I had to read this in high school and it was analysed by the teacher and us. I was so mesmermized by this poem that I memorized the first half and now know what it is about. I was just enthralled by the poetry.

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock is one of the most beautiful, compelling, enigmatic poems of the 20th century. Many of us, I'm sure, have come back time and time again to this poem, wondering what additional glimmer of insight may illuminate it and move us - as I have, and been moved. So here's my take. First of all, it is a love song. So while it may be a stream of consciousness, it is a structured one - e.g. note the repetitions - albeit a complicated structure. Indeed, Prufrock is in love, painfully so. He longs deeply for a particular woman, whom he refers to in "If one, settling a pillow by her head..." Some have argued that Prufrock is terribly indecisive and passive. Similar to Hamlet, he seems to agonize and obsess over what to do, in relation to her, and and may indeed paralyze himself into saying nothing or doing nothing. Instead, I would argue that he has approached this woman, spent a lot of time with her, and gone to bed with her! He is neither indecisive nor passive. But alas Prufrock is a dour, anxiety-riddled man who, in bed with his love, sometimes goes soft on her - his erection fails him. It is so deeply embarrassing that he dies on the spot. That death is figurative of course, but it figures prominently throughout the poem: Shame so discombobulating to and disintegrating of his psyche, i.e. self esteem, that it paralyzes him, it demoralizes him, and it makes him wonder "Would it have been worth it..." To my argument about his increasing impotence, reference the following lines: Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed, Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, I am no prophet - and here’s no great matter; I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid. Poor Prufrock wonders, after a dissatisfying turn in bed with his love, if he should have at it again next time. Of course, he does, because he's in love with her! Besides being a love song, Eliot's masterpiece is a highly erotic one. More specifically I argue that it is a brothel that he frequents, and sex is literally everywhere around him. Prufrock is a proper gentleman, as evidenced by his attire: My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin... But the opening two main stanzas speak to the route he has to walk and the air he has to breathe - it's all a bit macabre ("Like a patient etherized upon a table") and seedy ("pools that stand in drains" and "soot that falls from chimneys"). But more metaphorically, Eliot's vivid description of the surroundings tells the tale of how Prufrock experiences his love and lust for a woman and what he has to go through psychologically to be with her. It makes me think of another famous Shakespearean character - Prince Hal - who, long before he became King Henry V, frequented the taverns and cavorted with the common people, much to the chagrin of his royal father. For Prufrock it is his gentlemanly sensibility that finds the longing, lustful side of himself despicable. The repeated lines: In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo... are the ladies in the brothel. In general, he's enamored with them: And I have known the arms already, known them all- Arms that are braceleted and white and bare (But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!) Is it perfume from a dress That makes me so digress? I doubt that they, in turn, are enamored with him, but over time they've become used to him and some of them may even find him endearing. But notice that he doesn't refer to them as whole people, but as body parts - arms and eyes. I argue that this is a manifestation of his obsessive, psychologically compartmentalized nature and also his haughty demeanor. He looks down on these women: After all what do they know about Michelangelo, he may wonder; and they shouldn't be talking about the great artist in passing anyway, he may silently scoff. Back to his love affair with one of those women: Prufrock is an awkward gentleman, not just in his manners but also in his speech: "It is impossible to say just what I mean!" So we can imagine his conversations with her as having a fair amount of misunderstanding. He hopes to win her love, and maybe even believes at times that she does. Alas, however, having sex with him is only a job for her! She may like him, but it doesn't seem that she truly loves him at all. So his repeated love overtures only come across to her as repeated misunderstandings: “That is not it at all, That is not what I meant, at all.” Moreover, it kills Prufrock every time his woman has sex with another client: I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room. We can imagine him sitting in one of the rooms in the brothel, time and time again having coffee by himself, waiting for this woman and her client to finish their business. The sound of sex surrounds him, and the owner knows that it's best to have some music to drown it out. But Prufrock knows this woman's voice, and perhaps her clients' voices, too, and he hears them - oh, he hears them - and it's utterly painful and deflating! The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock is a profound philosophical treatise, similar, I'd argue, to The Myth of Sisyphus. Beyond the brothel setting and Prufrock's love affair, Eliot may be speaking to the Zeitgeist of the time when he wrote it - the advent of World War I. While Camus argued that Sisyphus was happy, despite having to repeatedly push a boulder up a hill, it is a life of existential absurdity and tedium. Love and life, work and sex had perhaps become that absurd and tedious for scores of people as well, at least according to Eliot. So in light of this world that Eliot created in The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, what does he do in the end? He elevates that brothel, its ladies, and its business to mythic levels: I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown. Just as Camus can argue with Sisyphus, so too Eliot can argue with Prufrock: i.e. that in the end he is happy. My sense is that he beds other women in the brothel, and because there isn't that anxiety and disenchantment of his unrequited love, getting hard and getting his rocks off aren't an issue: Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach [i.e. have oral sex]? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach [i.e. put on a condom, and have intercourse]. At the end of it all, he is satisfied. We ought not take "we drown" as literal, though. In Shakespeare, the notion of dying is a metaphor for having an orgasm. There is that sharp, guttural sound from man and woman as they approach climax (i.e. "human voices") and there is that pleasurable death (wink, wink) among those "sea-girls." Finally, what is that "overwhelming question" that is also a pervasive theme in The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, which he can hardly acknowledge even to himself? It is this, I'd argue: He wants to ask this one woman "Do you love me?" Surely, he knows that it's only a job for her, but he wonders if she has any feelings for him and whether she truly cares about him. He can tolerate the other ladies seeing him as nothing more than a skinny man with a bald spot on his head. But with this one woman, his love is of mythic proportions and his lust fills him with existential pain.

