Reading The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Elliot got me to thinking. This is the second time around that I have read this poem. This may seem a little silly and a little off base.
As I has stated in Dr. Jerz's intro to lit class last year, I thought when I first read this poem it was about this guy sending a letter to the girl that he admires. It seems like he really cares about this love but, cares way to much of what people think. I can't help but feel bad for the poor guy. It sounds like he has a pretty low self esteem and he just doesn't have good luck with the ladies.
The other thing that caught my attention was the fact that T.S. Elliot mentions a good paragraph about mermaids. This interested me.
In all the legends of mermaids, mermaids are known loring sailors to their death by singing to them. There are also legends of them grabing their victims and drowning them. Not a very pretty picture (No wonder Disney Ariel so nice). Now, the mention of mermaids in the poem brings me back to Frufrock, who could have possibly been admiring someone from a far. This person for all we know could have lored him in by her charming personality or her dazzling beauty. This person holds him captive, in awe. Even though he feels that he is unworthy of this girl's love, he writes a letter because he cannot pull himself away. If this person show's her detest for him, it will feel as though she has thrown his heart against the jagged rocks, of pain and despair.
Ok, those are my thoughts. I know, you are probably thinking they are a little far fetched. Since T.S. Elliot isn't alive to tell us what it means, to each his own.
Posted by SueMyers at February 22, 2005 9:55 PMFirst I read the poem, I couldn't understand because he doesn't really say he love the woman. He writes about his age and appearance a lot.
I agree with you that he is just seeing the woman far way. I wish he has more self confidence. If he likes the woman a lot, I think he should tell her something. Otherwise, nothing will happen between him and her.
Interesting--I don't think it's as off-base as my interpretation about hot dogs in "Machinal..." Haha :-)
I like that you thought deeper into the meaning behind the myths of mermaids. I didn't know much about that. Cool, Sue.
Prufrock certainly rates himself a -1 on the self-esteen scale. Maybe this guy needs to get past his mid-life crisis and go to some good counseling?
Posted by: Karissa at February 23, 2005 4:50 PMI tend to think of mermaids as they are in Disney and not how they are actually portrayed in myths. I agree with you however that he does seem to be lured the same way that sailors were supposedly lured by the mermaids.
This connection can also be made to the Sirens in Homer's -Odyssey-. They try and lure ships onto the rocks by singing sweetly to the sailors so that they can eat them.