T.S. Eliot

Oh T.S. Eliot. The memories of reading The Waste Land pop into mind. Good times. Hard times. And oh the amount of time it took to read each line out loud in the classroom.


I have always enjoyed T.S. Eliot’s work. Like several of the works we have studied in this class, I was also required to read The Waste Land and the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. I wish some of Eliot’s other poetry would have been provided by our anthology. Perhaps the Four Quartets. Anyways enough of that.

The Love Son of J. Alfred Prufrock is probably one of my favorites by Eliot. I enjoy watching this man struggle with himself in an attempt to find the courage to speak to a woman which is shown in the lines:

“In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, ‘Do I dare?’ and, ‘Do I dare?” (1195).

Prufrock seems to be struggling with his confidence. It seems that he is lacking confidence because his hair is growing thin and his arms and legs are thin. I believe that people are always struggling with themselves to do something that they do not believe that they are capable of doing or just struggling with themselves to believe in themselves.

Prufrock explains,

“For I have known them all already, known them all—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;” (1195).

This to me shows that Prufrock believes he has all ready seen all the good things that will occur in his life and there being so few he is able to measure them with coffee spoons. I have ALWAYS been very fond of this line and it is probably my favorite in the whole poem. I am sure there are several people who look at their lives and think that there has been very little happiness in their lives. Imagine a coffee spoon. Imagine being able to measure out your life with them, all the meaning to your life fitting in a few coffee spoons. I have often wondered what kind of effect this line would have if Eliot had wrote serving spoons rather than coffee spoons. Would we get the same idea that Prufrock has lived such a sad and pitiful life?

Near the end of the poem one feels that Prufrock may have finally found the courage to speak to one of the women. However he then declares “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be…At time, indeed, almost ridiculous—Almost, at times, the Fool.” (1197). This to me shows that he has not found the courage that everyone hopes he will and he is still very self conscious about his appearance and self. And that is very upsetting. I feel almost as if Eliot is trying to explain to us that we may never be able to win the fights we have with ourselves. Maybe perhaps he is trying to encourage us to not give up and to keep fighting in order to become a better person and achieve more in our lives.