Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film by Christopher Scott Interdisciplinary Honors Thesis
Written under the direction of Instructor Jonathan Bass (Writing Program) and Professor Dianne Sadoff (English) School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University 2011-2012

Table of Contents

Thesis Appendix 1: Prufrock Shot Plan and Explication Annotated Bibliography

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Introduction The overall goal for my thesis project is to adapt T.S Eliots poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock into a short animated film. The main question I seek to answer by remediating the poem to film is how the visual form can dispel ambiguity about imagery and introduce visual elements that compete for viewer attention. In this paper I concentrate on literary analysis of the poem and show how this analysis leads to my creative choices in the film. It also allows me to explore Prufrocks character so that I know how to render him in animation. By translating the poem into animation, I can explore Prufrocks character through his movement around Boston, from the streets to the party and finally to the chambers of the sea. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a dramatic monologue that deals with the divided self, restrictive social customs, and the banality of everyday life. Robert Langbaum, talking specifically about Prufrock, says that the character speaks not to alter the situation but to extract from it the pattern of his life (Langbaum 157). The challenge of the film is to portray Prufrocks pattern and progress in a way that visually engrosses the viewer; otherwise there is no reason to adapt it to film. Fortunately there is plenty to work with because dramatic monologues deal with extraordinary moral positions and emotions (Langbaum, 93). On the surface the poem appears to be about Prufrock trying to muster the courage to confess his love to a woman. Lyndall Gordon, in her biography of Eliot, believes that Prufrock is actually asking a more metaphysical question about mans accumulated experience and how to rescue ordinary life from its worthless banality (Gordon, 387). My interpretation begins with Prufrocks lack of confidence

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film around women, but expands to include his larger questions about life the more he considers his situation. There are actually two Prufrocks at work in the poem. Lyndall Gordon says, Prufrock was in part a man of about forty and in part [a figure for] Eliot and Eliot, used the notion of the split personality to create a character that talks to himself (Gordon, 66). These two Prufrocks struggle throughout the poem, as the titular character imagines posing his question to a woman and then immediately rewinds time in order to not say anything. Prufrock has this sort of control over time because all the action takes place in his room while he sits in his room. The film shows this conflict between movement and non-movement by returning to Prufrock in his room, staring at his older reflection in the mirror. The poems narrative, which transports readers outside of Prufrocks room, is always liable to shift as he changes his mind. This shift allows for certain scenes to veer into surrealism as Prufrocks fantasy unwinds. Prufrock spends much of the poem struggling with the social customs of upper class Bostonian society. Eliot describes this society as quite uncivilized but refined beyond the point of civilization, meaning that excessive refinement inhibited meaningful communication (Gordon, 27). Prufrock is continually trying to figure out how to fit his overwhelming question into the proper context of the party without humiliating himself, but is unable to decide upon a proper time. He continually revises, turns back, and reverses times flow in his own head to reassess how he could finally speak the question. Prufrocks question is something profoundly important to him, but trapped in a party that lacks purpose and energy, he is unable to ever vocalize it.

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Prufrock is a caricature of one of Henry James timid lovers and, as a caricature, is well suited to animation (Gordon, 66). The film portrays Prufrock as a stiff, proper character with eyebrows perpetually arched in worry. Through animation I can concentrate on Prufrocks insecurity without being distracted by details that would exist in a live action production. The imagery, such as the catlike fog, also benefits from animations plasticity, allowing it to shift and change forms as the poem dictates. My process in actually creating the finished film is a condensed version of a traditional animation production style that includes storyboards, timing sheets, and animatics. The first step is to break down the lines of the poem into distinct shots and describe what visual elements each shot includes. The script, which is an abridged form of Eliots reading, also serves as a general timing sheet. Each line takes a certain amount of seconds for Eliot to read, so each shot needs to be that many seconds in length so that the sound will synchronize. The next step after script creation is to create the backgrounds for each scene. This roughly dictates where the characters will be placed and helps me to visualize how the characters will move in space. Next comes the actual character and effects animation, including everything Prufrock and the other people do. Effects include smoke from chimneys and any lighting changes. The yellow fog straddles the line between effects and character animation and it is also handled in this stage. Finally I take all of the individual shots and fuse them together in an editing program such as iMovie. At this point I add the sound, placing T.S Eliots reading of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock over the finished visuals, using the audio editing program Audacity to edit the soundtrack so it fits the timing of the visuals.

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film The final film adapts an abridged version of the poem into animated form. The poem is abridged for the film because of my production schedule. I conferred with animation professionals in NYC before beginning production and the consensus was that anything over five to six minutes would be impossible, even using limited animation. To create realistic movement with distinct drawings, a film needs to contain at least eight to twelve distinct drawings per second. Because of time constraints I will only have time to animate five to six minutes that are natural enough to convey actions without being distracting. The second reason for abridging the poem is that certain repeated images can be inserted into already existing scenes without lengthening the film. The men in shirt sleeves and the smoke that rises from the pipes can easily be shown in early establishing shots as Prufrock walks through the city. Returning to these lines the way the poem does in line 70 interrupts the films momentum. Cutting some stanzas and lines from the poem while attempting to still include the images in the film creates a conflict between the poem and images onscreen and allows for another layer of depth and interpretation. Adapting the poem to animation serves the critical goal of elucidating my reading of the poem that I have arrived at through literary analysis and close reading. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock has been read by hundreds of critics, and their readings wildly differ. For example, the line, Do I dare eat a peach? has been interpreted as a symbol for female genitalia (Dowling), as an example of Prufrocks nervousness about eating while at social gatherings (Raine, 69), and as evidence for Prufrock aging and having loose teeth (Dowling). While no critic has total authority over a text, I consider the last interpretation more valid than the others due to Prufrocks concern about aging

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film and wasting his life. The film is a way to convey my interpretation in an accessible way using a medium I am interested in and want to experiment with. In a sense I am appropriating a great poem in order to further my own interpretation of it and to advance my animation skills.

