The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a dramatic monologue written by T.S. Eliot.
Right from the title the intelligent reader expects to find all the main features of a song, in particular a song that deals with the theme of love.
As all Modernists T.S. Eliot wants to experiment, that is the reason why the song is not composed by stanzas as ballads, but it is a juxtaposition of scenes. Scene are aimed at creating a dramatic atmosphere and are kept together by the refrain "In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo". The refrain wants to highlight how people talks about important topics as if they chatted.
The dramatic monologue opens with an epigraph. It is a quotation from Dante's Inferno where Guido da Montefeltro talks to Dante because he believes he will go back on Earth to report what he says. The epigraph highlight the importance of the confession Prufrock is making to his consciousness (and to the reader that seems to be an intruder) and it is also an example of intertextuality, technique that is largely used by T.S. Eliot in the love song.
The monologue is focused on Prufrock's doubts: he loves a woman and he wonders if he should confess his love. Even if the main theme of the song seems to be love, an important topic is time: while Prufrock wonders what he should do, time passes inexorably and he gets old. That is the reason why Prufrock seems to be an anti-hero, someone unable to make a decision; Prufrock personality is well expressed by the repetition "There will be time" that sounds like a sentence, because he is a middle aged man and there won't be time.
Prufrock's inability to make a decision seems to be the result of his fear: he is afraid of other people's thoughts about him. Twice in the middle of his monologue he says "They will say" as if other people's thoughts are the most relevant thing in his life.
The first scene describes the sky as in a painting. Nevertheless suddenly the reader understands the writer wants to convey the idea of bleakness thanks to images such as the "patient etherized", the "half-deserted streets", the "one night cheap hotel" and the "sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells".
The second scene suggest the paralysis of Prufrock using the landscape: the fog, the smoke and the soot seem to crush everything under their weight as Prufrock is crushed by his inability to make a decision.
Prufrock's inability to act is confirmed by the following scene in which he repeats to himself "There will be time" as a refrain in his mind to justify his indecision. Prufrock's uncertainty is suggested by the conflicting words and repetition used by T.S. Eliot: "to murder and create" or "visions and revisions" that hint at his continuous waver between opposite resolutions.
The same theme is developed in the following scene where Prufrock continues to repeat to himself that there will be time, but this time he also wonders what other people think about him. In addition expressions such as "Do I dare/disturb the universe?" wants to suggest that in Prufrock's opinion every action, every decision is something extraordinary and revolutionary.
In the following scene Prufrock keeps on using repetitions and he seems to convey the idea of time that passes ("evenings, mornings, afternoons...with a bald spot in the middle of my hair") then he reflects on the superficiality of relationships between people recalling the theme that he treats in the refrain. He knows every word people say to him and he has already lived every situation as suggested by the repetition "I have known...already".
Then Prufrock reflect on what he is and what he have done and what he should have been: the ragged claws seems to be in contrast with the entire figure of Prufrock showing how he is unable to be what he wants.
In the following scene the rhythm seems to become slower thanks to long vowels ("afternoon...sleeps...smoothed") but suddenly the inner conflict comes back and Prufrock gives up to fear.
The meaning of the following scene is well expressed by the sentence "would it have been worth while" that highlight one more time Prufrock's regrets for what he did not do even if he wanted. The most disconcerting aspect of Prufrock's behaviour is that he is unable to make a decision also in the most trivial moments of his life because he feels to be crushed by an overwhelming question. The scene contains another example of intertextuality: while talking Prufrock quotes Lazarus, a biblical character who comes back from dead. The quotation may represent Prufrock's will to change his life and metaphorically to resurrect to "tell all".
The following scene provides Prufrock's description: he is an attendant lord that means he is not better than others even if he has many good qualities "Deferential, glad to be of use/Politic, cautious, and meticulous" but they are shadowed because he is "a bit obtuse...the Fool".
The following scene underlines the theme of time again: time passes and Prufrock becomes old without making a decision.
The love song ends with the image of Prufrock who drowns: he drowns because he refuses to face life and he becomes the symbol of the defeat of people who do not make any decision.