the party are gossiping, that is what is producing the “yellow fog” Prufrock describes. I don’t think Prufrock is paying the gossip any attention. The gossip just “rubs its back upon the window panes.” (15). The gossip doesn’t seem to affect him, he walks through it and it tries to tempt him, but is unsuccessful, and as the evening wares on the people at the party shake off the gossip. “Let fall upon it’s back the soot that falls from chimneys.” (19). Just when you think that the coast is clear, the gossip is gone, it shows up again and decides to stay for the night. This only adds to Prufrock’s feeling of isolation and hopelessness. His unwillingness to take part in the gossip surrounding him has made him an oddity. “And indeed there will be time” (23). Prufrock is musing about all the time there will be for gossip later. Again the yellow smoke slides down the street, tempting Prufrock to give in. With the gossip goes the gossipers and as they arrive back at their homes you see the yellow smoke of gossip “Rubbing its back upon the window-panes” (25). Now, Prufrock has time to think about what he has to do. In the poem he seems to be in a dream-like state. He is wondering, the rhythm in lines 26-34 gives me the impression that he is pacing the floor. He is preparing to meet someone, a woman, and he is conflicted about how to tell her what he must tell her. Prufrock feels overwhelmed by what he must do, and yet he is trying his best to focus on the task at hand. Just as he is about to back out, the tea and toast arrives. The tea arriving only serves as a distraction, until something happens that seems to break him out of his reverie. A woman whispering in his ear, touching him, something. The jolt to reality, or his version of it, brings us back to the women who “…come and go/ Talking about Michelangelo” (35-36).̶...
