Explanation of the Title

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) originally entitled this poem "Prufrock Among the Women." He
changed the title to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" before publishing the poem in Poetry
magazine in 1915.
Love Song

The words "Love Song" seem apt, for one of the definitions of love song is narrative poem. And, of
course, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a narrative, presenting a moment in the life of the title
character. It is also a poem. In addition, the work has characteristics of most love songs, such as repetition
(or refrain), rhyme, and rhythm. It also focuses on the womanly love that eludes Prufrock.
Origin of the Name Prufrock
Eliot took the last name of the title character from a sign advertising the William Prufrock furniture
company, a business in Eliot's hometown, St. Louis, while he was growing up. The initial J. and name
Alfred are inventions, probably mimicking the way Eliot occasionally signed his name as a young adult:
T. Stearns Eliot.
Type of Work: Dramatic Monologue
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a is a modernistic poem in the form of a dramatic monologue. A
dramatic monologue presents a moment in which a narrator/speaker discusses a topic and, in so doing,
reveals his personal feelings to a listener. Only the narrator, talkshence the term monologue, meaning
"single (mono) discourse (logue)." During his discourse, the speaker intentionally and unintentionally
reveals information about himself. The main focus of a dramatic monologue is this personal information,
not the speaker's topic. A dramatic monologue is a type of character study. For more about modernistic
writing click on either or both these links: Link 1, Link 2.
The Speaker/Narrator
The poem centers on a balding, insecure middle-aged man. He expresses his thoughts about the dull,
uneventful, mediocre life he leads as a result of his feelings of inadequacy and his fear of making
decisions. Unable to seize opportunities or take risks (especially with women), he lives in a world that is
the same today as it was yesterday and will be the same tomorrow as it is today. He does try to make
progress, but his timidity and fear of failure inhibit him from taking action.
Setting
The action takes place in the evening in a bleak section of a smoky city. This city is probably St. Louis,
where Eliot (1888-1965) grew up. But it could also be London, to which Eliot moved in 1914. However,
Eliot probably intended the setting to be any city anywhere.
Characters
J. Alfred Prufrock: The speaker/narrator, a timid, overcautious middle-aged man. He escorts his silent
listener through streets in a shabby part of a city, past cheap hotels and restaurants, to a social gathering
where women he would like to meet are conversing. However, he is hesitant to take part in the activity for
fear of making a fool of himself.
The Listener: An unidentified companion of Prufrock. The listener could also be Prufrock's inner self,
one that prods him but fails to move him to action.

The Women: Women at a social gathering. Prufrock would like to meet one of them but worries that she
will look down on him.
The Lonely Men in Shirtsleeves: Leaning out of their windows, they smoke pipes. They are like
Prufrock in that they look upon a scene but do not become part of it. The smoke from their pipes helps
form the haze over the city, the haze that serves as a metaphor for a timid catwhich is Prufrock.
Themes
Loneliness and Alienation: Prufrock is a pathetic man whose anxieties and obsessions have isolated
him.
Indecision: Prufrock resists making decisions for fear that their outcomes will turn out wrong.
Inadequacy: Prufrock continually worries that he will make a fool of himself and that people will ridicule
him for his clothes, his bald spot, and his overall physical appearance.
Pessimism: Prufrock sees only the negative side of his own life and the lives of others.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

By T.S. Eliot
First Published in 1915 in Poetry Magazine
.
Text of the Poem

Explanations and Comments

Epigraph
S'io credesse che mia riposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al
mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu
scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo
fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s' i'odo il
vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Spoken by Count Guido da
Montefeltro, a Damned Soul in the
Eighth Circle of Hell in Dante's
Divine Comedy, the Inferno, Canto
27, Lines 61-66.
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out
against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a
table;

Translation
If I thought my answer were to one who could return to the world,
I would not reply, but as none ever did return alive from this
depth, without fear of infamy I answer thee.
Translation by G.B. Harrison et al., eds. Major British Writers.
Shorter ed. New York: Harcourt. 1967, Page 1015.
Comment: Eliot opens "The Love Song" with this quotation from
Dante's epic poem to suggest that Prufrock, like Count Guido, is
in hell. But Prufrock is in a hell on eartha hell in the form of a
modern, impersonal city with smoky skies. The quotation also
points out that Prufrock, again like Count Guido, can present his
feelings "without fear of infamy."