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Prufrock as a Dramatic Monologue The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is written as a dramatic monologue. Eliot found dramatic monologues useful for investigating significant personalities and uncovering issues of asexuality and fear (Howe, 73). The defining characteristic of the dramatic monologue is that they are always written in the first person, but critics disagree on other set criteria, as few dramatic monologues fulfill them all (Howe, 3). Robert Langbaum, in The Poetry of Experience, suggests a way of meaning that dramatic monologues can be assessed by, based on the reader sympathizing with the speaker (Howe, 4). However, readers are not always sure to sympathize with a particular speaker, especially since these speakers usually express extraordinary moral positions and emotions that a reader may not identify with (Langbaum, 93). Despite the contentious definition of the dramatic monologue, the characteristics common to many of them that apply to Prufrock help show what Eliot is doing to make the character resonate with readers. I can learn to make Prufrock resonate better by understanding how the dramatic monologue generates sympathy even for pathetic or reprehensible characters. One of the main features of Prufrock is the poems concern with Prufrocks emotions and his assessment of what he should do, connected to what course of action would be most emotionally and morally fulfilling. Langbaum says, extraordinary moral positions and emotions make up the characteristic subject-matter of the dramatic monologues that follow Browning and Tennyson (93). In the poem the speaker is always referring to an overwhelming question that he must ask, assigning great importance to saying what he means (93). Throughout the poem Prufrocks moral position and his emotions are at odds. Prufrocks moral position is his desire to ask his overwhelming

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film question, thereby changing his situation. Meanwhile his emotions are conflicted, which prevents him from taking action. The fact that Prufrock never voices his overwhelming question is expected, considering his emotional state. Langbaum says, even in Eliots poetry emotion is always a step ahead of reason (Langbaum, 105). Prufrocks primary emotions are anxiety and fear, which spawn indecisiveness and social paralysis. Prufrocks paralysis leads to another characteristic of the dramatic monologue Langbaum identifies, which is that there is no change of attitude from beginning to end (Langbaum, 154). This is true in the poem, as Prufrock begins as a timid man, unable to voice his question, and ends without ever saying what it is. The poems audience is exposed to Prufrocks point of view but does not come to any realizations through them, and instead leaves him still circling around his question. Adapting such a static character to film is difficult because there is no character arc to engross viewers in. To combat this lack of action I move Prufrock through different places and times. Prufrock begins the poem as a young man, but ends it as a much older person, the one he feared he would become as he neglects to take action. This change in setting and appearance gives Prufrock the appearance of an arc, although it is more of a downward spiral towards the drowning at the end. One of the ways Prufrock is problematic as a dramatic monologue is that the meaning of the poem is hidden in the overwhelming question that never gets asked. Langbaum says, the dramatic monologue specializes in the reprehensible speaker because his moral perspective is extraordinary (Langbaum, 138). While Prufrock is indecisive, even cowardly, it is difficult to call him reprehensible because his moral position, which would be the basis for his actions, is hidden. If Prufrock has any clear

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film moral position in the poem it is revealed by repeating, there will be time (4. 27). Prufrock is trying to convince himself throughout the poem that his indecisiveness is not bad because there will always be time to do all the things he is meaning to do, including voicing his overwhelming question. Prufrocks endorsement of procrastination would be reprehensible if he actually believed in it. Although he tries to convince himself that there is no problem with waiting for the right time to come, he is also sure that time is passing him by. He says, I grow old, showing that he recognizes that life is finite and that his attempts to console himself, by saying there will be time, are hollow (17. 120). At the end of the poem readers may feel pity or annoyance towards Prufrock, but not see him as reprehensible. Pitying Prufrock carries with it assumed judgment about the title character. Prufrock is not the kind of man readers would want to emulate. Langbaum states that the dramatic monologue is, a poetry of sympathy because it illustrates the speakers perspective in full, and causes readers to suspend moral judgment (Langbaum, 79). Although this judgment is suspended while the speaker talks, it does return upon reflection. In Prufrock the last image is of drowning, causing the audience to view him as a failure or unlucky casualty of his own doubt. Readers sympathize with Prufrock as he reveals his lifes pattern, but come away from the poem with a desire not to emulate this pathetic man. Prufrock is set roughly at the same time that it was published, around 1910 to 1915, differentiating it from a large quantity of historical dramatic monologues. Langbaum says that the past offers a sympathya willingness to understand it in its own terms as different from the present, but Prufrock was afforded no historical

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film nostalgia by contemporary audiences (Langbaum, 96). This jeopardizes the sympathy readers are supposed to develop for characters in a dramatic monologue. Modern readers are actually more likely to read Prufrock like early 20th century readers would have read Brownings My Last Duchess, sympathizing with a far removed character instead of seeing him as a criticism of their society. Prufrock is now seen as a character from another time, whose problems may no longer be applicable. In the film I have exploited this removal and kept the characters in historically accurate clothing, but tried to focus on the faces of the characters and on timeless features like eyes in order to make them familiar to modern audiences. In many other ways The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock perfectly fits the pattern of other dramatic monologues. The monologue, which is Prufrocks total outpouring of the soul and the expression of his whole life until that moment is gratuitous to the instance it is being delivered in (Langbaum, 182-183). There is really no reason for Prufrock to be delivering this monologue while sitting at home, especially since he is talking to himself. The dramatic situation exists as a self-expressive act that is removed from cause, meant to give insight into a particular character without being part of a larger scene that places it into context. The character that emerges is an indecisive man who aspires to change his situation, but finds he is unable to. He is able to identify his own shortcomings, and even parodies them, remembering himself saying, Do I dare? but is unable to find a way to turn that self-knowledge into productive action (6. 38). The final lines of the poem illustrate that Prufrock has given up on stating his question, as his mind moves from the party to a fantastical chamber of the sea. Eliot

Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film follows Robert Brownings style of dramatic monologues by having the speaker negate his own argument by the poems end (Langbaum, 184). Prufrocks final lines show that his inhibition will always trap action in the realm of fantasy (Gordon, 54). In reality Prufrock will continue to go to parties as a single man, unable to confess his feelings or change his situation. Prufrocks situation as both speaker and listener is crucial to understanding the poem, and helps to qualify it as a dramatic monologue. Langbaum says, we are told...that the dramatic monologue must have not only a speaker other than the poet but also a listener. (Langbaum, 76). He criticizes this definition by calling it narrow, but it is safe to say that the speaker and listener relationship is a reoccurring device in dramatic monologues. In Prufrock the speaker and the listener are both the same, and the speaker is communicating with this other Prufrock, as if hoping this other self will reveal to him exactly what it is he needs to do. The film complicates this relationship between the two Prufrocks as it shows them in the third person, making the viewer into a spectator, separate from the speaker and listener. The poem also contains this relationship, because although Prufrock is talking to himself the reader is still seeing Prufrocks inner conversation. One of the great strengths in the poem is that although it does not comprise a complete drama, it still terminates in a unified effect. The dramatic monologue suggests as much about the speakers life and experience as possible, but does not follow a plot (Langbaum, 157). Therefore, I am free in the film to show Prufrocks character and experiment with imagery without being tied to a specific plot. The continuity of the film

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film relies mostly on Prufrocks mind and where it wanders. Prufrocks character does not change, but his wandering mind provides momentum for the poem and film to follow.

