Links: Wikipedia Entry For: The Love Song fo J. Alfred / Full text of: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock /

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock takes on the dehumanizing aspects of modernity, a sentiment which resonates in Mark Budz novel Till Human Voices Wake Us which takes its name from the last line. Of the title for this poem, which speaks to the emotionally deadened individual living in modern society, Eliot said, "I did not have, at the time of writing the poem, and have not yet recovered, any recollection of having acquired this name in any way, but I think that it must be assumed that I did, and that the memory has been obliterated." This too is not unlike the story that takes its name (Till Human Voices Wake Us) from the last line of the poem.

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.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.