Loneliness at Dusk
From "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock":
“And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
“Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?...” (Eliot lines 68-72).
Poor J. Alfred Prufrock! He has spent his life in the fast lane, and now as he ages, and looks around, he realizes he has little to show for it. He has no family and no peace. He is tormented by his lost time, his life which he can give value to “with coffee spoons” (line 51). He wants to tell others of his mistake, so they don’t make the same one. Yet, he doesn’t know how to make them listen or believe. He realizes he would not have. He thinks of ways to explain to them the time they waste. He thinks of a very sad image: lonely men, all by themselves at dusk looking out their windows. Men, who are like him, alone and nearing death. Like many people, he mistakenly believed he had all the time in the world to make his decisions, and he does not realize how false this is until it is too late.
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Maddie Gillespie on Loneliness at Dusk: Your point is valid when expla
Your point is valid when explaining this sorrowful ballad. Then again, even if he were able to articulate exactly how he believes he's wasted his time and life to others, would they listen? Would they understand? Don't adults today always tell the younger generations that some of the things that they do are a supreme waste of time, and we go on doing them all the same? Everyone measures their life by different standards; some by coffee spoons, children, or wealth. Who can say which is right? However, most all regret lost time and decisions that now seem to late to make.
"he mistakenly believed he had all the time in the world to make his decisions, and he does not realize how false this is until it is too late."
I like how you focused on how he realized too late that he didnt have all the time in the world to fix mistakes. It's tragic how people believe there is always a tomorrow.