In the first part of the poem he talks about the indecisive lovers which postpone their love eternally and eventually realize there is no time left to spend with their much desired love.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the
street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there
will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will
be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of
hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate; (line 23)
“And indeed there will be time,” this phrase is thought by many who do not dare show their true love to others for fear of failing or being rejected. The speaker mentions meeting the same people his lover knows, this seems like a plan of meeting his love’s friends and getting near her in this way. He also mentions time to “murder and create”, this sounds like a planned strategy as creation and destruction need thought and organization. The speaker believes a plan without fixed time and no hurry will lead him to his love; however, Eliot later shows the reader how this is not the case.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I
dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the
middle of my hair—
[They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”]
My
morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and
modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: “But how his arms and
legs are thin!”]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is
time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. (line 37)
“Do I dare?” despite the secret lover’s plans and tranquility, everything comes to taking the step and showing your love. At this time no planning really helps. When the lover doesn’t dare, he grows old without knowing what his life would have been like had he dared. Then he reflects on his life of analysis and planning, “I have known them all already, know them all-- /Have know the evenings, morning, afternoons (line 49).” He shows how every step, every coffee spoon, was measured, how every phrase was formulated. He finally realizes what he was doing all that time, “And in short, I was afraid (line 86).” This whole tale reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera. The main character spends over 50 years waiting on his love and after all those decades he finally was able to be with her after planning every aspect of their life.
If I was on that same situation, I would ask myself “Was it worth it?” Eliot also narrates this part of the lover’s life and states how foolish and worthless this life is.
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or
two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of
use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit
obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
(line 112)
He has been “politic, cautious, and meticulous” this might seem a good think as no rash decisions or impulses would be followed, but in the game of love this makes him look ridiculous and at times the Fool.
“Love Song” by The Cure
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again
However far away I will always love you
However long I stay I will always love you
Whatever words I say I will always love you
I will always love you
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again
However far away I will always love you
However long I stay I will always love you
Whatever words I say I will always love you
I will always love you
This song by The Cure speaks about love and it basically talks about the things the character in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock couldn’t say in his life. Love made Eliot’s character afraid and unwilling to risk a change. In The Cure’s song, love makes the speaker show all his emotions and really makes him show his true self. His love makes him feel at home and even free from the world. “Whenever I’m alone with you / You make me feel like I am home again (line 1). “ Love is such a powerful emotion, so overwhelming that fully explaining it seems impossible. When The Cure states this love as taking the speaker back home it depicts the emotion simply, but home is such a personal and powerful memory that the reader can grasp what the speaker means.
The planning and fear of Eliot’s character made him never experience these simple, yet filling emotions from “Love Song”.
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