Journal 17

Name: Erin

Journal 17 - “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot (p.775)

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?

The epigraph of this poem is a six-line quotation from Canto of the Inferno by the Renaissance Italian poet Dante Alighieri .. the italian term " Inferno" means the horrors of Hell. Eliot doesn’t translate it out of the Italian, which makes people think Eliot is a snob and showy. He was absolutely and totally obsessed with Dante and maybe he thought other people loved Dante as much as he did – enough to translate the quote for themselves. Dante is really curious to know why Guido ended up so far down in Hell. But Guido is selfish. He’s afraid that people back on earth will find out about the horrible stuff he did – he’s concerned about his reputation. On the other hand, Guido knows that no one has ever entered Hell and made it out again, so he figures that it's safe to tell his story because Dante is stuck here. Unfortunately for Guido, Dante is the first human ever to be allowed to pass through Hell and "return to earth," so people do eventually find out about Guido’s sins.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?

His questions are very random and he tends to ramble on. He asks should I eat a peach, should I party my hair form behind, ect. He frequently asks ‘do I dare?’’. The questions all have aapattern, asking should I, or should I not. He is very unsure about what to do so he questions himself until he can figure out what he wants, or overcome his sense of introversion.

1. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

The major conflict of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is an internal conflict for the narrator. In the poem, he is speaking to a desired lover, and it is clear that he wishes to tell her how he feels. However, for some reason he dosent.

2. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?

Eliot's interest in music is made evident in the title, but the term "love song" is used loosely here. The poem centers on the feelings and thoughts of the persona, J. Alfred Prufrock, as he walks to meet a woman for tea and considers a question he feels compelled to ask her (something along the lines of "Will you marry me?"). He never arrives at tea, let alone sings to the woman. The poem is composed of Prufrock's own neurotic associations. Over the course of the poem, he sets up analogies between himself and various familiar cultural figures, among them Hamlet. This establishes a connection with Hamlet's famous soliloquy ("To be or not to be?—That is the question"). Prufrock's doubt that he deserves the answer he desires from this woman transforms the poem into a kind of interior monologue or soliloquy in which "To be or not to be?" is for Prufrock "To be what?" and "What or who am I to ask this woman to marry me?"