My computer is basically broken which is making writing this paper and this blog post very hard, but bear with me. Hopefully the spelling is good because I'm typing this whole thing on my phone....here we go.
So the best part about this poem is that's it's weirdly relatable. I feel like we've all been where he is now. There's a girl that he likes and he wants to say something to her, but he's too caught up in thinking about all the inadequacies that other people have told him about himself. So he tells himself that he's got time to fix himself up and exactly what she wants him to be, but he ends up wasting time and watching his life pass him by. I mean, who hasn't been there? The boy you like sits next to you in math class and you long to talk to him, but your friends just remind you of the giant pimple on your face and you want it to go away. When it's gone and you finally feel the littlest bit confident, you start your walk to talk to him, it's too late! He already has a girlfriend! The overall plot in this story is one that is so classic, basic, and relatable, but it's the stuff around the poem (the allusions and such) that make it so much more powerful.
I think one of the most powerful lines in this poem is when he was "murder and create." It's so true though. People in British literature we've read will make a personality, decide it's not good enough, and then just kill it off and think they can just create something new. He talks about creating a new face to meet all the other faces, and visions and revisions of oneself. It kind of reminded me of the other poem we read about art being useless. These people are kind of like clay. They think they can mold themselves into whatever they think society wants them to be at the time, or whatever they think will be most impressive to whomever it is they want to impress. But in this way, they are really useless. This new personality is just for them to look pretty temporarily. It will only suffice for so long, and then they will just throw it away for a prettier version.
Finally, there's obviously a lot about class hierarchy in this poem. This girl is obviously an upper class lady, and Prufrock is second class. He doesn't sound too far below, because he talks of wearing fancy clothing, but he has to fasten it with a simple pin. And he puts himself a step below being a lord, because being an advisor is not too far below. But he compares it to being a fool anyway. I took this as him saying that if you're not in the exact same social class, you might as well be on opposite sides often spectrum. But that was just my take, could be wrong!
Okay, time to finish my Prufrock break and get back to writing my paper. Best of luck to you all figuring or what the heck Brit lit is!!
I really like that you pointed out that the language is what makes this poem so powerful. I totally agree. The first simile that we see in the poem is "when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherised upon a table" is so strikning - I mean I don't know about you but a sedated person on a table isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I see the night sky. Also, the attention to detail is something that adds to the overall mood of the poem - "arms that are braceleted and white and bare (But in the lamplight, drowned with light brown hair!)" I read this poem is another English class and I really enjoyed it.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that this poem is very relatable. Everyone is concerned with time and the impressions they make on people and the world. I think the line that best shows this in the poem is "To Wonder, 'Do I dare? and, Do I dare?' " (37). This poem deals a lot with missing opportunities and wasting away at life. I think it's pretty haunting and sad but also makes me think a lot. I really liked your group's dramatic scene of this poem. I was one of the few people laughing since I've read this poem already, but you guys really did a lot of creative things. T.S. Eliot talks about measuring your life in meaningless things like coffee spoons. That really strikes me because I feel like a lot of people, especially in these days let life go by without really living. You always see people capturing pictures or instragram-ing their food without really enjoying it. I'm also guilty of this, but i've been trying recently to be better. How can you enjoy your life if you're busy watching it through someone else's eyes? The repetition of the words, "So how should I presume?" really stick with me after reading the poem. It's a valid question. How do we make our days and lives more meaningful? Honestly I have no idea, but I think the poem hints that making meaningful relationships is a big part of it. I just really love this poem!
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ReplyDeleteThis is definitely one of my favorite poems for a reason you actually mentioned: the language is absolutely gorgeous and definitely makes the poem powerful. There are so many great things about it. I love the Dante reference in the opening of it. The imagery included makes the poem....pretty, for lack of a better word. I have also measured out my life with coffee spoons...lots of them. He is talking about how much time there is to do things, but when you realize that that time has passed, you really never had that much time in the first place. I think that's definitely a relatable line, because a lot of us push things off, and think we have more time than we really do, and that we can enjoy "tea and cakes" first before we face what we must. However, time flies, and you don't realize it until you've lost it. I can't really pick out a favorite line, and I don't know why but I love the line about the mermaids and how he feels they will no longer sing to him. He talks about the singing mermaids as if he has heard them in the past, and how he no longer can hear them. This is a very powerful statement about time, and for some reason has always really stood out to me. I'm going to stop now because I could literally go on about this all day.