You have a lovely voice.

Thank you for your time and effort, i really appreciate what you are doing for learners and to explain beautiful poems for us. I have been watching you for 4 years now ❤️

This is a wonderful explanation! Made me appreciate this poem so much more. I feel like every time I read Eliot's work, I find something new to analyze. Thank you!

I enjoyed joining you on our journey through this magnificent, powerful poem. Years ago when I was working, to pass the time during my drive to work I memorized Prufrock and would recite it on my way. It always saddened me. Perhaps there were times in my life when I felt just like Prufrock, a scuttling crab. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us readers and listeners.

Brava! You deserve kudos for the relatively gentle and painless way of inviting your audience to engage with the poem, holding their hands on their first cycle around the hermeneutic circle--or perhaps I should say the hermeneutic spiral. .

Such a hauntingly beautiful work, so many lines that keep you thinking! Wonderful analysis, thank you so much!

I think that "you and I" refers to the writer's private and public self. The private- when he is alone and the public- the mask he puts when going out

I am an adjunct instructor and have decided to include this poem in my upcoming course on World Literature After 1660. I confess it has always baffled me. I didn't have thorough instruction on it while in school, and that was part of the problem. The language always put me off a bit as well. I'm much more comfortable with Medieval and Renaissance works. However, I felt that it was important to include "Prufrock" in my course, though I was completely mystified as to how to approach teaching a work I didn't understand myself. You have enlightened me tremendously! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your mini-lecture on this. Simply fabulous! Thank you!

0:37 Dante’s Inferno - Embarassment, Secrets 2:06 Inviting the reader in 4:00 - Tedious, Bleak, Going nowhere (or not getting anywhere) 5:17 Women going by, talking about art 8:13 Facial preparation (persona) 30:00 Fear of being misunderstood. Hamlet and Polonius 33:46 “Do I dare Eat a peach” 🍑? 35:27 Sea seaweed, linger, drown

Amazing. I adore your warm, insightful approach to teaching poetry and prose. Makes me think about these works in an entirely different way. Thank you!

A WONDERFUL EXPLICATION OF A POEM THAT HAS ELUDED ME FOR MANY YEARS.

I stumbled onto this site and I'm so glad I did. What a great teacher you are, I really enjoyed listening to you. I can't wait to listen to the rest of your videos. Thank you, made my day.

Thank you so much. I loved this interpretation -not too out there or over my head. Made me enjoy the poem so much more.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You explained this poem in such a way that left me informed of your great ideas, but also allowed me to form my own opinions of the life of Prufrock. You were enjoyable to listen to as well. :)

I like this lady a lot. I already graduated but i come back to her all the time, she makes me so relaxed with her voice

love this explanation. after reading the poem twice I found myself still having questions. this truly helped thank you.

This was incredibly helpful. I come out of this knowing and appreciating the poem so much more. Thank you very much. I hope you continue to do this for a very long time.

