The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock – T. S. Eliot

The title of this poem is ironic, because it is not a love song at all. It is more of a self-loathing song. The speaker reveals his personal thoughts and internal conflicts. Prufrock is very pensive and overanalyzes everything. He is insecure, self-conscious, and indecisive. At the beginning of the poem he contemplates whether to go to tea to meet a lady. In line 55 Prufrock lets us know he has been over this scenario in his head before: "For I have known them all already, known them all." The women have seen him before too, and they evaluated him like he was pinned to the wall on display. Prufrock has a very negative self-image and believes that he will be rejected by the ladies. He tries to prepare himself psychologically by speculating on what would happen if he decides to go. “And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea” (lines 32-34). He imagines himself going into “the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo” (line 35) and questions “Do I dare? and, Do I dare?” (line 38). He is petrified by the mere suggestion of entering, so he imagines himself turning to leave. But now the women can see the bald spot on the back of his head. He imagines they will talk about his thinning hair and his thin arms and legs. He is afraid of what they will think about his clothes.

As he struggles with all the visions running through his head he reveals more about his personality. The poem alludes to different literary characters such as in line 82 where the speaker imagines his head being brought in on a platter. The text references Matthew 14 where John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod. In the next line the speaker clarifies “I am no prophet – and here’s no great matter.” In line 94 the speaker imagines himself saying “I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all.” This text references John 11 where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But in line 104 Prufrock states “It is impossible to say just what I mean!” Is this because he feels so inadequate or inarticulate? In line 111 the speaker proclaims “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do.” The speaker is not Lazarus or Prince Hamlet. He is a lowly attendant lord. “Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous – Almost, at times, the Fool” (lines 117-119). J. Alfred Prufrock sees himself as a shrunken old man with rolled up trousers.

Through the internal monologue, the speaker reveals his desires, fears, and his inferiority complex as he helplessly and hopelessly tortures himself. Would he tell the ladies he came through the grimy streets like a crab on the floor of the ocean? Would it be worth the torture he would have to endure to have tea and talk to a woman? Would it be worth it to put himself on display? Would they criticize him? His frustration, insecurities and cowardice cause him to retreat and remain trapped inside his own private world. He feels that his life has such insignificance that he has “measured out my life with coffee spoons” (line 51).