Who and I?

In his poem, “The love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” T.S. Eliot opens with the line “Let us go then, you and I.” The meaning of this line dictates the meaning of the entire poem. It wasn’t until the third of fourth rereading of this poem that the true meaning of the line became clear. The poem is representative of an internal debate; the speaker in the poem acts as the ‘I,’ while also acting as the ‘you.’ It may sound confusing, but the device really allows for a great inner look into the psyche of the speaker.

Considering that both the ‘I’ and the ‘you’ represent the same person, they must represent different parts of Alfred’s psyche. Since ‘I’ is obviously the speaking psyche, it’s logical to conclude that ‘I’ is his inner self. Who he wants to be. That fact delegates the ‘you’ to who he really is on the outside. The evidence of this is really apparent in lines 41 and 44. The parentheses are indicative of the ‘you’ back talking the ‘I.’ The inner self is telling the body to go be outgoing, to go and do stuff, to get the chick, while the body debates this command, saying “(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”). The perspective of the ‘I’ changes as time passes in the poem. It changes from the outgoing, adventure seeking inner self, to finally recognizing that he’s too old. Line 125 is a perfect example. Eliot writes: “I do not think that they will sing to me,” not long after he had written “I grow old … I grow old …” This is probably because his outer body was actually correct, and his brain just had never caught up to his age.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is an excellent back and forth debate between one aging man and his own psyche. T.S. Eliot masterfully weaves a tail to allow the reader to peer easily into this debate and gain an insight on what it is like to age.