Tom Colket wrote:
>
>
>
> I didn't make my point well. When I wrote "I don't see him as
> perplexed" I was referring to the beginning of the same paragraph that
> started "Sounds like Prufrock knows all about the overwhelming
> question (and maybe its answer)." So while he may be perplexed about
> inadequacy, fear of death, etc, I don't think he's perplexed about the
> content of the overwhelming question.
>
> I think the whole poem is asking his overwhelming question:
>
Tom,

The whole poem is not asking his overwhelming question, but showing how
he has been overwhelmed by it.
>
>
> Should he live like this? --
>
> ====================
>
> or should he live like this? --
>
Except that the poem has a shape that evolves, and a question that make
sense at one stage does not apply in the same way to another. He is not
asking at the end should he live like this. He is rationalizing, making
up an excuse for his not living. Shall I say, shall I show myself thus
and so.....not, "shall I do," not "I _shall_ force the moment to its
crisis." He was on the verge, but retreats.
>
> ====================
> 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?…
>
Ken