him and the mermaids, or all humankind. In line 130 the seaweed is red and brown. This symbolizes the decaying of Prufrock's heart. His present dream-like state is destroying his heart. Only the return to reality can stop this destruction.

This poem grew out of my own private background. I was very reserved as a youth, and often contemplated 'disturbing the universe', but usually gave in to my shyness.

30a - street
42 ship ocean
30f - water dude, bridge, grass
21 - blurred water
20 - vine entanglement
85 - dude in tree
41 - ship
30e - rock island
17 - overlooking falls
36 - falls
277 - railroad dude on
424 - horse drawn carriage

Slightly modified biography:

I started my college education at Harvard University. There, I also wrote some of my earliest poetry. I completed my degree in only three years. Some of my observations concerning the social elite in Cambridge served as the background for my early poems. After I completed my degree, I began working on my postgraduate degree. Irving Babbit was my most influential instructor during my post-graduate years. From his lectures, I developed an interest in Buddhism and Sanskrit. I then went to Paris to study literary criticism. In Paris, I especially appreciated Henri Bergson's lectures on the nature of time.

After a brief stint as a teaching assistant at Harvard, I opted to complete my Ph.D. at Oxford. I remained in Europe for most of the remainder of my life. At Oxford, I met Conrad Aiken, whom I had previously known at Harvard. He introduced me to Ezra Pound. Ezra helped me to publish my first book of poetry and helped me refine my poetry. While in England I also met Vivien Haigh-Wood, who would become my wife. Our marriage was rocky, and we soon separated.

One of my longest and most discussed poems, The Waste Land, was written while I was in England. It began it as a series of verse fragments. Ezra Pound helped me edit it and mold it into an acceptable form. My experience in Europe during the time of World War I provided influence for many of the images in the poem.

In addition to poetry, I also wrote a large amount of literary criticism. I have an immense appreciation for classical literature. One of my favorite classical writers was Dante. I have alluded to his characters in many of my poems. I have also directly quoted him. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" opens with an epigraph from Dante's Inferno.

I joined the Church of England in 1927. This would serve as a primary influence for my later poetry. "Ash Wednesday" and "The Journey of the Magi" both have religious overtones stemming from my new-found church affiliation. Four Quartets, also written during my church affiliation, was considered by some to be my finest work.

Later in my career, I began to write theatrical works. My first play, Murder in the Cathedral, was based on the murder of Thomas Becket. The Cocktail Party, first performed in 1949, was well received, and helped to bring about my career as a playwright. Furthermore, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats has become the basis for the Broadway musical, Cats. (Alas, it didn't appear until after my span on earth had passed.)

Suffering from ailing health, my wife died in 1947. Ten years later, I married Valerie Fletcher. This marriage was much better than my previous one, and lasted for the remainder of my life. My life on earth ended in 1965, when my poor health finally took its toll.

That was my life in brief, except for one key event. In 1948 I received the Nobel Prize in literature.