Interpretation
The speaker invites the listener to walk with him into the streets
on an evening that resembles a patient, anesthetized with ether,
lying on the table of a hospital operating room. (Until recent
times, physicians used ethera liquid obtained by combining

Let us go, through certain halfdeserted streets,

The muttering retreats
5
Of restless nights in one-night cheap
hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oystershells:
Streets that follow like a tedious
argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming
question
10
Oh, do not ask, What is it?
Let us go and make our visit.

sulfuric acid and ethyl alcoholto render patients unconscious

before an operation.) The imagery suggests that the evening is
lifeless and listless. The speaker and the listener will walk through
lonely streetsthe business day has endedpast cheap hotels and
restaurants with sawdust on the floors. (Sawdust was used to
absorb spilled beverages and food, making it easy to sweep up at
the end of the day.) The shabby establishments will remind the
speaker of his own shortcomings, their images remaining in his
mind as he walks on. They will then prod the listener to ask the
speaker a question about the speaker's lifeperhaps why he visits
these seedy haunts, which are symbols of his life, and why he has
not acted to better himself or to take a wife?
overwhelming question: (See Allusions and References, below.)

In the room the women come and

go
Talking of Michelangelo.

Interpretation
At a social gathering in a room, women discuss the Renaissance
artist Michelangelo.
Comment: If the women are speaking of the great Michelango,
how could the lowly Prufrock possibly be of interest to them? Or
so Prufrock may think.

The yellow fog that rubs its back

upon the window-panes,
15
The yellow smoke that rubs its
muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of
the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in
drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that
falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a
sudden leap,
20
And seeing that it was a soft
October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell
asleep.

Interpretation
Smoky haze spreads across the city. The haze is like a quiet, timid
cat padding to and fro, rubbing its head on objects, licking its
tongue, and curling up to sleep after allowing soot to fall upon it.
The speaker resembles the cat as he looks into windows or into
"the room," trying to decide whether to enter and become part of
the activity. Eventually, he curls up in the safety and security of
his own soft armsalone, separate.
Comment, Lines 17-19: Prufrock alludes to his inferiority as well
as his inability to act decisively: He consigns himself to corners,
as a timid person might at a dance; stands idly by doing nothing,
as does a stagnant pool; and becomes the brunt of ridicule or
condescension the soot that falls on him.
October night: See Study Questions and Essay Topics, below

And indeed there will be time

For the yellow smoke that slides
along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the windowpanes;
25
There will be time, there will be
time
To prepare a face to meet the faces
that you meet;
There will be time to murder and
create,
And time for all the works and days

Interpretation
There's no hurry, though, the speaker tells himself. There will be
time to decide and then to acttime to put on the right face and
demeanor to meet people. There will be time to kill and time to
act; in fact, there will be time to do many things. There will even
be time to think about doing thingstime to dream and then revise
those dreamsbefore sitting down with a woman to take toast and
tea.
there will be time: (See Allusions and References, below.)
face: affectation; faade
works and days: (See Allusions and References, below.)

of hands
That lift and drop a question on your
plate;
30
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred
indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and
revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and
go
35
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, Do I dare? and, Do I
dare?
Time to turn back and descend the
stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my
hair
40
[They will say: How his hair is
growing thin!]
My morning coat, my collar
mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but
asserted by a simple pin
[They will say: But how his arms
and legs are thin!]
Do I dare
45
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a
minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already,
known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings,
afternoons,
50
I have measured out my life with
coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying
fall
Beneath the music from a farther
room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already,
known them all
55
The eyes that fix you in a formulated
phrase,
And when I am formulated,

Interpretation
The women are still coming and going, still talking of
Michelangelo, suggesting that life is repetitive and dull.