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ReplyDeleteI really like they way you described the poem a relatable because I feel like it is as well. Everyone at one point or another has had a crush that they were too nervous to act on. I have been exactly in the same mindset of Prufrock, where I just thought that I had all the time in the world to ask a girl out and I have thought I would not measure up to another guy. One of the most relatable lines in my opinion is “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?”. This line shows the indecision that we all have when we have to do something that we are nervous about. The way we look is something that everyone is always concerned about and you can imagine Prufrock standing there with a comb unable to do anything because he is so concerned about the way he is going to present himself because at that point he is old and waste his time. The comment about the peach in my mind can be thought of him questioning every little thing that he is doing, something I think that happens to a lot of people when they get extremely nervous.
Daniel Pietaro
Again, I agree with you Jackie, this poem is extremely easy to relate too because it concerns such humanistic emotions. Im glad you brought up his point about "murder and create". This adds yet another reason why it is easy to relate to this poem, because as we know, people of this time period definitely followed these attitudes. If somethings not good enough, eliminate and try again to make it the best. People of this time were so concerned with aspects such as beauty and wealth, that they forgot to enjoy the joy of living. Today, I agree with you that sometimes we fall into this same situation. When something beautiful in nature occurs, everybody around will take out their cameras and phones and view the beauty through a false eye. There is no way you can fully appriciate it this way. What.. to enjoy the view later? So we can show everyone what we hardly witnessed ourselves? Its frustrating to me.
ReplyDeleteI like that Alexandria pointed out the first image of the poem. I feel like this image alone comes off confusing and disconnected, but throughout the poem Eliot uses a lot of random-ish images to make an overall image of loneliness, lack of time, and desolation. I LOVE that Prufrock is a somewhat "romantic" poem, yet it ends up being really depressing and negative. You think from the title that you are embarking on a beautiful "Love Song", when really you are getting ready to read a tragic old man's regrets and worries.
ReplyDeleteI really like to focus on the line that everyone else brought up already, "To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet," because I think this really symbolizes society's flaw of always putting on an act. I'm not sure why, but whenever I read this line I always think of people when they win something or, for example, score a point in a game of basketball or soccer. Everyone always tries to hide their emotions due to pride or to show other's that they do not care, when really people should just show how they feel and smile. This can also be connected to Victorian society of course, as well as having a crush on someone and not showing true emotions. I also think the line, "eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase" shows the same idea of being judged and afraid to show emotions. This idea of a "face to meet the faces that you meet" can be connected to earlier literature we read about people wearing "masks" to conceal identity or hide emotion or age (which obviously is something Prufrock would like to hide as well).
I agree with Jackie that is not of lower class, but I believe him to be high class just like the woman he loves. I think that he just sees himself as lower and therefore knit-picks everything about himself down to the "pin" that he wears. I believe him to feel seperate from his upper class because he no longer cares about "coffee spoons", or small talk of "Michelangelo". He does not care about the "braceleted and white and bare" arms of women because he feels that they are all robotic, all the same.
Jackie, I really liked your post! What I liked most was the way that you pointed out how relatable the message of the poem is. I've read this poem before and I think that this is the reason why I'm always so drawn to it. I think Prufrock's lack of self confidence is something at everyone goes through. We all worry about what the people around us think and this poem is a warning not to be so consumed by what society thinks because they are all worrying about it too. I also agree with your comment that the allusions are what make the story of the poem so powerful. Prufrock's comparison of himself to one of Prince Hamlet's advisors, one he calls a fool, only cements his negative view of himself. He only sees himself as a minor character in his own life. It’s sad that he thinks he plays such a trivial role in his own life. That is why he thinks its ok to waste time because he believes he will never accomplish anything so grand or important. That’s why I like the allusions in this poem. They really give the reader more information about Alfred J. Prufrock and allow us to understand how he feels and his reasoning behind the way he lives his life.
ReplyDeleteJackie, wow! I really enjoyed your blog post and your reading of this poem. I wish I had read your first because the example you created as a way of explaining why this poem is so relatable was great! I kind of had to struggle on my own to interpret this poem and you made it seem really clear. After seeing what you were talking about with how this poem is pretty simple, I really understand what you meant when you said that the allusions and use of words was what made this poem really powerful. All of that extra "stuff" you talked about really popped out when I read over the poem again. I also like that you pointed out the social class hierarchy that occurred in the poem, which again, I didn't really notice the first time because I was just struggling to make sense of the poem itself. I really like how you payed close attention to the specifics of this poem, and after reading two other posts about this poem, I still learned a ton from yours!
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