Passage from T.S. Elliot + my comment
| Do I dare |
| Disturb the universe? |
| 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? |
I chose this passage from the poem because it sums up the author’s whole view on love and life in general. The passage is talking about taking chances and the effects. The narrator is saying he has lived life and known thing. He uses metaphors like evening, morning, and afternoon and spoon-measured life to prove this point. But he still asks the question “Do I dare?” This goes back to the title of the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. When a person thinks about love they think about jumping into it and when you think love song you would think that means the narrator has taken the chance by professing his love. But here in this passage you get the irony of the title. Here a character is supposed to be taking a chance and all he can do is ask “Do I Dare?” I think this passage, not to mention the entire poem, shows real flair because of the ideas and themes presented to the reader by means of metaphor and comedic irony.