Interpretation
Prufrock says there will be time to wonder whether he dares to
approach a woman. He feels like turning back. After all, he has a
bald spot, thinning hair, and thin arms and legs. Moreover, he has
doubts about the acceptability of his clothing. What will people
think of him? Does he dare to approach a woman? He will think
about it and make a decision, then reverse the decision. Of course,
he realizes that the people here are the same as the people he has
met many times beforethe same, uninteresting people in the same
uninteresting world. They all even sound the same. So why should
he do anything?
simple pin: pin inserted through the tie and shirt to hold the tie in
place
dying fall: (See Allusions and References, below.)

Interpretation
He has seen their gazes before, many timesgazes that form an
opinion of him, treating him like a butterfly or another insect
pinned into place in a display. How will he be able to explain

sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on
the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my
days and ways?
60
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already,
known them all
Arms that are braceleted and white
and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with
light brown hair!]
It is perfume from a dress
65
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap
about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk
through narrow streets
70
And watched the smoke that rises
from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves,
leaning out of windows?
I should have been a pair of ragged
claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent
seas.
And the afternoon, the evening,
sleeps so peacefully!
75
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep tired or it
malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside
you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and
ices,
Have the strength to force the
moment to its crisis?
80
But though I have wept and fasted,
wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown
slightly bald] brought in upon a
platter,
I am no prophetand heres no great
matter;

himself to themthe ordinariness, the mediocrity, of his life?

fix: evaluate

Interpretation
Yes, he has known women like these before, wearing jewelry but
really bare, lacking substance. Why is he thinking about them?
Perhaps it is the smell of a woman's perfume.
Arms . . . table: This phrase echoes Line 3.
should . . . presume? This clause repeats words in Lines 54 and
68.
how . . . begin? This clause repeats words in Line 59.

Interpretation
Will he tell a woman that he came through narrow streets, where
lonely men (like Prufrock) lean out of windows watching life go
by but not taking part in it? He should have been nothing more
than crab claws in the depths of the silent ocean.
smoke . . . pipes: The smoke becomes part of the haze (Lines 1516).

Interpretation
The time passes peacefully, as if sleeping, very tiredor it simply
wastes time, stretched out on the floor. Should the speaker sit
down with someone and have dessertshould he take a chance,
make an acquaintance, live? Oh, he has suffered; he has even
imagined his head being brought in on a platter, like the head of
John the Baptist. Of course, unlike John, he is no prophet. He has
seen his opportunities pass and even seen death up close, holding
his coat, snickering. He has been afraid.
evening . . . floor: This metaphor/personification echoes the
simile in Lines 2 and 3.
cakes and ices: cakes or cookies, ice cream
head . . . platter: (See Allusions and References, below.)
Footman: servant in a uniform who opens doors, waits on tables,
helps people into carriages. The footman is a symbol of death.
(See Allusions and References, below.)

I have seen the moment of my

greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman
hold my coat, and snicker,
85
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it,
after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the
tea,
Among the porcelain, among some
talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth
while,
90
To have bitten off the matter with a
smile,
To have squeezed the universe into
a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming
question,
To say: I am Lazarus, come from
the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell
you all
95
If one, settling a pillow by her
head,
Should say: That is not what I
meant at all.
That is not it, at all.
And would it have been worth it,
after all,
Would it have been worth
while,
100
After the sunsets and the dooryards
and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups,
after the skirts that trail along the
floor
And this, and so much more?
It is impossible to say just what I
mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the
nerves in patterns on a
screen:
105
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing
off a shawl,
And turning toward the window,
should say:
That is not it at all,

Interpretation
Would it have been worth it for the speaker while drinking tea to
try to make a connection with one of the women? Would it have
been worth it to arise from his lifeless life and dare to engage in
conversation with a woman, only to have her criticize him or
reject him.
porcelain: the glassware or hard, brittle people
To . . . ball: (See Allusions and References, below.)
Lazarus: (See Allusions and References, below.)

