Question

Read the excerpt from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

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? . . .

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

Which words best indicate that Prufrock feels isolated?
narrow, lonely, silent
streets, windows, seas
smoke, pipes, floors
rises, leaning, scuttling

Answer 1

narrow, lonely, silent

These adjectives emphasize confinement, solitude, and quietness, which together convey Prufrock’s sense of isolation.