1

Summary, 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 ether a liquid obtained
by combining sulfuric acid and ethyl alcohol to 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 streets the business day has ended, past 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 life,
perhaps 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.
Allusion, overwhelming question (line 10): 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:
....... Did you ever see a British ship, Master Kirby? an English line-of-battle ship, boy? Where
did you 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 did you ever fall in with a fullrigged, 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.
2
Summary, Interpretation: At a social gathering in a room, women discuss the great
Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Prufrock may wonder how they could possibly be interested
in him when they are discussing someone as illustrious as Michelango.
Allusion, The Women . . . Michelangelo (lines 13-14): 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 matresde
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.
3
Summary, 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 arms alone, separate. What this stanza
means is that Prufrock feels inferior and is unable 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).
4
Summary, Interpretation: There's no hurry, though, the speaker tells himself. There will be
time to decide and then to act time 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 things time to dream and then revise those dreams before
sitting down with a woman to take toast and tea.
Allusion, there will be time (line 23): This phrase alludes to the opening line of "To His Coy
Mistress," by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678): "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 moment

to take advantage of youth and "sport us while we may." Prufrock, of course, continually
postpones even meeting a woman, saying "There will be time."
face (line 27): affectation; faade.
Allusion, works and days (line 29): Works and Days is 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.
5
Summary, Interpretation: The women are still coming and going, still talking of
Michelangelo, suggesting that life is repetitive and dull.
6
Summary, 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.
simple pin (line 43): Pin inserted through the tie and shirt to hold the tie in place.
7
Summary, Interpretation: Prufrock realizes that the people here are the same as the people
he has met many times before the same, uninteresting people in the same uninteresting
world. They all even sound the same. So why should he do anything?
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 afternoon in that order. But, since time is a continuous flow to Prufrock, it is just
as correct to think of a day as consisting of morning, afternoon, and evening as a single unit.
Allusion, dying fall (line 52): 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!
8
Summary, Interpretation: He has seen their gazes before, many times gazes 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 himself to them the ordinariness, the mediocrity, of his life?
fix (line 56): Evaluate.
9
Summary, 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 that lie along table (line 67): This phrase echoes line 3.
should I then presume? (line 68): This clause repeats words in lines 54 and 68.
how should I begin? (line 69): This clause repeats words in line 59.
10
Summary, 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 that rises from the pipes (line 71): The smoke becomes part of the haze.
11
Summary, Interpretation: The time passes peacefully. It is as if the afternoon/evening is
sleeping or simply wasting time, stretched out on the floor. Should the speaker sit down with
someone and have dessert should 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 (lines 75-78): This metaphor/personification echoes the simile in lines 2
and 3.
cakes (line 79): Cakes or cookies.
ices (line 79): Ice cream.
Allusion, head brought in upon a platter (line 82): Phrase associated with John the Baptist,
Jewish prophet of the First Century AD 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
BC-AD 39), 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 (line 83): Another allusion to John the Baptist.
Footman (line 85): Servant in a uniform who opens doors, waits on tables, helps people into
carriages. The footman is a symbol of death; he helps a person into the afterlife.
12
Summary, 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 (line 89): glassware or hard, brittle people
Allusion, To have squeezed the universe into a ball (line 92): This phrase is another allusion
to Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress."
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.
Allusion, Lazarus (line 94): 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.
13
Summary, 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 (seesprinkled streets, 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 (line 101): This may be a reference to the practice of wetting dirt streets

with oil or water to control dust.

magic lantern (line 105): Early type of slide projector. The magic lantern (also called
sciopticon) projected an image from a glass plate.
14
Summary, Interpretation: Prufrock and Hamlet (the protagonist of Shakespeare'sHamlet,
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.
Allusion, Prince Hamlet (line 112): Hamlet, the protagonist of Shakespeare'sHamlet, 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,
Polonius. (See next entry.)
Allusion, attendant lord (line 113): Polonius, the lord chamberlain in Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark. 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.
Allusion, progress (line 114): In the time of a Shakespeare, a journey that a king or queen of
England made with his or her entourage,
Allusion, high sentence: The high-flown, pretentious language of Polonius (See
Allusion, attendant lord, just above.)
Allusion, Fool (line 119): Eliot capitalizes this word, suggesting that it refers to a court jester
(also called a fool) in Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. 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 to and even expected
to criticize 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.
15-19
Summary, Interpretation: 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 the bottoms of my trousers rolled (line 121): look youthful and jaunty.
Allusion, mermaids (line 124): In Homer's Odyssey, sea nymphs who sit on a shore and sing
a song so alluring that it attracts all passing sailors who hear it. Then the sailors sit on the
shore, transfixed by the song, until they die. But Odysseus plugs the ears of his men with
wax, so that they are unable to hear, after ordering them to tie him to a mast. Thus, as they
pass the island, Odysseus himself hears the song but cannot go ashore, though he wants to,
because he cannot break free of his bonds.

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 smokeof 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 fourteen. 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 momentu0097Prufrock's bald spot, for example, or the length of his
trousersu0097to 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 arethe
muttering retreats and the women come and go. Examples of concrete language are oystershells (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 Andu009720 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)
Tohave bitten off the matter with a smile,
Tohave squeezed the universe into a ball
Toroll it toward some overwhelming question,
Tosay: u0093I 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.)