The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

A reading of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

LET us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats




Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question




Oh, do not ask, What is it?
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,




The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,




And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

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;




Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go




Talking of Michelangelo.
....

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[dooovde]

"have seen the eternal coatmen hold my coat and snicker"...crippling line.

[drratanbhattacharjee]

This poem, the earliest of Eliot’s major works,completed in 1910 or 1911 but not published until 1915 is an examination of the tortured psyche of the prototypical modern man—overeducated, eloquent, neurotic, and emotionally stilted. Prufrock, the poem’s speaker, seems to be addressing a potential lover, with whom he would like to “force the moment to its crisis” by somehow consummating their relationship. But Prufrock knows too much ...

Like the video .. superb for the gorgeous voice

[dooovde]

"If one settling a pillow by her head should say that is not what I meant at all, that is not it at all"..."Do I dare to eat a peach"...words have lived with me since I first heard them as a child. My favourite poem ever written.

[vickiehill1]

What a beautiful poem. Beautiful voice, as well. More calming than a glass of fine wine. ....I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you.

[Deathwatch05]

You have an amazing voice.

[woberkehr]

excellent!

[vudu8ball]

The last few lines always hit me like a hammer on the head.

[vita9n]

A fine rendition of Eliot's Prufrock. Thank You.

[nordicsky]

Thanks for posting such a good reading. I have only come to T.S. Eliot recently and I have been struggling with the "Wasteland" and the "Four Quartets" This reading demonstrated the quality of Eliot's writing.

Regards, Peter