Some lines are so great they give me shivers

"Let us go then, you and I,

when the evening is laid out across the sky

 like a patient etherized upon a table."

So begins one of the finest poems in the English language, full of joy and despair, hope and failure. A magnificent achievement from the beginning of Eliot's career, in which he gives full notice of his genius. 

On a side note, there is a brilliant parody of this poem written by Sean Kelly for National Lampoon back in the 1970's called The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover.  Here's part of it:

We'd better go quietly, you and I.

When the evening is smeared against the sky

Like a witness before a House committee;

We'd better tail each other through the streets

The undercover beats

Of stakeout nights and Mafia hotels

And restaurants that front for Mob cartels:

Streets that follow like a DA's argument

Establishing intent

To overwhelm you with a leading question...

Oh, let's go and bust a traitor

We'll pick up the warrants later

The agents call and call again

Talking of Daniel Berrigan

Terrific dark modernist poem. Should be required reading at the secondary and university levels.

It was required reading for a freshman lit class and I was probably too young to appreciate it. Now I would like to read it again. I love it when the hapless protagonist asks himself if he even dares to eat a peach. Poor guy.

To me this is Eliot's lost gem. His first collection, the one that started it all. He's known more for the wasteland but the stuff in prufrock is amazing. such lines of desperation. there's no poets like this now. just a bunch of MFA clones.

My personal favorite of Eliot's. Not as daunting as The Wasteland and full of enough metaphors and literary allusions to keep one occupied. Prufrock's desperate sense of alienation and disdain for his own existence makes this a timeless piece with some stunning lines- I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ scuttling across the floors of silent seas. The first 12 lines are excellent too with good cadence. Let us go then, you and I,/ When the evening is spread out against the sky ...oh, read it yourself and see what I mean.