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Prufrocks Inhibition and the Banality of Everyday Life J. Alfred Prufrock is an inhibited character, and much of the poem revolves around his inability to say what he means (15. 104). Superficially, it appears he is unable to confess his feelings for a woman at the party. The woman in question is the one that Prufrock imagines saying, That is not what I meant at all, although she is alluded to earlier as one of the women discussing Michelangelo and whose arms, white and bare, Prufrock sees (14. 97). In the film Prufrocks primary struggle is to get himself across the room and in a conversation with the woman. This progress is easy to show visually, and the space between the two characters can be tweaked in animation to further convey emotional distance. There are other interpretations of Prufrocks struggle; Lyndall Gordons asserts that Prufrocks overwhelming question is about how to rescue ordinary life from its worthless banality (Gordon, 387). Prufrocks life, especially at the tea party, is dull and routine. As a member of the gentlemanly leisure class he stands around listening to refined people talk about cultured subjects while being served tea. There is a sense in the poem that the tea party Prufrock attends is one of many, and so if he does not confess to the women now he will still have time for a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions because there will always be future gatherings to go to (4. 32-3). This is illustrated by the changing time in the poem. Prufrock begins by asserting that it is evening, but says in line 42 that he is wearing his morning coat. Then, in line 50, Prufrock mentions evenings, mornings, afternoons that he has spent, presumably at these parties. Prufrocks attendance has made his life into a formula, and he is trapped in

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film a formulated phrase or regulated pattern of behaving, making it even harder for him to state his question (8. 57). Prufrocks overwhelming question seems like it must be incredibly important because of the way he describes it, equating it to Lazarus coming back from Hell to deliver a message [94-5]. But there are also lines in the poem that work against the reading that Prufrock is trying to rescue himself and his contemporaries from mundane routine. Prufrock says, I am no prophet and heres no great matter signifying that objectively his question is not important and will not affect change (13. 83). The great matter is particularly important, as it shows Prufrock does not believe in his question or feel it should be shared. This means it is a question that refers only to him, and not the whole society. The most satisfying interpretation, considering the evidence, is that Prufrocks question is simply about how to confess his love to a woman, and that this question overwhelms him. For another person displaying affection would not be so difficult, but to a man as meek and inhibited as Prufrock expressing love feels like disturbing the universe (6. 46). While Prufrocks limited ability to communicate may suggest problems in society, the poem is primarily an expression of the speakers problem. Interpreting the poem as an inhibited man failing to disclose his feelings makes the poem primarily about anxiety and despair. Prufrock begins the poem hoping his thoughts will lead him to finally state his overwhelming question and break from his banal routine. The sense that his endeavor will fail is there from the beginning, within ominous imagery describing tedious streets of insidious intent leading him to that question (1. 8-9). The yellow, catlike fog that follows his progress through Boston

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film implies that an insidious force is following him along his journey. The fog may represent Prufrocks fear or inability to communicate, as it obscures sight, or it may just be an evocative, disturbing image. When Prufrock finally arrives at the house he finds himself continually secondguessing why he has come, saying that there will be time and thus there is no reason for him to force his question at the moment. Meanwhile, he worries about his appearance, perceiving the women talking unfavorably about his hair, arms, and legs. Prufrock feels trapped in this situation to the extent that he is sprawling on a pin, like he is a specimen for the women to examine (8. 57). At line 98, when Prufrock first considers his love interests reaction to his question, he gives up upon ever actually stating it. This represents the turning point in the poem, and though he returns to the question again he also returns to the rejection, as if it is inevitable. After the second imagined rejection Prufrock begins to see himself as more and more pathetic, an attendant in his own life (16. 112). He imagines himself as an old man, walking along the beach, and as the kind of man who has to be careful when eating a peach lest his teeth fall out. In the final lines of the poem Prufrock has given over to fantasy, occupying a sea chamber with mermaids. Even these imagined mermaids, being female, ignore him (19. 125). In the final line Prufrock drowns because he is woken by human voices. Perhaps he has dozed off while imagining the poems events, and drowning is a metaphor for his dream slipping away. It also represents that he has given up on his overwhelming question, and is being brought back to a world where he will live out a banal routine until he dies of old age.

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Allusions and References in Prufrock There are a number of allusions in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock that illustrate Prufrocks inner struggle and help to establish setting. Prufrock compares and contrasts himself to Lazarus and John the Baptist, and the epigraph equates him with Guido da Montefeltro. The purpose of this section is to explain the allusions in the poem and how they affect the imagery in the film, keeping in mind that Eliot said, When applied to most poetry [source hunting] is more likely to lead the reader farther away from the true meaning of the poem (the meaning of which is conveyed first emotionally, by the rhythms and the imagery) instead of leading him to it (Gordon, 160). The poems meaning is enhanced by allusions and by borrowing phrases from great works of literature, but these references are only important as far as they enhance Prufrocks character. In certain cases, such as the Lazarus reference, Prufrocks personality clarifies which Lazarus passage in the Bible he is referencing. The epigraph to the poem is not an allusion but a direct quote from Dantes Inferno, Canto 27, where Guido da Montefeltro addresses Dante without fear of infamy, because he assumes Dante will never be able to share the story (Ledbetter, 45). Prufrock is also sharing a story, revealing his insecurities and hinting at an overwhelming question that he never reveals. The epigraph suggests that Prufrock assumes his audience will never be able to share his story with the world. But Prufrocks situation is more complicated than Montefeltros because he does not reveal his overwhelming question, not even to the audience. Prufrock is either unable to tell the reader or unsure if the reader will somehow be able to share this knowledge. Prufrocks struggle throughout the poem

