Perhaps the most significant dispute lies over the "overwhelming question" that Prufrock is trying to ask. Others, however, believe that Prufrock is not physically going anywhere, but rather, is playing through it in his mind. In the first half of the poem, Prufrock uses various outdoor images (the sky, streets, cheap restaurants and hotels, fog), and talks about how there will be time for various things before "the taking of a toast and tea", and "time to turn back and descend the stair." This has led many to believe that Prufrock is on his way to an afternoon tea, in which he is preparing to ask this "overwhelming question". Similarly, critics dispute whether Prufrock is going somewhere during the course of the poem. Perrine writes "The 'you and I' of the first line are divided parts of Prufrock's own nature", while Mutlu Konuk Blasing suggests that the "you and I" refers to the relationship between the dilemmas of the character and the author. Some believe that Prufrock is talking to another person or directly to the reader, while others believe Prufrock's monologue is internal. The dispute, however, lies in to whom Prufrock is speaking, whether he is actually going anywhere, what he wants to say, and to what the various images refer. Alfred Prufrock" relays the thoughts of a sexually frustrated middle-aged man who wants to say something but is afraid to do so, and ultimately does not. This stylistic choice makes it difficult to determine exactly what is literal and what is symbolic. Laurence Perrine wrote, " presents the apparently random thoughts going through a person's head within a certain time interval, in which the transitional links are psychological rather than logical". You can hear him interviewed about it in the programme and his film will be available on BBC Arts Online from the date of the broadcast.Ī Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.Because the poem is concerned primarily with the irregular musings of the narrator, it can be difficult to interpret. With this in mind, the artist Mat Collishaw has been commissioned to make a short film in response to the poem. Some of its most quotable lines are those which paint pictures in the mind of 'sawdust restaurants', 'yellow smoke', 'coffee spoons' and 'white flannel trousers'. Alfred Prufrock is perhaps most memorable for its imagery. The programme also includes literary critics Professors Sarah Churchwell and Hannah Sullivan. Poets Simon Armitage and Kayo Chingonyi both read the poem at school and give us their interpretations.
Some people find the poem speaks to the trials of adolescence some detect in it a darkness and morbidity that is disturbing. Alfred Prufrock as his 'swan's song' to poetry - an indication that he anticipated he might not continue to be a poet in his later life.
In the aftermath of its publication, Eliot referred to The Love Song of J. One of the poem's most conspicuous themes is indecision, and we hear about Eliot's youthful deliberations over the kind of life he should pursue. And we hear readings by Jeremy Irons, Ben Whishaw and the poet himself. To mark the centenary of its publication, Alan meets others who have found meaning in the poem - from the psychologist Adam Phillips to the singer Emmy the Great. This is one of the extraordinary features of the poem that first drew Alan Yentob to it as a teenager. Alfred Prufrock - yet many people read the speaker as a middle-aged man contemplating ageing and mortality.
TS Eliot was only 22 years old when he wrote The Love Song of J.
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