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My post was not really a "reading" of Prufrock; it was a suggestd starting point for a reading. But what Tom gives is an alternative narrative. It's an interesting narrative no dubt, but it makes the poem as a whle rather dull; so much effort goes to constructing and "proving" a hidden narrative that nothing is left over as it were to ask interesting questions about the _poem_ rather than detective style questions about this hidden narrative. On the other hand, if you take a limited act as the starting point, then you can begin to focus on all the things that _this_ sort of unusual "love song" makes visible, and not just about the character but about his world. Moreover, much of the imagery (e.g. "one-nigh cheap hotels" or the merman/mermaid suggestios are really more interesting in this focused but larger context than as "evidence" to "prove" a narrative that isn't there in any obvious way. Carrol