It is assumed that J. Alfred Prufrock is a character that T. S. Eliot creates through the use of dramatic monologue. Using this method, the speaker addresses a silent listener and sometimes reveals qualities that he or she later may regret sharing. Compare the oral readings of the poem with your written reading. Write a summary paragraph that evaluates which interpretation of the poem you prefer. Use evaluation criteria and details from each reading to explain your reasoning. Click here for the checklist. Excerpt from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot "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 lies along a table, or wrap about a shawl. And should I then presume? And how should I begin? . . . 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 or ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."