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The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 73517 Views


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"The Love Song of Shmoop" is next.

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English Language

Transcript

00:04

The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a la Shmoop.

00:09

Love is great and all, but it can also be the source of a lot of stress...

00:14

...especially when your love is unrequited...

00:19

...and you have a million other things to worry about, like whether or not your bald

00:24

spot is getting bigger. In T.S. Eliot's Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock...

00:31

...the narrator has a lot on his mind.

00:36

But what is it that really has poor Prufrock so torn up?

00:41

First of all, he’s afraid to express his love, because it may not be returned.

00:47

He'll be a happy man if his lady friend loves him back...

00:51

...but what if she disses him?

00:53

The potential for romantic disaster is enough to make anyone a little crazy.

00:57

But it may be something else…

01:01

Prufrock loathes himself. Seriously, the man mentions his bald spot multiple times...

01:06

...and worries about his skinny limbs...

01:08

...and frets about his wimpiness.

01:10

He claims he “should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floor of

01:14

silent seas.”

01:16

It's an understandable wish: at least then Prufrock wouldn't have to deal with hair loss.

01:21

Third option...

01:23

Prufrock knows he's a fool...

01:24

...but he's also stuck in a world he doesn't understand, surrounded by pretentious people

01:29

with the emotional depth of a kiddie pool.

01:31

No wonder he feels so lost and unsure. So, what's got Prufrock so worked up?

01:36

Is it unrequited love?

01:39

Self-loathing?

01:41

Or is it that he feels lost… a foolish man surrounded by cruel, shallow people?

01:47

Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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