The text proposed is a poem published in 1915 by the American writer T. S. Eliot. In particular, it constitutes a dramatic interior monologue which is carried out by J. Alfred Prufrock, as suggested by the title. Now, it is to say that the poet is emotively separated from Prufrock, who roles as  the dramatis personae of the text.

Well, the text is arranged into an epigraph which is followed by nineteen stanzas. The second and the fifth stanzas are the same, and in particular they seem to be a refrain whose function will be analysed later.

Considering now the epigraph, it is chosen by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri' s   Divina Commedia, from Inferno, Canto XXVII, from verse 61 to verse 66. In particular, these lines refers to Dante's encounter with Guido da Montefeltro, who is not afraid of speaking with him because he is sure that his story will be always a secret. So, right from the epigraph the intelligent reader can draw a comparison between Guido da Montefeltro and J. Alfred Prufrock, in the sense of: as Dante's character opens his inner world with the conviction that it will be secret, in the same way Prufrock frees his inner thoughts and feelings to an unknown interlocutor, identified with the pronoun "you". What's more, the intelligent reader may also state that Prufrock' s "you" is the same of Dante, and together they stand for the ideal reader of Eliot's dramatic poem.

So, the monologue starts with an exhortation(" Let us go") Prufrock addresses to unknown "you", inviting "her" to walk and "make our visit". In particular, Prufrock reports a sequence of images that are not in affair with a lovers' walk in the night. Indeed the reader comes across a devastated and ugly landscape, that seems to remind the scene of a modern thriller film. The effect is obtained thanks to particular rethorical devices used by Eliot, First of all, the simile at the third line aims to convey the image of a dark sky which symbolically represents the doubts and insecurities that plague Prufrock. This is also highlighted by another simile, "Streets ... argument" and by the high density of "s" sound that recalls the presence of something hidden in Prufrock' s unconscious. It follows that the pronoun "you" refers to his consciousness and the "visit" may be the one of Prufrock in his inner world.  In addition, the Modernist interest in inner reality, so on subjectivism, rather than on objectivism, comes to the surface: the research of a "supreme truth" may be the quest that Prufrock is following, but the statement "Oh ... What is it?" might imply that Prufrock won't find any truth.

After the introductive stanza you have a two-lines one, that seems not to be involved in Prufrock's vicissitude. Indeed it is said that there are women walking up and down and talking about Michelangelo. Probably Eliot's intention was to mark the difference between ordinary people, only able to make a physical voyage( "walking") and speak about something intellectual, and "special" people like him and the Modernist writers altogether, who have been able to go beyond external reality in order to face the hidden part of our persona.

Going on, in the third and fourth stanzas the yellow colour constitutes the leitmotiv of their lines. Indeed Prufrock first describes the physical behaviour of the "yellow fog" which spaces from "rubs ... window-panes" to "Curled ... fell asleep". What's more, the description of the fog underlines Eliot' attention to details and, further more important, the high density of "l" sound( "lingered, "licked", "falls", "leap"), the sense of vastity given by vowel sounds in words like "seeing", " soot", " pools" and " made", the anaphoric repetition of the verb "fall" clearly highlights his attitude in doing it. Besides, the presence of the "yellow fog" adds the sense of ugliness that you have already met in the very first stanza. After that, Prufrock's flow of thoughts dwells with the main theme of the dramatic monologue, that is the concept of time, which is seen as something unstoppable and infinite. In particular, the frequent repetition of the expression "there will be time" underlines Prufrock's attitude, which is based on procrastination. Meanwhile, it seems as if he criticizes himself for the inability to act and let things to an unknown tomorrow. The last two lines of the fourth stanza clearly highlights it. Not only, but also the alliteration "toast - tea", the anaphoric repetition of the word "hundred", the rhyme "indecisions - revisions" have the same objective. According to this, women's steps in the refrain can be considered as metronomes that mark the inexorable passage of time.

In addition, the search of truth may be again recalled by the verse "That lift ... on your plate". In a way, if Prufrock is not able to take courage and act, he won't never reach the truth. Thus explains the topic of the sixth stanza, which is summed up by the expression "Do I dare?". It recalls Prufrock's inability to act, something very close to the state of paralysis of Joyce's Dubliners. Again, the passing of time is at the centre of the dramatis personae's thoughts. So, it is underlines by the alliteration "time - to - turn", by the repetition of the word "time"  and the expression "Do I dare". What's more, the semantic field of oldness formed by words like " bald spot", "arms and legs thin", " collar", " morning coat", adds a sad - flavour note to  Prufrock's  future, full of desolation. That's why he has to take the courage to "disturb the universe", because our life can change thanks to "For decisions ... minute will reverse".

What s' more, the repetition in the seventh and eighth stanzas of the expression "how should I presume" makes us understand that Prufrock wants to act, but he does not know how to start( "And how should I begin?"). But the expression has also the function to underline that he is afraid of acting, he is afraid of the negative consequences which can come after being refused by his beloved. Prufrock insists on the fact that "I have known" and this highlights that he has already lost the majority of his life wondering whether to declare himself or not and now he is hit by a feeling of regret for all the time wasted.

Well, in the tenth and eleventh stanzas the speaking voice images what he would tell his beloved, and the alliteration "shall - say" makes us feel a little bit of courage in Prufrock's heart.

In the twelfth and thirteenth and fourteenth stanzas the reader comes again across  to Prufrock's regrets not to have acted time ago. In particular, if in the twelfth stanza he first stops thinking about his beloved, whose some physical details are meant to be known, such as "Smoothed by long fingers", then he suddenly feels afraid that he is becoming old and death will arrive( underlined by the rhyme "flicker- snicker"), in the thirteenth and fourteenth ones his regrets are taken to an upper level: he says that with his beloved even the inexorable passing of time may be forgotten; the expression  "And would it have been worth it" puts it into a better focus. What's more, the great attention on material things in the fourteenth stanzas seems to be in contrast with the Biblical figure of Lazarus, in the sense of: while the first ones represents the tangible and apparent reality, the second one may be considered as the carrier of metaphysic truths, the one Prufrock is looking for. Also, there is a contrast between Lazarus and Prufrock. Indeed while the first one is related to "I shall tell you all", the second one forces himself to be quiet or say something unimportant, indeed "That is not ... at all". His coward-like  attitude is highlighted in the following stanza, with the comparison with the archetype of the modern hero, that is Hamlet. Well, while the most famous Shakespearean character choices "to be" and act his revenge towards his uncle, Prufrock choices "not to be" and being overwhelmed by time. The exclamation "No!" and the assonance "Am an attendant" underlines the gap between Hamlet and Prufrock.

In the last three stanzas the speaking voice talks about the mythological figures of mermaids. In particular, interesting is to notice Eliot's use of Mythical Method, in that if in Odyssey Ulysses is able to take over the sensual and deadly call of the mermaids, the same does not happen in Prufrock's situation, indeed you have "Till human ... we drown". Thus is further underlined by the expression "I do not think that they will sing to me", recalling that oldness is coming and also the figure of Prufrock as an archetype of the modern anti-hero.