The poem was written between 1910 and 1911, but published only in 1917. The title specifies two main issues of the lyric: it’s a love poem and regards a man named Prufrock. In particular the first part of the title seems to indicate a traditional theme (love) and a traditional structure (a song), but in the second part, the name “Prufrock” is far from being traditional and complicate to pronounce. “Prufrock” sounds as a name compound by “proof” and “rock”, reminding the idea of a “touchstone”: the stone used to prove the quality and purity of gold. Mr. Prufrock can be the “touchstone” of the contemporary society of Mr. Eliot. 

Indeed the poem is an examination of the thoughts of the protagonist, that can be considered  the prototype of a modern man. He has the main features of the modern man: he’s obscure, cultured, eloquent, neurotic and incapable to act and to conform to the society’s changes. In a word Prufrock is an anti-hero and the  symbol of the paralysis. He seems to address a potential lover, but Prufrock knows too much of life to “dare” an approach to the woman: in his mind he hears the comments of others people about his inadequacies. 

At the beginning of the lyric Mr. Eliot quotes a part of  Dante’s Inferno (Canto XXVII, 61-66), where Dante meets Guido da Montefeltro, who asks the great poet to keep his words secret. Prufrock, as Guido, speaks freely as if he would speak just for himself, just to his conscience. The epigraph seems also to describes Eliot’s ideal listener: one who is as lost as Dante and as the speaker. 

Regarding the structure the poem is divided into eighteen stanzas with a different number of lines; the rhyme scheme is irregular. Another important formal feature is the use of fragments of sonnet form, particularly at the poem’s conclusion..

The time is evening and "you" is an invite from the narrator to walk with him through empty and squalid streets during the evening that is compared to an etherized patient.

In the second stanza the description of the evening goes on. It is a foggy evening and the haze moves like a cat. The language used refers to senses and creates a motionless and immaterial atmosphere.

"There's no hurry", the speaker tells himself in the third stanza. He is sure that there will be time to decide and to act, there will be time to do many things and there will even be time to think about doing things. The repetition there will be time reveals again Prufrock's indecision: he is not able to come to a decision, only to think about what it will be and to postpone his choices.

The following stanza seems to present Prufrock's justification for his non-acting. Behind his presumption of having known everybody and everything, Prufrock wants to provide to himself an excuse for his own uncertainty. 

In the fifth stanza the paralysis of Mr Prufrock is connected to his past experiences: he has known the anguishes of  life yet so taking risks  would be vain.

In the sixth stanza Mr Prufrock says that he has walked observing other men like him. He wants  to be different, he wants to act "I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

In the seventh stanza he asks his consciousness again if he must reveal his love or not, if change is worth or not. He continues to postpone the moment with some rituals, he doesn't feel brave enough to change because some past negative experiences have maid him afraid even if he's old. In this stanza Mr Prufrock admits his fears but he's speaking only with his consciousness.

In the eighth stanza he reveals the fear of being disappointed after the change. He thinks change is a miracle so he knows that expressing his love in  hell isn't enough. He wants to tell it to the lady, but it's late. He is alive but thinks his life is like the one of a dead p0erson, he is dead because he doesn't choose.

In the ninth stanza Eliot makes a parallel between Mr Prufrock and Shakespeare's Hamlet: they're opposite. Exactly as Hamlet he does not acts and they both do not disturb the universe, Mr Prufrock doesn't do anything, he is almost useless. In his description Mr Prufrock uses generally positive words but here they have a negative connotation .In the last stanza Mr Prufrock understands that he hasn't time and he is not better than any other, he makes a list of habits common to all ordinary human beings and understands that he is alone. In the end he understands he has spent too much time thinking about love without living  it and now even hope has disappeared.