Poetry Questions

Group 1 (BP):

How does the poem’s setting in lines 1-10 convey insight into the speaker’s state of mind and perception of the world?
What does the title of the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” suggest about the speaker’s situation and to whom (or what) is the song for?
Why is the element of repetition in the couplet, “In the room the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo” significant and what larger meaning does it suggest to the reader?
Who is the “eternal Footman” in line 85 and why is the speaker afraid?
In line 124, what do the mermaids symbolize and why does the speaker say in line 125, “I do not think they will sing to me?”
What does the metaphor in line 51, “I have measured out my life in coffee spoons” convey about the way the speaker has lived his life and his personality?

Group 2 (AB):

In line 4, what are the “half-deserted streets” in reference to?
In Lines 26 and 27, what is meant when he says “there will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”?
What is the significance of his bald spot discussed in lines 40-41? “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair (they will say: “How His Hair is growing thin!”
In Line 62, what is he referring to when he says “And I have known the arms already, known them all”?
In line 84, what is the greatness that is referred to? “I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker”.
In line 122, why is he asking “Do I dare to eat a peach?”

Group 3 (LB):
In line 10-11, what does the author mean by the “overwhelming question”, but not asking “What is it?”.
Why does the author place emphasis on the color yellow in lines 15, 16, 24?
What is the significance of adding yellow as a “personification” of a dog, “rubs its muzzle(16), licked its tongue(17)…”
With line 55, why add the omniscient view of “And I have known the eyes already, known them all-” adding an allusion to God in religious views.
In line 122 why does the author add peach as the fruit of choice instead of any other fruit?
In the last line(131), what is the significance of drowning? Why end it with the ocean and seagulls with their seaweed?

Group 4 (DB):
Line 7 refers to “sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells”. What sort of an establishment is this? Is it literal or figurative?
Line 15 introduces us to a “yellow fog”. What is this a metaphor for or symbol of?
What significance is there in women “Talking of Michelangelo”? (line 36)
What is meant when the speaker says they should have been “scuttling across the floors of the silent seas”? (line 74)
Who is the “eternal Footman”? (line 85)
What significance is there in wanting to “wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled”? (line 121)

Group 5 (DS):
What imagery is he trying to indicate in line 57?
In line 73, “scuttling across the floors of the silent seas”, what does he mean?
What is he wondering in Line 37, when he repeats “Do I dare”?
What is he referring to when he says “would it have been worth it” in line 87?
In line 109, he appears to be upset when he says, “That is not at all what I meant”. Who is he talking to?  What is he upset about?
Was he trying to be someone that he is not? In line 111, he says, “I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be”.