T. S. Eliot's "Love Song"

September 26th: Happy Birthday T. S. Eliot!!

I enjoyed reading Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. From reading the introduction on T. S. Eliot, we learn that the Love Song was not a true “love song” to a woman. This is poem is what Prufrock sang instead, because he “dared” not to approach a woman. The themes of not knowing one’s self, not being able to meet expectations, the bondage of indecisiveness, feeling out of place, having fear, and not being able to say what one truly intends to say, captivated my interest. I felt like this poem had a strong essence of “realness” to it, and I felt like I was able to relate to more material, in comparison to the poetry composed by Yeats.

I feel like a huge part of the poem is this idea that if we are not “free” from other human beings, we are not “free” from ourselves. From the poem, I took it that Prufrock was unable to sing a true love song to a woman because he was too caught up on the opinions and expectations of fellow man.

Do I dare? Do I dare?; Time to turn back and descend the stair, with a bald spot in the middle of my hair— (They will say: “how his hair is growing thin!”); Do I dare, disturb the universe?; I should have been a pair of ragged claws, Scuttling across the floors of silent seas; I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid; It is impossible to say what I mean; I grow old. . . I grow old. . . I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Pulling out some of my favorite lines from the poem, I can feel the insecurities of Prufrock, and the longing to be free from fellow man, so he can therefore be “free” of himself. Through the voice of this poem, I get a sense that this is the most honest Prufrock can ever be with another human being. I liked the epigraph at the beginning of the poem, because Guido (see footnote on Dante’s inferno) is only able to be completely honest with the poet (whom has asked him a question) because he believes the poet will never return to the world alive, so Guido can answer any questions without reservation (because there is no chance of his own infamy). The same goes for Prufrock, who can finally sing what he really feels through this “love song”.