Journal #17

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot (p.775)

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?
Prufrock is filled with anxiety and doubt. The epigraph in the beginning is about someone who tells their story even though no one will ever hear it. He would never express personal things out loud because of the characteristics he has. This poem is like a confessional that he would never share with anyone because he is not brave enough. He is able to write the words he could never say which is what the epigraph is about.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?
Do I?
Shall I?
This reflects the uncertainty that he has in life. Prufrock lives his life with constant questioning and is filled with doubt. These questions represent never being able to take a position and how he drifts amelessly. He is selfconcious about himself and gets caught up in the little things instead of being spontaneous or being decisive.

3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?
Prufrock’s biggest flaw is that he doesn’t know how to live his life. He is way to self conscious and filled with anxiety that hes not decisive and afraid to take action. He cannot live his life to the fullest because of his hesitations and that is a major problem in his life because he cannot be truly happy without being out there and taking chances.

4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?

The reader thinks it will be romantic or relationship when reading the title when in reality it is just about Prufrock being alone. The poem is a love song only in an ironic sense because he talks about his mundane existence alone and how he is not a protagonist. He is the background character who fills in here and there and doesn’t really get the happiness the star does. The content is the opposite of the title.