Amazing video. Loved the way you broke down every sentence of this poem. By far one of the best explanations i have heard or read. After watching this video i understood the poem in its entirety. I am recommending your videos for others in my class to see! Keep up the good work!

missed the prufrock lecture in my lit class while i was a senior in high school and it’s been on my mind ever since. thank you for analyzing this incredible poem ☺️

"And time for all the works and days of hands" (line 29), might refer to Works and Days (Érga kai hemérai, ca 700 BC) by Hesiod. The farmer in that poem emphasises the importance of living your life in the manner that the Gods have seen fit. This could be compared to Prufrocks difficulties in breaking free from his trivial life due to fear of rejection and/or other consequences. Just a thought. You've highlighted some stuff I didn't think about in my paper on the subject. Nice video. Greetings from Norway!

I am so thankful for these videos. I stumble upon some poems that I love but don’t quite understand; only to come here and begin to understand. Thank you so much. I love this channel. Been watching videos here for years now.

OMG thank you so much! I was really having a hard time grasping the concept of this poem when I read it for school but now that I have listened to this video, I really get it now and it is really cool! Plus I loved listening to you talk, you have a nice voice. But anyway, great video!

Thank you so much for this break down! I love your videos, they really help me get a better handle on the meanings and ideas behind my favorite poems and stories!

I was really lucky to have found this video. This was so perfectly splendid, so profoundly explained. I enjoyed your explanation thorough out and I really thank you for doing such an amazing job !

you are literally a LIFE SAVER for my online literature class. thank you.

How many many times I have felt what TS Eliot is here describing.What a horrible feeling and thinking process. Again Rebecca thank for the elucidation... I can listen and listen to you till the time of End...

Thank you for posting this. I haven’t heard it since college but the images have stuck with me for 4 decades. I walked to the coffee shop this morning to buy and read my favorite newspaper. Inside, a girl sat at a sunny table behind a black tripod, staring wide eyed at me. The paper hadn’t yet been delivered. As I walked out empty handed, no paper, no coffee, I realized she was “influencing” into her phone. The jingle of the opening door had spoiled her line and she’d have to say it over again. I let my hip hit a metal chair and it scraped on the tile. I think Eliot’s Prufrock wanted to ask a young peach on a date but believed he had nothing but indecision and coffee spoons to offer her.

Wish I had you for a teacher when I was in college.

I think he asks 'Do I dare to eat a peach?' in part because eating a peach is a bit messy, with the juice dripping down the chin - not something to do in polite society, which is his own milieu.

I love the videos you make! Your videos really help me understand and appreciate the work so much more. As opposed to just being confused and dragging through English 2. Thanks so much for your work!

This is a beautiful interpretation! Your video is going to help me in my AP class. Thank You love.

I'm listening to it right know ,I need to be prepared for my exam after few hours 🙃

Thanks, Rebecca! Great job. And enjoyable half hour that will stick in my mind.

This was more than awesome. i am preparing for my final exam in university and missed my class lecture for this poem....and i must say you've helped me out.. I've got this poem so well now. tysm mam. keep uploading more. God bless ya :)

Thank you so much!! I was told to write about the modernism in this poem and did even fully understand what the poem was about at first but now I have a better understand of what is going on.

Terrific review, thank you, your voice is honey to the ears.

I read the poem earlier and i had absolutely no idea what was going on. Thank you, i understand everything now and i can even relate to poor Alfred.

Thank you for helping me with most of my college courses as an English literature student

It was really really good. I understood the poem now. Thank you so much!

OMG! Thank you so much for that video! I need this poem for a final exam, and I read it twice in english, then I read it in bulgarian (i'm bilingual) I read summary, notes etc. and I still felt like an idiot not getting what this is really about, and then I found your video and now It opened my eyes :D i already know much more for 38 minutes than from 3 hour researching :D

I've always found it interesting that so much of this poem reads as if it was written by a middle aged (or older?) man. Yet, I believe T.S. Eliot was only 23 (and still in college?) when he wrote it.

I'm so glad you explained so well . Thank you so much,I nearly omit the poem.I wasnt going to prepare this for tomorrow's exam cuz I found it so tough.But u did so easily n I got many points out of it ...U are so good ♡

Thank you for such a lovely interpretation.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. This poem is so important to me even if it never truly opened up to me until now. I study English lit and I love poetry, however, I'm still intimidated by poems more often than not... But this video certainly helped me get started with this particular poem, and I think it also gave me more confidence for the future. So thank you again, and keep on doing these videos! :)

Thank you for such wonderful and illuminating observations I about prufrock!!!