Interpretation
Would it have been worth it, considering all the times he would be
with the woman at sunset or with her in a dooryard? Would it
have been worth it after all the mornings or evenings when
workmen sprinkled the streets (see below), after all the novels he
would discuss with her over tea, after all the times he heard the
drag of her skirt along the floor, after so many other occasions?
Would it have been worth it if, after plumping a pillow or
throwing off her shawl, she turned casually toward a window and
told him that he was mistaken about her intentions toward him?
sprinkled streets: This may be a reference to the practice of
wetting dirt streets with oil or water to control dust.
magic lantern: early type of slide projector. The magic lantern
(also called sciopticon) projected an image from a glass plate.

That is not what I meant, at all.

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor
was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will
do
To swell a progress, start a scene or
two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy
tool,
Deferential, glad to be of
use,
115
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit
obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous

Interpretation
Prufrock and Hamlet (the protagonist of Shakespeare's Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark) are both indecisive. But Prufrock lacks the
majesty and charisma of Hamlet. Therefore, he fancies himself as
Polonius, the busybody lord chamberlain in Shakespeare's
play.
progress: In the time of a Shakespeare, a journey that a king or
queen of England made with his or her entourage
high sentence: The high-flown, pretentious language of Polonius
(See paragraph just above.)
Prince Hamlet: (See Allusions and References, below.)
attendant lord: : (See Allusions and References, below.)

Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old I grow old

120
I shall wear the bottoms of my
trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I
dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers,
and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing,
each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to
me.
125
I have seen them riding seaward on
the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves
blown back
When the wind blows the water
white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of
the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed
red and brown
130
Till human voices wake us, and we
drown.
.

The speaker realizes that time is passing and that he is growing

old. However, like other men going through a middle-age crisis,
he considers changing his hairstyle and clothes. Like Odysseus in
the Odyssey, he has heard the song of the sirens. However, they
are not singing to him.
wear . . . rolled: to look youthful and jaunty
mermaids: (See Allusions and References, below.)

Allusions and Other References

The Women Come and Go Talking of Michelango: Eliot borrowed most of this line from the
Uruguayan-born French poet Jules LaForgue (1860-1887). In one of his works, LaForgue wrote (in
French): Dans la piece les femmes vont et viennent / En parlant des matres de Sienne. Here is the loose
translation: In the room the women go and come while speaking of the Siennese (painting) masters.

Michelangelo: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564), Renaissance sculptor, painter,

and architect and one of the greatest artists in history. He sculpted the famous David for the Duomo
Cathedral in Florence, painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, and designed the dome of
St. Peter's Basilica, also in Vatican City.

Works and Days: A long poem by Hesiod, a Greek writer who lived in the 700's B.C. "Works" refers to
farm labor and "Days" to periods of the year for performing certain agricultural chores. The poem,
addressed to Hesiod's brother, was intended to instruct readers, stressing the importance of hard work and
right living and condemning moral decay.

Overwhelming Question: Eliot appears to have borrowed this phrase from James Fenimore Cooper's
1823 novel, The Pioneers, one of five novels that make up The Leatherstocking Tales (1823-1841), about
life on the frontier in early America. When he was a youth, Eliot read and enjoyed The Pioneers. In the
novel, one of the characters, Benjamin, asks a series of questions ending with the "overwhelming
question." Following is the passage:
.......Didee ever see a British ship, Master Kirby? an English line-of-battle ship, boy? Where
didee ever fall in with a regular built vessel, with starn-post and cutwater, gar board-streak and
plank-shear, gangways, and hatchways, and waterways, quarter-deck, and forecastle, ay, and
flush-deck?tell me that, man, if you can; where away didee ever fall in with a full-rigged,
regular-built, necked vessel?
.......The whole company were a good deal astounded with this overwhelming question, and even
Richard afterward remarked that it was a thousand pities that Benjamin could not read, or he
must have made a valuable officer to the British marine.
Evenings, Mornings, Afternoons: This phrase, as well as others focusing on time, refers obliquely to the
philosophy of Henri Bergson (1859-1941), author of a revolutionary and highly influential work, Time
and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness. In this work, he argued that the mind
perceives time as a continuous process, a continuous flow, rather than as a series of measurable units as
tracked by a clock or a calendar or by scientific calculation. It is not a succession, with one unit following
another, but a duration in which present and past are equally real. Ordinarily, we think of a day as
consisting of morning, evening, and afternoonin that order. But, since time is a continuous flow to
Prufrock, it is just as correct to think of a day as consisting of evening, morning, and afternoon. Besides,
morning does follow evening.
There will be time: This phrase replies to the opening line of "To His Coy Mistress," by Andrew (16211678): "Had we but world enough, and time." In Marvell's poem, the speaker/persona urges his beloved
not to be coy but instead to seize the momentto take advantage of youth and "sport us while we may."
Prufrock, of course, continually postpones even meeting a woman, saying "There will be time."

