Prufrock also reassures himself not to worry about asking the ‘question’ or starting the ‘long song’ by saying ‘And indeed there will be time’. It is clear that Prufrock has imagined this journey many times already ‘And for a thousand visions and revisions’ creating a sense of reluctance, nervousness and fear on Prufrock’s behalf.
The poem is more concerned with the various possibilities of approaching the question/women rather than with the identification of the question/women itself. Prufrock, to an extent, justifies his thwarted attempts when he sighs ‘It is impossible to say just what I mean!’ Simultaneously he is afraid that the reply should be ‘ “That is not what I meant want at all” ’. Prufrock is self-analytical ‘I should have been a pair of ragged claw’ and analyses the situation, if it ‘would have been worth it, after all’ nevertheless still cannot find success. Another poem, which represents the continuous struggle to express the inexpressible, is ‘Sonnets from Portuguese XLIII’ by E. Browning.
The sonnet starts with the phrase ‘How do I love thee’ Let me count thy ways’ and indeed she does this. Browning characterises her love using measurement and volume ‘depth…breadth…height’ in an attempt to express her love. Browning uses religion and God’s love as examples ‘end of Being and ideal Grace’ and all other forms of love. She has experienced in her life ‘with my childhood’s faith…with a love I seemed to lose’. She attempts to illustrate her inexpressible love by finally showing that her love will increase after death ‘I shall but love thee better after death’.
Dylan Thomas’ ‘Do Not Gentle Into That Good Night’ is a poem about his father who was ding of cancer at the time. It is also concerned with carrying an important message, trying to persuade people to appreciate life and fulfil it. The middle four stanzas are examples of ‘men’ who could have done better before dying ‘Good men, the last wave by crying how bright/Their frail deeds might have danced in a green day’ and how they regret ‘And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way’. Thomas is trying to create pro-life attitudes amongst sceptics and people who take life for granted.
In the last stanza, Thomas applies an emotional ‘Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears’ and imperative voice ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ ending on ‘Rage’.
It appears that at times Thomas has difficulty creating a world of lives lived (and perhaps lived fully) yet still regretted as not lived fully enough. This is shown through phrases whose precise meaning is unclear and may well be examples of the struggle to express the inexpressible ‘words have forked no lightning’ ‘caught and sang the sun in flight’ suggesting broadly the power and impact they might have had or the wild, carefree, pace at which they lived their lives.
