The Love Song

T. S. Elliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” begins with a short passage in Italian from Dante’s “Inferno”. The passage tells the tale of a damned man telling Dante his story in confidence, because he knows that it cannot be retold since all are trapped in eternal hell. Since the audience knows that this poem is in fact a love song, the introductory passage presents the idea that the love song is only told because its author believes that it will never be heard. This knowledge in combination with his odd name, begin to shape the personality the audience creates for Alfred Prufrock. The rest of the poem can be divided into seven distinct sections. Each section expresses the lamentation he feels because he did not act on his love. The poem begins romantically, with the evening “spread out against the sky,” but suddenly we find ourselves being led through “half-deserted streets.” Alfred continues to describe the filthy, polluted streets of a city we can infer is London (since T.S. Elliott lived in England). We can feel that at this point in the poem, Alfred is young. He constantly mentions having time ahead of him. He says that there is “time yet for a hundred indecisions.” He does not seem to be concerned about the future. He also appears to be avoiding some “overwhelming question,” leading us through the filthy streets of London rather than addressing the question. As we progress to sections three and four, Alfred is aging. He has a “bald spot” and his “arms and legs are thin!”. He has “measured out” life with “coffee spoons.” This metaphor is included to show he feels he has wasted his life away. The question he was trying to avoid at the beginning of the poem remains, and Alfred is growing more concerned. He tries to convince himself that “there is time” to go back, yet he is not capable to. The poem grows increasingly desperate. Alfred believes that he “should have been a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” In other words, he believes himself to be scavenger, who stays isolated and survives on others’ scraps. He now knows there is no more time. He laments all of the things that he should have done, but did not because he was “afraid.” The final section of the poem is where the audience fully faces Alfred’s low self-esteem and remorse. He hears mermaids on the beach, but does not believe that they will sing to him. He is insecure about his appearance, and still he grows older. Alfred regrets “having lingered in the chambers of the sea,” but by the time he woke up, he drowned. His whole life Alfred was “afraid” of a “thousand indecisions,” but by the time he was ready to face his “overwhelming question” it is too late. The time has passed, and all he has left is regret. I believe that this poem is more a confession than a love song. Alfred seems to be sharing his story as a way to relieve frustration he had trapped within himself his whole life.