Eliot used the author Dante in many of his works, and saw him as an educational purpose. In Eliots The Sacred Wood he remarked that Dantes Divine Comedy is in some way a moral education. Then again in Eliots book Dante stated Dante has to educate our senses as he goes along. (Headings, 31.) One time in particular that Eliot used Dante was in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Eliots headnote for this poem was an excerpt from Divine Comedy; If I thought my answer were to one who ever could return to the world, this flame should shake no more, but since none ever did return alive from this depth, if what I hear to be true, without fear of infamy I answer thee. (Manganiello, 18.) Eliot created the expectation that this poem would be about facing fears, even though the answers to his question are unknown. Another expectation is that although no one gave him answers, he wouldnt let that stop him find the answers himself, even if it meant losing all dignity he had to find them. However, the poem did not live up to those expectations. .
With the title being The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the reader expects some sense of romanticism in the poem; Prufrock did everything to avoid such thing. He stands thinking for sometime because he cannot decide if he should talk to a girl or not. Towards the end Prufrock decides against it, therefore not finding the answers that the headnote from Dante set. He is too afraid to talk to a girl, like a young boy thinking about approaching his crush, only Prufrock is an older man. His confidence is so shot down that even seeing women essentially makes him feel terrible about himself. Trying to make himself feel better, in addition to putting down the pretty women, Prufrock comes to a self realization that talking to these people wont get him anywhere. He wonders Would it have been worth it, after all, (Line 87.) He does not act on his questions though, and rather just carries on with his life, always wondering what could have happened.
