Eliot and Sandburg

“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

This poem demonstrates the condition of modern people, according to some experts. For one thing, it assumes an understanding of some basic psychology (and no other culture much dealt with psychology until the 20th century). The speaker J. Alfred Prufrock says, "Let us go now, you and I/When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherized upon a table." The YOU AND I probably refers to his ID (the uncivilized one of the three of Freud's components of the personality--id, ego, and superego). Since this is a love song, according to the title, we figure old Prufrock is out looking for love. And he is indeed.

As he wanders through the streets past "one-night cheap hotels," we start to recognize the neighborhood. There are some of those in Jackson, not to mention the "sawdust restaurants with oyster shells," like I dined at on the coast for 30 years before Katrina. These are wonderful, evocative images that put us right in the picture. Then he starts pondering "the question." Reckon what he plans to ask some woman?

Now read the stanza starting "The yellow fog." What animal do you see in this description of the fog? What this stanza adds besides basic coolness (Did you see Cats? It was written from an Eliot book about cats) is the further dirtying of the atmosphere. It's not dark or daylight, either.

Then he begins the stanza about time, time for "a hundred decisions and indecisions. . .revisions," etc. He doesn't want to put it out there, whatever it is. He is afraid of a commitment. Then after the Michelangelo line, he goes back to the time-to-reconsider idea before reminding himself that he is aging--with his bald spot and thin hair, etc.-- and acknowledges that he has "known them all already." Probably the woman he is looking for is a lot like all the other women he's had before.

The stanza beginning at Line 55 pictures him "fixed" or "pinned" to the wall by some woman's eyes. I always think of a biology bug collection when I read this. He must feel like an insect when they give him that look. Then he states my favorite line: "I should have been a pair of ragged claws/Scuttling across the floors of silent seas." The crab image here is interesting in all its implications. Prufrock doesn't want to make a decision. What if it's the wrong one, or what if he woman rejects him? A crab doesn't move forward or backward, only sideways--which is what Prufrock is doing. Moreover, a crab doesn't have to comb his thinning hair or wear a "necktie rich and modest." He just snags whatever female scuttles by.

The next stanzas imagine the rejection. What if she says, "That is not what I meant at all." He's aware of his indecision and foolishness when he says that he's not Prince Hamlet (another indecisive character) but the fool in the play, most probably Polonius.

Then he ends with the reference to the Sirens from The Odyssey that lured men to their death. Again, the women are all threatening to him. So, think about the man speaking here. What does he want; what is he afraid of? In what ways is he like modern people? Self-focused? Uncertain? Devoid of faith and all the values that give meaning to life? All of these are none of them? Give me some feedback in the Discussion Board.

“Journey of the Magi”

This poem is a little different from Eliot’s most famous poems and much easier to read, but it is a powerful look at the wise men from the perspective of one of them. He is human like the rest of us, with voices in his head telling him that he is really stupid for following a star across the country. The guys who work for him are doing things some guys do—gambling, drinking, complaining about the length of the journey and the weather, wanting their women, etc.

Moreover, the narrator, a guy who asks directions, by the way, has way more questions and conflicts than answers. Of course, he messed up when he asked for directions, didn’t he? From your Bible knowledge, what happened when he asked Herod about the baby king?

Anyway, his attitudes were so changed that he was not sure if he had experienced a birth or death. Nothing would ever be the same again in his life. He could not go back to the old gods of his native land, but he was totally alone in his new belief after seeing the Christ Child; and he surely does not understand the miracle he has seen. Do Christians ever have that problem after their acquaintance with Jesus?

“Chicago”

If you are familiar with the Chicago of the Prohibition era, then this is the Chicago that Sandburg appears to be writing about. It was violent and tough. Much of city’s wealth came from the meat packing business and the railroad industry. Part of its image of toughness came from organized crime, the mob bosses that ordered dozens of people killed.

What you notice most in this poem is the image of Chicago as masculine, personified by a grinning, muscular man. Find as many masculine images as you can in the poem because you will be asked to remember them on the exam.