Although this analysis is long, THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this video! It really helped me understand the poem. Now I can write my essay! :)

I'm taking an online class on American Literature and I always come across your work so I've subscribed, Thank you!

i have been in love with this poem for more than 10 years.... and your commentary is thoroughly awesome... you have my sincerest gratitude!

This really helped me with my finals exams thank you so much, you have a very soothing voice and an interesting take on things.

Thank you for your thoughts. I had to go back an finish. Fun, giant steps to ponder! I trusted your credit by your appreciation, modesty, and disarming sincerity. When I see someone allowing themselves to be as they feel.. as they are...I am inspired. " I can do that! And not give a..."

Well done, a very good talk. Thanks, I appreciated this.

Thank you sooooo much. I have to do a presentation on this poem, and I didn't understand it at all until watching your video. You made everything make a lot more sense!

My name is Prufrock and I approve this explication.

This was a HUGE help! Thank you so much for sharing your interpretations with us.

I accidentally stumbled upon this while looking for Anthony Hopkins' recording of the poem, and boy am I glad I did. Thank you.

i had absolutely no idea what this poem was about the first time I read. thanks for helping me understand!

I just finished my ENC1102 class, and your videos were so helpful. THANK YOU SO MUCH

This is great. You are great. Thank you!

Sounds like the guy is in a mid-life crisis. Anyway, thank you so much for posting this! This poem has easily become one of my favorites. Thank you again

Definitely helped me gain a better understanding for sure, thank you so much.

This made my day! couldn't have understood the poem so well without this video's help. Please upload more videos like these. And yeah, thanks

This is a 'love song' and therefore presumably addressed to a woman he is in love with. We have an expression 'to pop the question' meaning to ask the woman you are in love with to marry you. This surely provides the conceptual frame within which the 'events' of the poem take place. It could perhaps be fruitfully compared with Philip Larkin's poems on a similar theme, notably The Whitsun Weddings. Is Prufrock in fact old? Or does he just see himself as old? Or is he seeing himself as he might be in the future if he never marries? (Hamlet also is uncertain of what to do with himself. As well as having his father's death to avenge there is also the question of what to do about Ophelia, Polonius's daughter!)

Thank-you so much, Rebecca! Extremely pleasant to listen to ! Such an empathetic and unpretentious discussion of one of my very favourite poems that I recite lines of to myself frequently. It's lovely how you sort of harmonise and move along a little journey with the poem, treating the listener to generous quotes, and gentle queries about the connections. So refreshing and appreciative, rather than steam -rollering the poem with alienating analysis that almost disgards it and infers it's not enough in itself. I'm not sure about the Dante mention at the beginning. Perhaps Alfred J. is likeable partly due tp his humility and yet sad but in a creative way due to his somewhat distanced observor stance musings, yet showing a touch of appealing wit. Perhaps he asks himself if he dares to eat a peach, concerned about dribbling the peach juice, whereas, as you say, he might have totally relished it when younger. That's an interesting interpretation of "Am an attendant lord..." - as not using the I pronoun certainly fits the role, as maybe a depletion in ego - also, the assonance of "am" scans nicely. Yet the touch of graceful melancholy is very life-romantic IMO - despite the final "and we drown" phrase, where I think he's inviting the reader to empathise rather than literally drown. I'm still wondering what the "crisis" is tho, that he doesn't feel able to provoke - perhaps the mystery adds a metaphysical touch! Thank-you again, best of wishes, Anne Seagull - songs on www.anneseagull.com

Thank you for your instruction on this piece of poetry. It really helped me understand it more and also finish my paper. :)

My guess in connection with: "To drop a question on your plate", refers to "What's the meaning of Work?" What does all the convoluted interaction between human beings truly mean? Is it shallow or deep? Are we living in a Hollow Space, or a space filled? These are deep subconscious and fearfully conscious questions. Also, the smoke represents the free part of your soul. The non-material part of you, that's left adrift, without being noticed. Thanks for putting yourself out there. It's truly a beautiful gesture.

Thank you very much for your videos. They are really great!

