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.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell all"
It seems to me, that Eliot was describing someone who wanted to take a chance on love but was afraid that the love was one-sided or wasn't worth the risk of opening up one's heart for heartbreak. It feels as if the person has admitted to himself that he's really just afraid to truly love somebody. We can all relate to these feelings at one time or another. How wants to risk their heart being broken.
6 comments:
I'm glad to see that someone chose to tackle this very interesting poem. I was wondering your thoughts on whether Prufrock was actually going anywhere, or if he was just wrestling with these ideas in his mind.
Keekwak,
Good passage and poem to discuss--Eliot is a famously challenging poet to understand. I think your comments on poor Prufrock are on the right track; I would have liked to see you pursue them further, and support them more with examples from the poem and your experiences.
I'm glad you were able to understand Prufrock, because I had a great deal of trouble with it. Very good interpretation of the text, although I found that it was a bit much more than really necessary. If you could have perhaps added in what you thought Eliot was trying to tell people, what the actual message was (if you thought there was one, which you may not have) then that would have been a nice addition.
Good analysis of this poem. I am one of those who has experienced the hesitancy to fully trust that love will be returned equally. But...sometimes it's worth taking the chance.
Keekwak,
I liked the poem from Eliot that you analyzed in your post. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" deals with emotions that we all encounter at some point. I agree with you that we must learn to open our hearts and risk being hurt if we ever want to truely be happy. Good Job
I liked your comments. I think everyone can relate to the idea of uncertainty. Humans in general are bound by facts and numbers and faith or the intangible are not very comforting.
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