The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

I decided to translate the beginning to help me get an idea with what the poem was talking about and it pretty much was telling us about they come upon this guy that they feel safe with him because they don’t believe anyone can come back from hell. He tells the person that he can’t tell anyone but he’s going to tell him a secret, because he knows he can’t tell anyone. The irony is that Dante really can speak and tell other people later on.

Throughout the poem by the interpretation that I got, Prufrock is really insecure about himself and doesn't feel like he is good enough for anyone. Prufrock starts out the poem with nice things to say but then he changes up the mood of the poem by adding in how the how the streets are half-deserted with annoying people, how he had a restless night in a cheap hotel. It kind of seemed like he was going to have a positive attitude with the poem but then he changes the mood really quickly. Some things we pointed out in class that also helped me understand how miserable he was, was when he was describing the fog. He says that "rubs it's back against the window panes," but he also describes it as yellow which meant it was literal fog, that it was combined with sewage smells and pollution from the disgusting environment he lived in. 


Prufrock also tells us how he is shy towards women. He mentions that the women only speak of Michelangelo, but they were only doing it out of a fashionable sense. He feels like he is inferior to women and has no ability to talk to them. At one point, Prufrock kind of seems like he is going to talk to the mermaid but of course, he never does. We also mentioned in class "if you measure your life with coffee spoons, then your not going anywhere," which true because you have to venture out and not judge what is happening day by day.