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Ma per cio che giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Not only does the paragraph listed above appear in Dante’s Inferno but also in T.S. Elliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Translated from Italian the snippet means, “If I even thought that my reply would be to one who would ever return to the world, this flame would stay without further movement; but since none has ever returned from this depth, if what I hear is true, I answer you without fear of infamy.” With that excerpt in mind we entered the world of J. Alfred Prufrock. Filled with the shallow emptiness, J. Alfred Prufrock’s life is wearily lived. From his experience with the “…women…talking of Michelangelo” he gained nothing (2042). However, the reader regarding comprehension of his experience obtains much.
Prufrock starts the story by taking us to a place of “…restless nights in one-night cheap hotels…sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells…and… streets that follow like a tedious argument” (2043). He pleads with us to not question, “What is it?” but go and trust (2043). Go the reader does as h
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He made an unsuccessful attempt at communication and quickly descended the stairs to escape his failure. “I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled” and “I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach” are the plan he made for his old age (2045). “Do I dare disturb the universe?” illustrates the separation he felt concerning the woman (2043).
As the party goes through stages, so does Prufrock’s thinking. He goes on to declare that “…I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker…” meaning that everyone will hear of his failure and laugh (2044). While descending the stairs he imagined the reactions the women had to him. This could be due to the presence of a lady he desired to talk with. He began to consider that the woman was not worth the risk. “Do I dare”, a question he considered more then once reflected this thinking (2043). This is no usual party but one that has great importance to Prufrock.
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