To Have Squeezed the Universe into a Ball: This phrase is another allusion to Marvell's "To His Coy
Mistress" (See previous entry.) In the last stanza of that poem, the speaker/persona says, " Let us roll all
our strength and all / Our sweetness up into one ball." In Eliot's poem, the speaker asks whether it would
have been worth it to do the same thing with a woman of his choosing.
Footman: Death as someone who helps a person into the afterlife.
Dying Fall: Phrase borrowed from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Duke Orsino speaks it in Line 4 of Act I,
Scene I. Here is the passage in which the phrase appears:
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour!
Lazarus: Name of two New Testament figures: (1) Lazarus of Bethany, brother of Martha and Mary.
Jesus raised him from the dead (Gospel of John, Chapter 11: Verses 18, 30, 32, 38); (2) Lazarus, a leprous
beggar (Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16: Verses 19-31). When Lazarus died, he was taken into heaven. When
a rich man named Dives died, he went to hell. He requested that Lazarus be returned to earth to warn his
brothers about the horror of hell, but his request was denied.
John the Baptist: Jewish prophet of the First Century A.D. who urged people to reform their lives and
who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. John denounced Herod Antipas (4 B.C.-39
A.D.), the Roman-appointed ruler of Galilee and Perea, for violating the law of Moses by marrying
Herodias, the divorced wife of his half-brother, Philip. (Herod Antipas and Philip were sons of Herod the
Great, the Roman-appointed ruler of Judea.) In retaliation, Herod Antipas imprisoned John but was afraid
to kill him because of his popularity with the people. Salome, the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter
of Herod Antipas, danced at a birthday party for Herod Antipas. Her performance was so enthralling that
Herod said she could have any reward of her choice. Prompted by Herodias, who was outraged by John
the Baptist's condemnation of her marriage, Salome asked for the head of the Baptist on a platter. Because
he did not want to go back on his word, Herod fulfilled her request. John was a cousin of Mary, the
mother of Jesus. Accounts of his activities appear in the Bible in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John and in the Acts of the Apostles.
Prophet: Another reference to John the Baptist. (See previous entry.)
Hamlet: The protagonist of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, famous for his hesitancy and
indecision while plotting to avenge the murder of his father, King Hamlet, by the king's brother, Claudius.
Prufrock is like young Hamlet in that the latter is also indecisive. However, Prufrock decides not to
compare himself with Hamlet, who is charismatic and even majestic in spite of his shortcomings. Instead,
Prufrock compares himself with an unimpressive character in the Shakespeare play, an attendant lord.
(See next entry.)
Attendant Lord: Polonius, the lord chamberlain in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. (See previous entry for
background.) Polonius, a bootlicking advisor to the new king, Claudius, sometimes uses a whole
paragraph of important-sounding words to say what most other people could say in a simple declarative
sentence. His pedantry makes him look foolish at times. Prufrock, of course, is worried that the words he
speaks will make him look foolish, too.