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film to say just what he means shows that he has not yet found a way to phrase his overwhelming question even to the reader, and is still searching for how and what to say. Cleanth Brooks says the epigraph implies Prufrock is talking to a fellow sufferer, one who already knows something of his life among the living dead (Brooker, 81). This establishes that inside the poems world Prufrock is talking to another self. In the film I chose to depict this fellow sufferer as an older Prufrock, a single, elderly man that the speaker fears he will become. The elderly Prufrock represents the speakers inability to ever voice his question. The poem becomes about the moment that Prufrock abandons his overwhelming question and resigns to a wasted life. This happens when he imagines the woman rejecting him for the second time (15. 110). Eliot places a line in the space between lines 110 and 111, demonstrating a shift in the poem. The shift indicates Prufrock resigning to a banal, formulaic life. This is represented at the end of the film by Prufrock sinking back toward the same room at the party, unchanged despite his age. Prufrocks allusion to Lazarus provides a reason for abandoning his overwhelming question. Lazarus is asked, while dead, to instruct a rich mans brothers to repent. Abraham tells both of them that, though one rose from the dead the men will not be persuaded (Ledbetter, 44). Prufrocks allusion shows that he believes no one will be persuaded by what he has to say, especially if Lazarus is unable to convince others after rising from the dead. Prufrock already feels so removed from these heroic Biblical figures, stating, I am no prophet, and heres no great matter, so there is no reason to continue trying to work out the proper phrasing or find the proper moment to state his question (13. 83). It is more fitting for him to drown in his lifes routine.

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film The work and days of hands is a reference to Hesiods poem about farming (Brooker, 82). Brooks notes the contrast between hard farm labor and the trivial labor involved with upper class Bostonians. He interprets the question dropped on Prufrocks plate as a letter delivered at the morning mail, but at this point in the film Prufrock has already arrived at the party in the late afternoon so digressing to another time and place interrupts the narrative. In the film I chose to have the question be a servant presenting Prufrock with a cup of tea as he arrives and is awkwardly standing around. The servants question and Prufrocks exaggerated reaction to the question shows that he is intimidated by interaction, especially with women. The reference to Hesiod also clarifies Prufrocks age. Hesiod says that a man should marry a wife and bring her home when he is about thirty (Brooker, 82). Prufrocks Hesiod reference suggests he is getting close to his thirtieth birthday, and feels he must propose soon. However he is trapped by indecisions and revisions and keeps missing his chance, exaggerating his fear that his time will pass and he will grow into an old man. Prufrocks nervousness may also span from Hesiods warning that, while theres nothing better a man can win him than a good wife, theres nothing more dismal than a bad one (Brooker, 82). Prufrock, being cautious and meticulous, could be taking Hesiods advice to look her well over first and not rush into marriage. Yet Prufrock is also worried that if he does propose, the woman will reject him (15. 98). Prufrocks fear of rejection and fear of not having enough knowledge of the woman he wants to marry traps him in a repetitious cycle of inaction. Gordon says that Prufrocks interior monologue is a struggle between a would be lover and a would be prophet (Gordon, 69). Prufrock alludes to John the Baptist, but

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film rejects his role as a prophet because his question is no great matter [83]. Gordon believes that this line reflects Prufrocks doubt, but that he is a prophet who wishes to confide in a woman and reveal his profound truth. She rejects him because he does not want to discuss lovers talk (Gordon, 68). Gordon argues that Prufrocks wish to be a prophet is greater than his wish to be a lover, and it is actually his role as a prophet that drowns at the end of the poem. Gordon dramatically overestimates Prufrocks ambition and his allusion to John the Baptist. John the Baptist tries to convince Herod and his people to change their ways, and is executed for speaking out. Prufrock denies being a prophet, showing that he is not trying to fundamentally change society. The allusion further reflects Prufrocks fear of women, as John the Baptist was executed because of Salome and her mothers wishes, in exchange for Salome dancing for Herod (Brooker, 84). The allusion reasserts Prufrocks fear of women, especially female sensuality, echoed throughout the poem by the white and bare arms and the perfume from a dress that distract him (9. 63, 65). If Prufrock is searching for a way to fundamentally change life around him it is only to gain enough fortitude to ask the woman he desires to marry him. Prufrock mocks himself with talk of prophecy, ridiculing how difficult it is for him to confess his feelings. Prufrock continues his self-degradation by comparing himself to an attendant lord in Hamlet. At this point in the poem Prufrock believes he will always be rejected and accepts his role as societys tool. He says he is full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse, indirectly comparing himself to the slow and pompous Polonius (16. 117). Prufrock has become acutely aware of his unimportance and in the next stanza he imagines himself as an old man (Brooker, 85). This last allusion reinforces that Prufrock abandons his

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film question and accepts his routine, uninteresting life. The question the poem actually answers is what Prufrocks fate is; the answer is a wasted life.

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Time in the Poem and Film Prufrock is a poem relentlessly obsessed with time. Prufrock repeats the word time throughout the poem, beginning in stanza four when he talks about all the events that time will allow for. In this stanza time becomes buffer for Prufrock between himself and his question, allowing him to prepare himself (4. 27). There is a sense that Prufrock may be relying on time too much, when he speaks of a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions that his routine will allow for (4. 32-3). In the sixth stanza Prufrock becomes more anxious, and only thinks of time spent second-guessing and being insulted. He wonders, Do I dare? when faced with going up to and speaking to a woman at the party. The stanza begins by considering time, and ends with Prufrock stating, in a minute there is time / For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse (6. 47-8). The repetition of revisions demonstrates that the poems events are all in Prufrocks mind. The revision is not only an alteration of his decision but also an alteration of the previously mentioned vision around that new decision. However his mind is unsteady, and within a minute he may reverse his imagined scene back to the way it was before. After stanza seven Prufrock stops saying the word time, but continues talking about it by repeating when, how and should. In these stanzas Prufrock is wondering which way to use the time he is sure he has. This is point at the poem that Prufrock is most faced with anxiety, seeing himself, sprawling on a pin in front of the other guests (8. 57). Despite this being his chance to voice his question and confess his love, he can still only wonder at the right way to go.

