A Tale of Crabs and Moles: Comparing T.S. Eliot and Savannah Brown

T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and Savannah Brown’s, “moles don’t think about space or small talk,” both exhibit qualities that express youthful angst and are befitting of the ennui. Both utilize animal metaphors to convey a general dissatisfaction with being human and an inability to make coherent sense of their existence within a much larger reality. Additionally, both poems use repetition of keywords and concepts to emphasize the anxiety and ultimate lack of control that each respective speaker finds themselves experiencing.

The speaker in Prufrock apathetically likens himself to a crab that merely scavenges along the seafloor, “I should have been a pair of ragged claws/Scuttling across the floors of silent sea,” (Eliot lines 73-74). This comparison distances Prufrock from the questions he had previously been unable to act on nor comprehend, “And should I then presume? And how should I begin?” (Eliot lines 68-70). It also acts as an intriguing form of abstract escapism in which the speaker willingly disconnects from the human world. Likewise, the speaker in “moles don’t think…” demonstrates a similar desire to disconnect from humanity and the complex thoughts that often plague it. Moles, unlike humans, lack the capacity to dwell on and question the overarching purpose and significance of their existence, “someone please help me, i think i’m becoming/insignificant again/that’s the third time today/a mole wouldn’t cry when asked of its day,” (Brown lines 44-48). Both speakers would rather reject all aspects of humanity, especially the ability to postulate complex inquiries of self-reflection, in favor of reducing themselves to a mundane life of simplicity.

Prufrock and the unnamed narrator in “moles don’t think…” are riddled with anxiety over their actions and the lack of control they possess. The repetition of keywords such as “time” for Prufrock is demonstrative of the speaker’s lack of control over his already waning youth and the inevitable passage of time. It also appears that Prufrock is caught between having too much time and not enough, resulting in a lack of action in regards to his desires, “Time for you and time for me,/And time yet for a hundred indecision,/And for a hundred visions and revisions,/Before the taking of a toast and tea,” (Eliot lines 33-35). The hundreds of indecisions and revisions and the theme of time continue through the rest of the poem. Lines 37-38 punctuate time with hyperbolic questions that ultimately result in nothing, “And indeed there will be time/To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”/Time to turn back and descend the stair,” (Eliot lines 37-38). No matter what the speaker chooses to do, he will always be at the mercy of the hands of time, and he ruminates on this almost futile and hopeless fact, “Do I dare disturb the universe?/In a minute there is time/For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse,” (Eliot lines 45-48).

In Brown’s poem, repetition is seen with references to heat/cold and fire/ice. A desire to block out extremities in temperature remains consistent throughout the piece, “and i will close off the entrance/to keep out the chill of the winters/heat of the summers,” (Brown lines 7-9) and “i’ve learned that when fire and ice combine/they don’t divide,/they multiply/the two extremes don’t cancel/they intensify,” (Brown lines 31-35). The speaker is caught between two opposing forces and is unable to find a peaceful reprieve anywhere. Something is always “too much,” as seen in lines 55-56, “and no matter how small I get/i always take up too much space,” and lines 75-77, “things to think too much/everything to think too much/i always think too much.” Whether it be external or internal, no middle ground or comfortable space of neutrality exists for the speaker.

Both poems articulate a disillusionment about humanity and the lack of control inherently linked with it. Eliot’s poem is more fragmented in terms of content and alludes to a myriad of different muddled emotions and concerns. Brown, on the other hand, remains focused on a single feeling of poignant helplessness that comes across as much more dire and panicked. Perhaps the most striking difference between them is that while Prufrock fears death (Eliot lines 86-87), the speaker in “moles don’t think…” is ready to face it head on without even flinching, “bury yourself alive,” (Brown line 17). Neither provides any particularly viable solution for overcoming this pervasive state of hopeless existentialism.

Word Count: 750 words

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