There are many things to touch upon in this poem, but one that always stands out to me is Eliot's use of 'yellow'. It's associated with death, plague - general disease; essentially, death. Also the animal that Eliot uses to describe this yellow fog is most likely a dog. But the first things that come to mind are Cerberus. I'm also not sure about this next association, but in certain mythology, a large black wolf or very large wolf-like creature with red eyes was an omen of death. The yellow fog's muzzle that goes about the streets and rubs against windowpanes is almost like marking those who will be next to die. This is a theme that exists throughout the poem, from the first stanza, where there is a patient about to go into surgery, to the end, where he is a helpless bug pinned to a backing, where he will be dissected and studied. And the feminine presence that Eliot refers to almost holds a death-like fear for the subject as well.
But he is in a dream, and this is most clearly seen by the last stanza, where the human voices will wake him and his companion and then they will drown. But what is important is that no matter if he is dreaming or awake, death is always there.
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Oh do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
This is a great pair of lines and very appropriate to the poem because it is showing Prufrock's hesitation towards women and approaching people in general. It also outlines an important fact that you cannot discover what something is until you can go and find it for yourself. This is the problem with Prufrock is that he wont make the "visit" and hesitates and questions himself too much.
I also like the lines:
Do I dare
Disturb the Universe?
Here Prufrock is second guessing himself and concerning himself with what others might say about him. He is so afraid of being denied that he is not sure if it is worth it to even approach a woman. The fact that he uses the words dare and disturb the universe are excellent ways to show his insecurity and indecisiveness.
Also interesting in this poem is the repition of certain phrases such as:
"In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo"
"how should I presume?"
"That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all." I am not sure exactly what the repition is for, but I would guess that it is trying to show his thought process and make you better understand his confussion and insecurity.
The end was interesting and I have no idea what it means but it sounds interesting when it says:
"Till human voices wake us, and we drown." I think that might have something to do with the fact that the voices of his peers and other people about him are what makes him so afraid to approach the women.
It seems like whenever I read this poem there is more to find out about it. J. Alfred Prufrock feels so insecure and so insignificant in his place in the world that he contemplates suicide, but doesn't have the courage to carry it through: "Do I dare / Disturb the universe?" He wonders, would it even be worth it? Would women be dissatisfied with him even after he is dead? And could he risk coming back from the dead, like Lazarus, to figure that out?
"Would it have been worth while...
To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'--
If one settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.'"
There are some lines that stand out to me, too:
"I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."
This image really conveys the small, isolated, and devolved state of being that Prufrock sometimes desires.
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