Eric Hemphill The Swan Song of J. Alfred Prufrock P.

Bertolini- ENAM 103 10/20/11

The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a heart-wrenching poem about a man who has such low
confidence and self-image that he believes he is unable to interact with women at all. This passage
describes the dichotomy that Prufrock is facing; on one hand he feels as though he can be suave and
poetic, but he fears that intentions will be misinterpreted and he will be rejected. He is incapable of
creating a positive self-image, which is the reason he cannot give himself the confidence to be
sociable with women. As a result of his lack of confidence and fear of rejection, he is also powerless
to face even himself.
The setting in the passage from lines 75 to 110 isnt clear because the whole poem is a
stream of consciousness. However, if we analyze the flow of his thoughts, we can understand what
kind of situation he is in and make a guess as to where this passage is taking place. We can gather
that he is sitting down after tea and cakes and ices. The opening to the first verse, lines 75 to 78,
make Prufrock sound very eloquent and suave, yet he has told us over and over again he has no
such capacity for speaking out loud, therefore I would assume these words are part of his thoughts.
The passage is told in the rhythm of his stream of consciousness, which allows us to follow his exact
train of thought as it develops from one idea to the next, racing when he becomes excited, and slows
when he becomes upset. Whether he is with others or alone is left ambiguous, as it could be read
either as an internal monologue directed a woman next to him, or directed at a memory of a woman
he saw in the past. We can see this ambiguity in the fact that he does think (as this is a stream of
consciousness) beside you and me and talk of you and me on lines 78 and 89 respectively.
However, while he does reference these other people, whom I assume are women, I do not sense
any real feeling of interaction, only imagined interaction stemming from his later conjectures on the
value of these possible relationships. Therein lies the ambiguity. As the lines could be a recollection
of an interaction with a woman or they could be his personal stream of consciousness at a dinner
party with a woman actually sitting next to him.
Either way, we can glean from the language and imagery that Elliot uses to see truly how
meek and self-doubting Prufrock really is from these actual or imagined monologues. The beginning
of the first stanza contrasts in poetic eloquence from the rest of the passage by an order of
magnitude. And the afternoon, the eveninghere beside you and me(1.75-78). This might be a
glimpse of what Prufrock feels inside, but is not comfortable enough taking the chance at
articulating it publicly. These lines allow us to see Prufrock not completely hopeless, as what is able
to articulate in his consciousness is not lost to the same fear of rejection as he thinks his spoken
words will be. However, one word breaks up the otherwise peaceful and soothing tone of the lines:
malingers. Finishing off a line with two ellipses, it gives the whole flow a very dissonant sound
and feeling. Talking about the afternoon skirting its duties, or rather referring to him feigning
excuses to escape social interaction. His mind is continually bringing itself back to the cold reality of
self-doubt, which keeps him from making his breakthrough later in the second stanza. After
noticing this higher language, Prufrock is no longer as miserably meek as the rest of the poem
portrays him to be, rather, we can see him as eloquent but merely caged by his self-doubt and fear
of rejection.
He is constantly contemplating the outcomes of all of these various actions in the conditional
tense and backing down from the contemplations. In the first paragraph he asks Should I, after tea
and cakes and ices, / Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?(1.79-80). In the second
stanza he contemplates the value of asking his one overwhelming question and in the third, the
value of courtship and marriage with a Would it have been worthwhile. He doesnt even think
about acting upon them as he feels like getting to those points mean crossing the hurdles of social
interaction and the thereby the possibility of rejection. They are only to be thoughts and lofty
ambitions left to be contemplated privately. He doesnt use anything other than the conditional,
except when talking about himself, which shows how afraid he is to step outside of the comfort of
his own existence to reach out and accept the relations of another.
T.S. Elliot uses imagery to flesh out Prufrocks self-image, which helps us to understand how
Prufrock sees himself, and thereby understand why he acts and thinks the way he does. Starting off
with Elliots allusion to John the Baptist to allude to the story in the Gospel of Matthew, where John
gets his head cut off and brought to her by the order of Salome, whose marriage John condemned.
Here he says that he has seen his head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter (1.82). The
specific addition of his slightly bald head conjures up an unpleasant image. However, Elliot uses
the play on the allusion in order to show us Prufrocks overblown self-image insecurities and
however true they are, as they are never as bad as being put on a platter in the center of attention
for everyone to see. The reference is also alluding to the fact that John the Baptist got killed for
speaking his mind, and he is afraid to speak his mind. Although he follows that up with I am no
prophetand heres no great matter. He is saying that he isnt that important and isnt going to
speak his mind, and therefore will not have his head figuratively put on a platter in front of
everyone.
In the lines following, Prufrock says he has seen the moment ofhold my coat, and
snicker(1.84-5). These lines explain that he has seen his moments of youth and greatness flicker,
or reveal themselves for a very short while, and then go out. We can picture a candle dimming and
then going out and the time for Prufrock passing. Then, in the darkness of his extinguished
greatness, we get the image of the Eternal Footman holding his coat and snickering. The Grim
Reaper standing there laughing at him, creates a very looming feeling of doom and death, but also a
feeling of eternal loneliness, as though the reaper is laughing at how pathetic and afraid he is of
social interaction with these women.
In order to interpret the resolution of this passage, we must look at the two allusions that
Elliot makes in the second stanza. He alludes to Marvells poem To his Coy Mistress as well as to
the Gospel of Matthew and the resurrection of Lazarus in order to create the build up and set up the
decline afterwards. In To His Coy Mistress, Marvell is advocating for a Carpe diem-like attitude
towards life. The poem is about seizing the moment and living life to its fullest. This transitions
immediately into his reference to the resurrection of Lazarus, who was brought back from the dead
by Jesus Christ, as detailed in the Gospel of John. He uses these two in conjunction to allow us to see
the near success of Prufrock. While questioning if all of the social interactions are worthwhile,
Prufrock contemplates the action of actually taking the risk and squeeze the universe into a ball /
To roll it towards some overwhelming question(1.92-3). He begins to gain some momentum and
composure while he is doing so. The reference to Marvell bolsters this interpretation by connecting
it to lively attitude to give Prufrock the feeling he is going to go out there and stand up with
confidence and ask that woman that overwhelming question. Continuing his conjecture, he moves
to reference Lazarus with a resounding I am Lazarus, come from the dead, /Come back to tell you
all, I shall tell you all(1.94-95) and then peters off. He gathers up more momentum by making the
reference to sound like he has come back from the dead of self-doubt and negativity to stand on
top and tell everyone else what he learned. But then, he snaps back down from his adrenaline rush
and realizes the possibility rejection. He stops to then think in the last lines of this paragraph (lines
96 -98) that some woman is explaining that her intentions were misinterpreted and that she
doesnt like him after all. As those last lines do not appropriately fit being said by Prufrock, they feel
too solemn and much more like the rejection that Prufrock fears than an apology.
So in fact, Prufrock doesnt succeed, rather he reaches yet another realization of failure. This
passage functions to show us that Prufrock is, in fact, unable to break free of the cycle of fear he
finds himself in. We are only bystanders to this tragedy; watching as Prufrock continually sinks
himself deeper and deeper into self-doubt. His understanding of himself is not deepened in the
passage, but I see it has instead swallowed. He brings himself to the verge of confidence, the verge
of a breakthrough, but then shrinks away from rejection and back into the comfort of his own self-
rejection. Prufrock is destined to always be alone and afraid, and this passage offers a call to the
reader to realize the ridiculousness and uselessness of the self-doubt that Prufrock faces.