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Stanza fourteen solidifies Prufrocks rejection, repeating much of the language of stanza thirteen, and showing that two versions of Prufrocks vision have come to the same conclusion. The woman says, That is not what I meant, at all, confirming Prufrocks fear that his question will fall upon deaf ears (15. 110). In spite of the time he has spent preparing and reconsidering, there is no room for his declaration of love in this refined and paralyzing society. Prufrocks obsession with time is linked with his fear of old age, the sense that he is growing older without having accomplished anything, and that his life has been wasted. The line I have measured out my life with coffee spoons illustrates this fear of idling all his time away at parties unable to state his overwhelming question (7. 51). Stating the question would only take a moment, yet that moment is flickering and may disappear altogether (13. 84). Prufrock struggles between thinking there will always be enough time for him to put off confessing, and the realization that if he keeps putting it off, his chance may pass. In the final five stanzas he is transformed into an old man, having missed his opportunity and transformed into an elderly bachelor on the edge of death. Even eating a peach poses a problem for him, faced with weakened gums and brittle teeth (Dowling). The peach image has been argued as a symbol for female sexuality, but at this point in the poem Prufrock has been rejected and is beyond looking for a woman. If the symbolic relationship does hold, it is meant to show how far Prufrock has fallen from his original goal, so that now even a peach and its tenuous relationship to female genitalia taunts him. In the film I have tried to illustrate Prufrocks obsession with time and his fear of growing old. When Prufrock asks, Do I dare disturb the universe? I transition from an

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film image of a spinning galaxy to a rotating clock, with a minute hand that ticks back and forth as if stuck. This shows the reversal that Prufrock believes can happen in a minute. Formally animation is a medium is very concerned with time. For a single second of fluid animation there needs to be 12 distinct drawings correctly spaced together to create the illusion of life. In the Prufrock film Ive been forced, due to time restraints, to limit the amount of actual fluid movement. In many scenes Prufrock stays still, or moves only a small part of his body. In others, such as when he walks down the stairs, Prufrock is constructed like a puppet, and although his body is moving, it is made up of distinct parts that are tweened or transitioned by the computer, based on where I decide the starting and ending positions should be. This kind of animation is used in many professional settings, but is considered a shortcut, and almost always looks less polished and fluid than distinct, competently drawn frames. Luckily this stiff animation can fit the overly refined, suffocating environment that Prufrock feels trapped in. Dynamic outbursts are not part of Prufrocks world, and he is paralyzed by indecision. I hope that the relative rigidity of the animation does not incite boredom from the viewers, and that instead the characters stiffness complements the mood the poem creates. This project has taught me that I will have to become a significantly better artist if I wish to animate a story that celebrates life and motion.

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film Condensing the Poem for Film In order to be able to remediate The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock into animation I need to consider the limitations of my own abilities as well as the opportunities digital media can present. In order to condense the poem I removed lines 70 through 86. In previous lines Prufrock is thinking about being at the party, considering how to go about asking his question. The stanza starting at line 70 suddenly focuses on the narrow streets Prufrock has just come from, and the stanza after that features a crab. These two stanzas help to unify the various parts of the poem, with the former showing where Prufrock has come from and the latter foreshadowing the beach scene at the end. However these stanzas also interrupt the poems momentum that builds towards Prufrock imagining talking to and being rejected by the woman. In the poem the image of the narrow streets and the crab are like small flashes, images that appear as short digressions. In Eliots reading, however, the two stanzas take a full thirty seconds to read. In an animated film under ten minutes, half a minute is a significant digression. Therefore I took the image of the man in shirtsleeves and inserted him earlier in the film, while the crab appears near the end. This compresses the films time and inserts points of interest in other scenes. The stanza from line 75 through 86 is also removed to fit time constraints and avoid repetition. Prufrock achieves the same effect with the lines squeezed the universe into a ball to roll it toward some overwhelming question as force the moment to its crisis. In both he considers whether he can bring himself propose to the woman. The problem with eliminating this stanza is it sacrifices the allusion to John the Baptist and Prufrocks claim that his question is no great matter. It eliminates Prufrock as a

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film prophet, as someone who would rescue the life of his companions if he could only get over his fear of rejection. However I do not accept that Eliot intends for Prufrock to be a would-be-prophet, or that the character even has the potential to be. Therefore I would rather concentrate on Prufrock as a would-be lover, thus the film picks up again at line 87. The stanza from line 99 to 110 is also cut due to repetition. Repetition, though effective in poetry when readers can set their own pace, can get tiring and boring in film when pace is set for viewers. The sunsets, and the dooryards, and the sprinkled streets were already established in earlier shots of the city, and the audience has already grown familiar with images of the teacups and shirts that trail along the floor from the many scenes at the party. The one new image is the magic lantern that throws Prufrocks nerves up on a screen. This image displays Prufrocks wish that his inner life was visible to him, so that he could better discern how to articulate his question (Raine, 72). I would like to include this image in the film, possibly showing Prufrock watching his behavior as if it was on a movie screen in front of him, or delving into abstraction and emphasizing flickering lights. Ultimately there was not time to include this image, however it is about Prufrock wishing he could better understand what course of action to take, which is a major theme of the poem, present in lines like, how should I presume? (54). It adds nuance to Prufrocks struggle, but it is not a vital element missing from the film. Certain images that are established early in the poem make appearances at other times, the most notable being the fog. Ive placed the fog outside of the windows at the party in several scenes, connecting the fog surrounding the house in an earlier scene to what happens later. The fog is also used to anticipate Prufrocks growing nervousness,

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film such as when he pictures himself as Lazarus and seems about to state his question. During this scene, fog collects in Prufrocks body and swirls toward his head. The very next scene is the woman rejecting him. This scene the fog is meant to show how Prufrocks anxiety grows and gets the better of him. I hope that by the end of the film viewers will equate the fogs particular dull yellow color to anxiety and indecision. The imagery in the film works to illustrate the story and images in the poem, but it also serves to tether the film to a particular meaning. Viewers are introduced to Prufrock as a young man, instantly removing questions about his age that exist when the poem stands by itself. The style of clothing and dress also illustrate the general time period that the poem is set, which many readers may not immediately pick up on. The film also shows that Prufrock is speaking to an older version of himself, connecting his overwhelming question to his fear of growing old. In many ways the film removes the ambiguity that the poem carefully cultivates, with its changing tenses and unreliable narrator. The film is very much in the tradition of animated works that try to clarify actions and create a precise language through images. As an adaption the film offers a revised point of view of the original and is also an exercise of trimming while engaged in an amplificatory procedure by presenting images and movement (Sanders, 18). The film argues for my interpretation of the poem as about a man struggling to confess his love, overcome by anxiety about wasting his life, and eventually failing. I even subvert Eliot by including his reading as a voice over, using his recording to directly connect the poem to its author. More significant differences between the poem and the film have to do with how the reader or viewer sees Prufrock. In the film, Prufrock is always seen from the third