Thank you for this. I had already started to have an idea formed for the analysis for this poem and was looking for a reading of it because I thought it "sounded" aesthetically pleasing in my head (if that makes sense?) But your analysis of the poem helped me to form the ideas into more solid concepts and now I have a working interpretation of the narrator as an extremely gifted person, creatively, but also an extreme introvert with a bit of social anxiety. I found myself wishing, though out your analysis, that I had had you for my "intro to lit" class, because you made it accessible where as my teacher just said read it and write a page about it.

thank you for this wonderful explanation, it really helped me understand fully :)

Thank you very much. That reading, and you (and I) was wonderful.

Thank you so much! I'm so happy I found this! I'm an Italian student,and I am trying to study Eliot alone,but it's so hard! But anyway with your lesson I was able to understand a little bit more about this poem! Thank you so much! Now i will watch all your videos! Thank you!

This has been enlightening. As you pointed out, it just gives us a way to think about the poem. Thank you. I have a test today on it. :D

thanx, your explanation opened up the poem hugely for me ! i'm old enough for it to sting ! :o)

Thanks a lot Rebecca. Your explanation was really helpful.

It’s amazing how differently I interpreted each part and the poem as a whole.

THANK YOU!!!! You helped me appreciate this poem so much more! With love in Christ, have a blessed day! :D

A really great video. Thanks so much.

Thank you so much for this analysis.

Thank you so much, it helped me to highlight the social deformation in Eliot's poems for my graduation project.

massive thank you. that was a great help, and you made it so easy. Thank you again

This is great! You explain this so much better than my professor does! Very helpful review, thank you!

that's not what I meant at all - ts eliot

I think the reason the smoke refers to yellow cat is the way smog is seen to move between yellow car lights, neon and industrial lights...very smooth like a cat.Thank you for ur analysis waiting for more to come!!!

Great stuff, great voice, thanks a lot

many thanks for all of your videos. they helped me a lot!!

Wonderful , this first time I listen to English poem but I enjoyed and understood

I stumbled upon this analysis and I am very glad I did. I'm currently reading "The Lovesong of Miss Queenie Hennessy" by Rachel Joyce, which is the follow-up to "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry". It is never overtly stated in the book, but the phrase, "let us go then, you and I" struck something in my mind and after googling it, I rediscovered "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" which I studied a long time ago for A-level. I then realised there are quite a few references in the book to this poem by T.S. Eliot. And inevitably, it reignited my desire to rediscover T.S. Eliot. Thank you, Six Minute Scholar for inspiring me towards a further interest in poetry and literature which I hope to explore further!

Thank you very much this helped me quite a bit to better understand the poem. You're great :)

Thank you. I've always loved this poem. I love it more now. And I identify with it deeply. Hesitation, self doubt, being stuck in indecisiveness. Wow! My life writ large. Have you studied or analyzed the myth of the fisher king, the fool and the holy grail? The only thing the film has to do, at the right moment, is to submit to his innate instinct and ask his question. Just that action of realizing outwardly who he is inwardly, will save the wounded king and by extension, the kingdom. There a parallels here, I think, between Parcival and Prufrock.

He seems to be daydreaming; imagining him self with life in conversations, but is woken by human voices/ reality; the women, not the mermaids and is once again drowning in conversation.

I think, on surface level, by "overwhelming question" he means Prufrock wants to propose the woman he loves, like, 'Will you be mine, or will you marry me?'. On other levels, this question may be something higher philosophical question regarding the nothingness of human existence (notice the tone of hopelessness all through the poem). Again, the question overwhelms him because he does not know the answer... The burden of his dual personality (you and I) makes him wonder about insignificant things. It's connected to the mental drama going inside, rather than any practical or physical action. That's what I think!

Thank you so much! This video helped me so much while studying for finals!

Fantastic. Thank you so much

Thank you for the explanation!!

Thank you. Love from India, Assam. You saved me.. have semester exams in 3 weeks.. thank you so much.

the toast and tea line, @ 10:45 reminds me of being in hospital post operation. Its toast and tea that is brought to you first by the nurses. As you recover you have certainly lots of time, lying in bed to think about your life

Not analyzing this for a class, just found the video thought I should read the poem. After I read it I watched the video in it's entirety and found myself thinking some of the same things you were saying. Glad to know I'm not too far off the path as I plan to teach English sometime in the near future. Thanks for keeping me confident, despite Prufrock's views on life. =]

An insightful review of one of my favourite pieces

Thank you soo much for sharing your knowledge this helps us to make our studies easier please keep uploading like this wish to see more of your vedios. Good luck