Let us go then, you and I: Teaching "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

The teaching of the Modernist movement can be frustrating for both teachers and students. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which is commonly found in high school textbooks, can be daunting for teachers who do not know how to approach it. The purpose of this document is to supply teachers with the knowledge they need to effectively teach this important poem. The Modernist movement as a whole is examined, as is the life of T. S. Eliot. The poem is elucidated on a stanza-by-stanza basis; this examination is followed by individual essays on theme, allusion, and metaphor. Last, the teacher will find questions to pose to students and ways in which these issues can be tackled by the student critic.