The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

             Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is an examination of the tortured psyche of a man who is looking for love, indecisive, educated, neurotic, and emotionally stilted. In the poem Mr. Prufrock, the poem's speaker, seems to be addressing a potential lover, with whom he would like to "force the moment to its crisis" (Eliot 696) by somehow consummating their relationship. Yet Mr. Prufrock knows too much of life to "dare" an approach to the woman. In his mind he hears the comments others make about his inadequacies. Mr. Prufrock is powerful for its range of intellectual reference and also for the vividness of character achieved. Prufrock" is a variation on the dramatic monologue. Eliot modernizes the form by removing the implied listeners and focusing on Prufrock's interiority and isolation "Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels" (Eliot 693). .
             Mr. Prufrock's level of indecision is expressed in "And time yet for a hundred indecisions/ And for a hundred visions and revisions" (Eliot 695). Besides the statement of indecisiveness, the writer shows that even with a decision be made it is always able to be changed and revised. While his self-proclamation of his education is seen thought out the poem it is easily seen in "Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse/at times, indeed , almost ridiculous/ Almost at times the fool" (Eliot 697). Here we see with the references that he is educated and intelligent, almost to the fault that people look down at him as a fool. He is unafraid to express his thoughts and to make his opinions known.
             The rhyme scheme of this poem is irregular but not random. While sections of the poem may resemble free verse, in reality, "Prufrock" is a carefully structured amalgamation of poetic forms. The bits and pieces of rhyme become much more apparent when the poem is read aloud.