Is Prufrock Lame?

Yes, gentle reader, he is. J. Alfred Prufrock is as lame as they come. The man can't gain traction on anything. Visions and revisions. Daring to do stuff. Eating peaches. Mermaids. Hamlet. Baldness. And yes, asking overwhelming questions. Heck, wanting to think about the act of asking a question.

Can't. Do. Anything.

Lame.

But probably not. The whole point of this stream of consciousness interior monologue is to get as meta as possible. I always find it intriguing that we catch up with poor Alfred precisely as he is sticking his toes over the abyss, staring down the "overwhelming question" that we can't ask about. I find it intriguing because we, the audience (the understood "you" referenced in line 1), catch up with him after skipping over the all those visions and revisions. And yet he's still talking about them.

Why?

One question (and there are dozens and dozens of those for this poem...) to consider is:

Is Prufrock's uncertain position unique to his place in time? In other words, is Eliot exploring a strictly Modernist view of life? The idea of a common man being anchored, unwillingly, to indecision because of a some kind of self-prescribed existential self-loathing? If that's the case, then boo-hoo. If that's the case, then have things improved or proceeded to get worse, since this poem is about 100 years old. If not, then what?

If this poem is more universal in nature than just for the self-loathers out there (sorry to intrude!), then what else? This is, after all, a love song, and I don't think Eliot is using that term lightly.

The Risk of Looking Too Symbolically

Victor Frankenstein is to blame. Sometimes a rose is just a rose.

Observation #42

Sometimes the hardest thing is just showing up.

Irony as Math

Irony = Expectation - Reality

or is it

I = R - E

?

One of those must be right. Anyway, I don't believe you can have a negative irony, gentle reader. That would be imaginary, i. Irony is upper-case, I.

To the AP Crowd:

Schmoop is not your friend.

Words of encouragement

Here are some words of encouragement:

hooray, confetti, cake.

Here are a few more:

dopamine, rocket, tyrannosaur.

Trilogy Fun

Hello, gentle seniors. We have just under a week left before starting our Trilogy Presentations. A few things to consider:


1. Be in class on your assigned day.
2. Be ready to present on your assigned day, no matter who is or isn't in attendance from your group.
3. Be aware of the clock during your presentation. You get 22 minutes.
4. Be prepared for technology glitches. History has taught us to expect them.
5. Be a courteous audience member.
6. Be formal. Transitions should look prepared; no giggle-box, please.
7. Be compelling. Your purpose is to provide us with some kind of interest. This is not a book report.
8. Be confident. You are an AP senior. Give us the goods.
9. Be scholarly. There is nothing wrong with depth.
10. Be excited. This is the last thing you will do for high school English.


Tick, tock.