Modernism And Imagism As Its Byproduct: Ezra Pound And T.S. Eliot As The Most Vivid Representatives Of Same

Modernism And Imagism As Its Byproduct: Ezra Pound And T.S. Eliot As The Most Vivid Representatives Of Same

  1. Who is the speaker of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock“?
  2. The speaker compares the sunset to a “patient etherised upon a table.” Why do you suppose Prufrock would compare a sunset to some hospital patient who has been anesthetized and is waiting for an operation?
  3. The speaker refers to the surrounding cityscape as having “one-night cheap hotels” and “sawdust restaurants.” What is this part of town like, apparently?
  4. What is the yellow fog compared to in a simile? How is the fog like such a creature?
  5. What does Prufrock mean when he says, “There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”? Have you ever had to “prepare a face” before you have met someone? Why would one try to prepare an artificial face?
  6. Prufrock reassures himself that there will be “Time to turn back and descend the stair.” What does he mean by this, i.e., what can he do if he changes his mind? Why do you suppose T. S. Eliot chooses the verb descend rather than ascend? Does this connect with the Dante quotation about a guy trapped in hell in any way?
  7. Why doesn’t Prufrock compare himself to a complete crab? Why is a crab particularly appropriate for Prufrock generally? (Research about the way crabs travel and see how it matches the way Prufrock travels through life….)
  8. Why is Prufrock agonizing over how to wear his trousers?
  9. What’s odd about the way Prufrock contemplates combing his “hair behind”? Does one normally comb his hair from the rear to cover the forward part of the head? What does this suggest about the aging Prufrock’s hair and why he combs his hair forward this way?
  10. Why is Prufrock stymied by the thought of eating peach? Why would eating a peach in public be problematic for him
  11. Prufrock imagines himself under the water with the mermaids in “chambers of the sea.” What happens at the end though when he hears the conversation of human voices around him that awakens him from his daydream?