Fool: Eliot capitalizes this word, suggesting that it refers to a court jester (also called a fool) in Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark, referred to in previous lines. (See the two previous entries.) There is no living fool in
Hamlet, but there is a dead one, Yorick. In a famous scene in the play, two men are digging the grave of
Ophelia when they unearth the skull of Yorick while Hamlet is present. Picking it up, Hamlet says,
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
In the courts of England in Shakespeare's time, a fool was a comic figure with a quick tongue who
entertained the king, the queen, and their guests. He was allowed toand even expected tocriticize
anyone at court. Many fools were dwarfs or cripples, their odd appearance enhancing their appeal and,
according to prevailing beliefs, bringing good luck to the court.
Mermaids: Probably an allusion to the sirens in Homer's Odyssey.
Style
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a modernistic poem that expresses the thoughts of the title
character via the following:
Conversational Language Combined With the Stylized Language of Poetry. For example, the poem opens
straightforwardly with "Let us go then, you and I." It then presents a bizarre personification/simile with
end rhyme (Lines 2 and 3), comparing the evening to an anesthetized hospital patient. End rhyme
continues throughout most of the poem, as does the use of striking figures of speech. The figures of
speech generally refer in some way to Prufrock. The anesthetized hospital patient, for example, represents
the indecisiveness of Prufrock. The yellow fog and yellow smoke of Lines 15 and 16 are compared in
succeeding lines to a timid cat, which represents the timidity of Prufrock.

Variations in Line Length and Meter. Some lines contain only three words. Others contain as many as 14.
The meter also varies.

Shifts in the Train of Thought: The train of thought sometimes shifts abruptly, without transition,
apparently in imitation of the way the human mind works when it dreams or daydreams or reacts to an
external stimulus.

Shifts in Topics Under Discussion: The subject under discussion sometimes shifts abruptly, from trifling
matters one momentPrufrock's bald spot, for example, or the length of his trousersto time and the
universe the next.

Shifts From Abstract to Concrete (and Universal to Particular): The poem frequently toggles between (1)
the abstract or universal and (2) the concrete or specific. Examples of abstract language are muttering

retreats (Line 5) and tedious argument of insidious intent (Lines 8-9). Examples of phrases or clauses
with universal nouns are the muttering retreats and the women come and go. Examples of concrete
language are oyster-shells (Line 7) and soot (Line 19). Examples of particular (specific) language are
Michelangelo (Line 14) and October (Line 21).

Shifts From Obvious Allusions or References to Oblique Allusions or References: Prufrock quotes,
paraphrases, or cites historical or fictional persons, places, things, or ideas. Some of his references are
easy to fathom. For example, everyone with a modicum of education knows who Michelangelo was (Line
14). Other references are difficult to fathom. For example, few readers realize that To Have Squeezed the
Universe into a Ball (Line 92) is a variation of a line written by poet Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). In his
use of allusions, Eliot apparently wanted to show that Prufrock was well read and retained bits and pieces
of what he read in his memory, like all of us.
Use of Repetition
Eliot repeats certain words and phrases several or many times, apparently to suggest the repetition and
monotony in Prufrock's life. Notice, for example, how often he begins a line with And20 times. He also
repeats other words as well as phrases and clauses, including the following:
Let us go
In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo
There will be time
Do I dare
Should I presume
I have known
Would it have been worth it
Figures of Speech: Examples From the Poem
Simile: Lines 2-3
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table
(Prufrock uses like to compare the evening to a patient)
Personifications, Simile: Lines 8-9
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
(Personification 1: Streets become persons because they follow. Personification 2: An argument
becomes a person because it has insidious intent. Simile: Use of like to compare streets to an
argument)
Metaphor: Lines 15-22
Yellow fog and yellow smoke are both compared to a living creature. It is obvious that the
creature is a cat. (It licks its tongue, leaps, and curls up.) /
Metaphor: Line 51
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
(Life is compared to coffee.)
Alliteration
Lines 20-21: Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,

Line 34: Before the taking of a toast and tea

Line 56: fix you in a formulated phrase)
Line 58: When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall
Metaphor: Line 58
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall
(Prufrock compares himself to an insect preserved for display in a collection)
Personification/Metaphor: Line 75
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
(Personification: The evening is a sleeping person; Metaphor: The evening is compared to a
person.)
Anaphora (Lines 91-94)
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: I am Lazarus, come from the dead
(For a definition of anaphora, see Literary Terms.)
Hyperbole and Metaphor: Lines 92-93
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question
(Hyperbole and Metaphor: The universe becomes a ball that is rolled.)