Question

In these two poems, the speakers reflect on the passage of time, their personal limitations, and how they should respond to life’s challenges. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, Eliot’s speaker is paralyzed by self-doubt and indecision. In contrast, Tennyson’s “Ulysses” expresses a determination to push forward in old age despite loss and fatigue. As you read, consider how each poem expresses a different view of aging, courage, and purpose.


[1] And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

[2] 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?

[3] 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?

[4] 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!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?

[5] 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? ...

[6] I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

[7] And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

[8] And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—
If one, settling a pillow by her head
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;
That is not it, at all.”
Passage 2

Excerpt from “Ulysses”

by
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race...

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone…

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are—
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Part A: Which statement best expresses a theme shared by both Prufrock and Ulysses? (RL.10.3)

A
Individuals must reject society to achieve greatness.

B
Age makes all efforts toward meaning and achievement futile.

C
Life’s value is found in facing uncertainty and pushing forward despite fear or weakness.

D
Human beings should isolate themselves in order to reflect on their lives.

(b)
Which two details best support the answer to Part A? (RL.10.1)

A
“I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, / And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker.” (Eliot)

B
“When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall, / Then how should I begin.” (Eliot)

C
“Tho’ much is taken, much abides… that which we are, we are.” (Tennyson)

D
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” (Tennyson)

E
“I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” (Eliot)

Answer 1

Part A: C

Part B: A and D

- A (Eliot) shows Prufrock’s awareness of a lost opportunity and his fear (“I was afraid”), highlighting the poem’s focus on confronting (or failing to confront) uncertainty.
- D (Tennyson) captures Ulysses’ determination to press on despite age and weakness (“to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”), supporting the idea that life’s value lies in facing uncertainty and pushing forward.