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film person. Only in the second shot, when he looks into the mirror, is the audience seeing the world directly through his eyes. In other shots the viewer is looking over his shoulder or straight at him. This interferes with the closeness readers have to Prufrock in the original poem, where details are colored by the speakers emotions, and his visions are imagery instead of images. The film presents much more outward details about the kinds of streets Prufrock walks, to the design of lights, furniture, and clothing. All of these details are necessary in film, but few are actually included in the poem aside from the rich necktie with the simple pin, and the trailing skirts. In this sense the animated adaption externalizes the details of the poem by addressing and amplifying allusions in the text. For example the attendant lord who is full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse is further implied to be Polonius in the film, as he is shown stabbed while behind a curtain (16. 117). The film also asserts Prufrocks identity as the attendant lord by using the animated versions character design and placing him in stage clothes. This scene is self-referential because it shows Prufrock skewered on Hamlets sword the same way he was sprawl[ed] on a pin (8. 57). This kind of connection between images in the film leads to a greater sense of unity and extends one an image from the poem into a further situation, connecting the two scenes in a way the poem on its own did not. The film also provides a pedagogic role as it establishes basic facts about the poem that can be readily perceived by viewers. The first five seconds establish the location and time that the poem is happening by placing Boston, 1912 on the screen. The viewer is then introduced to Prufrock sitting in his chair and sees that he is a young man. The ghostly older face that appears in his mirror when he turns his head demonstrates that he is speaking to an older version of himself who exists as a figment of

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Analyzing and Adapting T.S Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock for Animated Film anxious imagination, although this point is not as obvious. The scenes at the party show Prufrocks fascination and hesitation with the woman by the window, and assert that the poem is about his indecisive yearning to confess his love. Other images, such as the fire in the background when Prufrock imagines himself as Lazarus, hint at which story of Lazarus is being alluded to, which is more of a reward for those that know the poem and its references, and less of an attempt at instruction. Finally, the moment when the older Prufrock opens his mouth at the end to reveal missing teeth directly connects his anxiety about peaches to the state of his body and situates him in a time without modern dentistry. The film on its own cannot possibly clarify all of the images in the poem, but I believe that it presents an interesting interpretation of Prufrocks dramatic interior monologue. I hope that the research and work I put into the film will be enough to justify my creative choices. If anyone disagrees, the original poem is still there to be reinterpreted until the end of time.

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Appendix 1: Prufrock Explication This shot plan was the basic script that I used to help formulate my ideas when creating the film. It substituted for a storyboard. Many of the finished scenes were changed between their first iteration here and in the final film. Prufrock Explication Establishing Shot: Boston, circa 1910 Let us go then, you and I: Prufrock, sitting in a chair, is staring at a vision of his older self. 1.When the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized at a table: A pan across the cityscape of Boston. Fog is heaped over the city like sheets over an unconscious body during surgery. Cityscape with fog fades into images of sheets, bloody where the light from the setting sun was. 2.Let us go through half deserted streets, The muttering retreats: A panning image of a street in a Boston slum with a man leaning out a window, a woman walking by in the distance. 3.Of restless nights in one night cheap hotels: Shot of scummy hotel room, beer bottle on the table. This is where drunks/homeless people would go, who are restless because alcohol prevents REM sleep. 4.Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent: Camera shows a top down view of rows of houses that lead to the womans house. Colors here will transition from natural colors to an insidious yellow surrounding the destination. 5. To lead you to an overwhelming question: A shot of the house, with yellow fog gathering around it. Lyndall Gordon, author of T.S Eliot: An Imperfect Life, says the overwhelming question is both Prufrock asking a woman to marry him and also a metaphysical question about how to rescue ordinary life from its worthless banality [Pg. 387]. The author of The Poetry of Experience argues Prufrocks question remains a mystery throughout the poem. 6.Oh, do not ask, What is it?: Shot of Prufrock back in his chair with furrowed brow, staring again at the indistinguishable person. 7. Let us go and make our visit: Another shot of the house. 8.In the room the women come and go, Talking of Michelangelo: Close up shots of womens mouths opening and closing. Followed by pan up shot of Michelangelos David.

9.The yellow fog that rubs its back along the window-panes: Shot of catlike fog moving along windows. 10.The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes: Fog stops to rub muzzle along window. 11.Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening: The fog stops to extend a tongue out and sample the darkness outside the light from a streetlamp, 12.Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains: Fog settles on a pool of water near a storm-drain. 13.Let fall on its back the soot that falls from chimneys: Camera follows a piece of soot as it lands on the fog. 14.Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap: Fog suddenly becomes more cat-like, leaps down toward the destination house. 15.And seeing that it was a soft October night, Curled once around the house, and fell asleep: Fog billows up and surrounds house. The next few lines, more about the fog, are skipped in order to progress to Prufrock speaking about his relationship to time. 16.There will be time, there will be time To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet: Camera shows Prufrocks face shifting expressions, first at left part of frame, then center, then right. Fades between various expressions. 17.There will be time to murder and create: Uncertain about this shot. 18.And time for all the works and days of hands: At this point Prufrock imagines himself entering the room where the women are. Focus on the maids hands that carry plates with cake around to the guests. This line is an allusion to Hesiods Works and Days from 700 B.C. 19.That lift and drop a question on your plate: Maid presents Prufrock with a piece of cake, Prufrock is flustered. 20.Time for you and time for me: Prufrock looks across the room to where the object of his affection is. 21.And time yet for a hundred indecisions: He starts to take a step. 22.And for a hundred visions and revisions: He stops to reconsider.

