The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

a. what kinds of activities does prufrock say he will have time for in lines 26-48? b. what does he mean by "do i dare/Disturb the universe"?

the love song of j. alfred prufrock

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The speaker says he will have time to engage in new social settings which he really does not like. Prufrock's anxiety is rooted in the social world. Not only is he afraid to confront the woman talking of Michelangelo (whose most famous sculpture, David, is the epitome of masculine beauty, a daunting prospect for the flaccid Prufrock), he seems intimidated by the social posturing he must engage in:

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

(26-29)

Prufrock is really asking if he should disturb his status quo that he relies on for comfort; he worries if he should take social risks and disturb the uninverse or at least his universe. 

 

Source(s)

http://www.gradesaver.com/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock/study-guide/summary-lines-1-36