“’The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: A poem by T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), first published in 1915. It depicts the doubts and sexual inhibitions of a shy Bostonian by the name of J. Alfred Prufrock. Eliot took the name of his celebrated central character from that of a St. Louis furniture company.
‘I grow old… I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled…
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think they will sing for me.
T.S. Eliot: ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’”
Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.
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