23.Before the taking of a toast and tea: The maids enter with more food, interrupting his train of thought. 24.In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo: Close up of the lips again, skirts trailing across the floor. 25.And indeed there will be time To wonder, Do I dare? and Do I dare? Time to turn back and descend the stair: Prufrock is half way up the stairs at this point but reconsiders and walks back down. Women at the party look at him with humorous pity. 26.With a bald spot in the middle of my hair: Close up on Prufrocks small bald spot, then on Prufrocks embarrassed face. 27.My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, my necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin: Focus on Prufrocks clothes. He wears a coat made on formal morning visits. The necktie line is an allusion to Polonius advice to Laertes in Hamlet. 28.Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse: Prufrock imagines himself on a clock which swirls inward like a galaxy, The hand of the clock ticks one minute, then moves back to where it was before. 29.For I have known them all already, known them all: Shot of Prufrock at home again in his chair, looking glum. 30.Known the evenings, mornings, afternoons. : Prufrock rubs his forehead. 31.I have measured out my life in coffee spoons: Prufrock images himself at the party again, stirring his coffee and looking towards the stairs. 32.I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath music of a farther room: People in the room stop talking so loudly and turn towards the sound of music from an open doorway. 33.And how should I presume? : Possibly show Prufrocks love playing the piano? Im uncertain about this scene. It may just be included in Prufrock stirring his coffee and waiting around uncertainly. 34.And I have known the eyes already, known them all: Prufrock sees the women looking at him. The mother of his love affixes him with an especially cool look. 35The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase: The womens heads become abstract faces with huge eyes that stare hauntingly at Prufrock.

 36And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall: Prufrock sees the pin on his collar suddenly become a stake that skewers him to the wall while the distorted faces stare at him. 37.Then how should I begin To spit out all the butt ends of my days and ways? And how should I presume?: Prufrock is back at the party, grinding his teeth. 38.And I have known the arms already, known them all Arms that are braceleted and white and bare: Focus on the arms of the women in the room. Some bare, some with bracelets. 39.[But in the lamplight downed with light brown hair!]: Focus on Prufrocks love interest, followed by a close up of her arm with hair that is reflecting the light. 40.Is it perfume from a dress That makes me so digress?: Unsure about this. I may just defer to a shot of the name of Prufrocks love interests neck, showing the beginning of her dress. 41.And should I then presume? And how should I begin?: Prufrock imagines himself going up to his love interest, but looks flustered and unsure of what to say. I have decided to cut the next four stanzas out of the animated adaption. My reasoning, which I will explain in more detail in the paper to accompany the short film, is the following. The number one reason is time. Every shot will take a quite a while and so I need to cut some of the poem to make it fit into my time frame. The second reason is that these four stanzas are somewhat repetitive and I want to keep the audience of the film focused. I want to show Prufrock move from the streets to the party to the sea-chamber, and this digression back to the streets counters that goal. These stanzas return to places and figures that the film has already passed by. In the poem these recurring images work. In the film returning to the poem interrupts the momentum that has been built up toward Prufrock meeting his love and trying to ask her his overwhelming question [93]. Prufrocks speech about forcing the moment to its crisis [80] is covered when he talks about the overwhelming question. However I will try to work some the images, such as the eternal Footman and the ragged claws, into the animation at different points. The lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows [72] can be worked in earlier when he walks through the streets. 42.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: The camera pans over the party members. There is a shot of a teacup, arms, and laughing women. It then shows Prufrock and his love interest making small talk. 43.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: Prufrock talks while smiling nervously. The camera shifts to a close up of his wide

eye. His pupil becomes like a ball rolling towards the viewer. Either that or there is a semi-transparent ball rolling toward the viewer that appears reflected in his eye. 44.To say I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all: Prufrock imagines himself as Lazarus coming back from the dead to warn a rich mans five brothers about Hell. This is an allusion to Luke 16. This allusion may be too complicated to get across in animation without distracting from the rest of the narrative so I might cut it. 45.If one, settling a pillow by her head, Should say: That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all.: Prufrocks love interest settles a pillow by her head, and looks down, disappointed and sheepish. The next two stanzas reiterate the women saying, That is not what I meant at all and once again focus on the streets, the teacups, and the skirts. While I may choose a few of these images to include before Prufrock talks about being an attendant lord I will likely choose to cut them because of time and pacing. 46.No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be; Am and an attendant lord, one that will do, To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advice this prince; no doubt, and easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous: Prufrock imagines himself as Polonius, advising Hamlet. 47. Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times indeed almost ridiculous Almost, at times, the Fool: Prufrock sees himself as Polonius skewered on Hamlets sword, in a pose reminiscent of what he looked like sprawling on a pin [57]. 48.I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled: Prufrock is again sitting in his chair at home, looking at his older self. The figure is wearing rolled up trousers. 49.Do I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?: As Prufrock says these lines his older vision holds a peach and looks at it, while smoothing back his hair. He then reveals his mouth with numerous teeth missing. 50.I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk along the beach: As Prufrock says this the scene in from of his chair shifts to a scene of the ocean. Prufrock gets up and walks forward. 51.I have heard the mermaids signing, each to each: Prufrock sees mermaids on the rocks singing to each other. 52.I do not think they will sing to me: The mermaids appear to be ignoring him. 53.I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black: Prufrock sees the mermaids riding on the waves, playing among the wind and surf.

 54. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By se- girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown: There is some ambiguity in this scene. Dowling takes it to mean that Prufrock is wreathed with seaweed, and as an allusion to John Donnes poem Song, specifically the line teach me to hear the mermaids singing. However there is no comma after sea-girls. Eliot does not appear, in any other part of the poem, to have a problem with commas, so why he would omit it here it baffling. In this case I think Dowling is wrong and that the sea girls are wreathed with seaweed. They swim around Prufrock, who by this point sees himself as an old man, and the screen fades to black.

