"""I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." What is the author saying about the way that Prufrock has lived and is living his life?""

ariel-mcgavock dir="ltr">This statement evokes careful precision: Prufrock rations his life in
slight doses, not allowing himself joy or excesses. It speaks to monotonous repetition,
particularly in the context of the preceding lines:

dir="ltr">For I have known them all already, known

dir="ltr">         them all:

Have known the
evenings, mornings, afternoons

dir="ltr">Prufrock speaks both of constantshis life is allotted by coffee spoonsand
of uncertainties: the decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. One comes to
understand that, for Prufrock, uncertainty is itself a constant.

dir="ltr">There is an element of forethought, as well: "I have measured out my
life" is ambiguous time-wise. Prufrock might be saying that he has already measured out his
life in the past, but also that he has allotted even the future portions of his lifein other
words, that he does not intend to change his habits.

dir="ltr">Furthermore, coffee spoons symbolize the social rituals that Prufrock so
dislikes: the taking of a toast and tea that obstructs any real conversation. Topics are
bite-size and confined to suitable topics, not of the sort that Prufrock would prefer. He is a
man who wanders narrow streets at dusk and sees a reflection of himself in the lonely men in
shirt-sleeves who smoke pipes and lean out of windowsPrufrock must tire of the restraint, yet he
too restricts himself.

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