And should i then presume

Study Guide. Previous Next. Stanza VII Lines For I have known them all already, known them all:— Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room. And by "done everything," we mean he has survived "evenings, mornings, afternoons.

What else have you done, Prufrock? And I have known the eyes already, known them all-The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase, And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall, Then how should I begin To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways? And how should I presume? And I have known the arms already, known them all-Arms that are braceleted and white and bare [But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!

Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl. And should I then presume? And how should I begin? Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

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 a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. For I have known them all already, known them all:-Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room.

So how should I presume? And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully! Perhaps he is indicating that Prufrock has a duel personality, one which he begs for advice. On the other hand it could be that he simply has reached the end of his wits and is forced to cry out for help, although possibly knowing that none will come. In conclusion, the opening passage is an extremely effective opening to Eliot's methods and concerns. He is clearly painting a vivid image of Prufrock as a character overwhelmed by his inability to move forward in life.

The reader is struck by what a seemingly pathetic and partially comical character he actually is. The suggestions of self-portrayal also give an insight into the life of the poet. Alfred Prufrock is possibly a representation of many of Eliot's fears, making this passage extremely useful as an insight into Eliot and his thoughts.

Christopher Alton 1 Page Get Full Access Now or Learn more. See related essays. Anything that we do today is not going to have an huge impact on the world, affecting all of its inhabitants and the world itself. So, in this sense, it is hard to relate to Milton's work, and it can be said that it does lack human interest.

In the third stanza this conceit continues: 'She' is all states, and all princes I'. The short abrupt statement of 'Nothing else is. Everything else is false: 'All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy'. This is not dissimilar to the constant use of "dark" in Out of the Dark. Both poets I would suggest are trying to suggest the negativity of the dark. He also uses objectification referring to the sweep as a "black thing," which implies that he isn't even worthy to be human.

The elaborate and hyperbolic imagery however also allows the poem to appear fictionalised, and this may be deliberate as it allows Donne to create a version of. The moral modern reader would certainly echo Milton's sentiments concerning sin, but would feel nowhere near as passionately as Milton did about it.

The changing time and archaic zeitgeist portrayed in 'Paradise Lost', then, would also serve to alienate and distance the modern reader from Milton's classic, as would Milton's writing style. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

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