I found The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock to be slightly depressing. In
the poem, it seems that he is talking to a women he loves but cannot have
because of his status. He states “I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;”
so he is basically admitting that he is not good enough nor is his status high
enough to even try talking to this woman whom he obviously loves. As the poem progresses however, I am going to
admit that I am totally lost. He talks about parting his hair and whether or
not he should eat a peach or not; “I grow old…I grow old… 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”. While I
did enjoy most of the poem, the other parts left me confused because I
literally feel like he jumps from subject to subject and I cannot really figure
out a specific point he is trying to make. He does say; “I should have been a
pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas” which I
interpret to mean that he possibly feels lonely or is possibly longing for
loneliness.
Is he talking about a woman, or am I just crazy?
Katie, I think he is definitely talking about love. In the opening line, he says, "Let us go, you and I." So it is most likely about his love for another. I was also completely confused by the poem. I have no idea how he ended at mermaids. That's what really got me. I hope to gain some insight from class!
ReplyDeleteHe's not actually talking to the woman, but we are reading his thoughts as he attempts to approach her. The epigraph, an excerpt from Dante's Inferno, is a quote from Guido da Montefeltro who is telling Dante what did he to be sent to hell because he believes Dante will never return to earth to tell the world about it, so Montefeltro feels safe sharing his secrets. Like him, J. Alfred Prufruck is telling us his thoughts and insecurities ("With a bald spot in the middle of my hair"; "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be") hoping that we do not share them with the world. I have no idea what a good deal of the poem is trying to say, but I feel that that is the overall gist of it
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