Annotated Bibliography Brooker, Jewel S., ed. Approaches to Teaching Eliots Poetry and Plays. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1988. Print. I will be concentrating mostly on Cleanth Brooks essay One Poem as an Approach to All which focuses on The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Brooks essay contains facts like where the poem is set, the importance of the epigraph, and the irony present in the poem. Brooks interpretation is critical to how I will go about creating images that accurately reflect the poems tone. Dowling, William C. Gradesavers Prufrock: What Happens When an Unreconstructed SHEC Gets Hold of a Poem That Matters to You? December 11, 2011. Web. February 1, 2012. http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~wcd/prufrock.html In his essay Professor Dowlings explains various ways that people misconstrue critical imagery in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and explains in-depth several images in the poem, including the peach, the clothes Prufrock wears, and Prufrocks social class. Dowlings essay provides a clarification that translates into some of the rendering of images in the film. Eliot, Thomas Sterns. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock, and other observations. Poems. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1920 This is the poem I am working off of in order to create the animated adaption. I will be using the Oxford English Dictionary as well as input from my advisors in order to fully interpret the images in this poem and then transfer them to animation. Gibson, Charles Dana. Head of a girl. Between 1882 and 1935. Library of Congress Collection Charles Dana Gibsons illustrations portrayed ideal feminine beauty at the end of th the 19 and the beginning decade of the 20th century. His illustrations and the description of the type of women he drew matches up with the poised, educated woman Prufrock is in love with. Hs drawings will most likely be the primary source for the character design of Prufrocks love. Gordon, Lyndall. T.S Eliot: An Imperfect Life. W. W. Norton and Co. New York, 1998. Print. Gordons biography of Eliot primarily focuses on his relationships and his religious life and the role these had in his poetry. Gordon argues that Prufrocks overwhelming question is metaphysical, about mans accumulated experience and how to rescue ordinary life from its worthless banality. I will analyze this view and contrast it against less metaphysical interpretations of Prufrock. Howe, Elisabeth A. The Dramatic Monologue. Twayne Publishers, New York, 1996. Print. The third chapter of this book focuses on the age of Modernism and how the dramatic monologue evolves. The author spends most of the Modernism chapter on T.S Eliot and Prufrock. Howe talks about Eliots preoccupation with social behavior and

how that perception relates to Prufrocks dilemma. I will discuss in the paper how Prufrocks behavior at the party is influenced by social constraints and rituals. Johnston, Ollie. Thomas, Frank. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Disney Editions, 1995. Print Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas were animators at Disney during the Golden Age of Animation. They were both part of the group known as the Nine Old Men who were the core animators at Disney from 1927 to 1977. Their book highlights Disneys approach to animation as well as how to construct successful animation in general. It contains lessons on how to animate both humans in animals in a realistic way and what to simplify in drawing. Krueger, Rex. Aaron McGruders The Boondocks and its Transition from Comic Strip to Animated Series. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 2010 5: 313329. 24 March 2012. doi:10.1177/1746847710377576 Kruegers article discusses the process of adaption and how The Boondocks amplifies aspects of the sources material, and how animation changes the specifics of the shows satire while still remaining true to the themes in the comic strip. The section differentiating static and dynamic media are relevant to my adaption process in the Prufrock film. Langbaum, Robert. The Poetry of Experience: The Dramatic Monologue in Modern Literary Tradition. Random House, New York, 1957. Print. This book argues that modern dramatic monologues display extraordinary moral positions and that emotions make up their characteristic subject. There is also a constant attitude in each dramatic monologue that does not change. Understanding how Prufrock is a dramatic monologue informs how it is translated into a film. I explain in the written portion of the project how Prufrock is a dramatic monologue and what effect that has on how the poem tells a story. Laver, James. Costume and Fashion: A Concise History. Oxford University Press, 1983. Print. Chapter Nine of Lavers book discusses and presents illustrations of fashion from the early 1900s. The first part of this chapter is helpful for designing clothes for Prufrock and his love interest as well as for the other men and women at the tea party. Ledbetter, James H. Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Explicator; Fall 1992, Vol. 51 Issue 1, pg. 41-45. Ledbetters article examines the epigraph of the poem as well as the references Eliot makes to Lazarus and John the Baptist. The article examines how the Biblical allusions affect the meaning of the poem. Manganiello, Dominic. T.S Eliot & Dante. St. Martins Press, New York, 1989. Print. Manganiellos book explores how Eliot was influenced by Dantes poetry to the point that in Eliots view the modern world of poetry was divided between Dante and

Shakespeare. I will use Manganiellos interpretation of the lines from The Inferno in Prufrock to decide how to portray the epigraph in animation. Mattesi, Michael D. Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators. Focal Press; 2nd Edition, 2006. Print Mattesi is the founder of the Entertainment Art Academy and is an expert in how to create forceful drawings. His sketches show how to construct rhythmic forms that move in an exaggerated yet realistic style. His book will be very helpful for animating humans. Raine, Craig. T.S Eliot (Lives and Legacies). Oxford University Press; First Edition, 2006. Print The commentary on Eliots work discusses all of Eliots major poems including Prufrock. It concentrates on the themes in Eliots poems, using close reading as the basis. It also gives a survey of Eliots life. Sanders, Julie. Adaption and Appropriation. New York: Routledge, 2006. Sanders book is used to understand how the process of adaption affects the source work, and the ways that the my iteration of Prufrock fits the canon of adapted materials. Stanchfield, Walt. Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes. Focal Press, 2009. Print Walt Stanchfield held lectures at Disney for 20 years and was a character animator on The Jungle Book and The AristoCats. One of Stanchfields students, John Lasseter, went on to head Pixar. Stanchfield concentrates on how to move forms in space, how to consider weight, and how to make the action of the character key to each drawing. Williams, Richard. The Animators Survival Kit: Expanded Edition. London: Faber and Faber, 2009. Print Williams book is a standard for animation students. It shows how to construct successful walk cycles, how to do overlapping action, how to successively break joints in order to limber up characters, and how timing and spacing are key to animation. Williams book is the second most important part, aside from the poem, of this animation project. Videnov, Valentin A. Human Voices in Silent Seas: A Reading of Eliots Love Song. Explicator; Winter 2009, Vol. 67 Issue 2, p126-130 Videnov explicates the poems title as well as analyzes the epigraph and the theme of simplicity and silence in the work. I use this article to inspire imagery and explain the ending of the poem. 1900-1920 Costumes: Edwardian, World War I. Vintage Costumers. March 10, 2012 http://www.arniesvintagecostumers.com/historicalcostumes00s.htm

This site was useful for getting color pictures of what outfits from the time would have looked like. Costumes are labeled based on class, profession, and the time of day they would be worn.