Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

1. Time serves as a broth for this poem. It allows the poem to have the back and forth movement that the reader feels when read. Eliot refers to mustard gas from WWI, he refers to contemporary society, and yet he refers to fictional characters from long ago. Time is not definitive in this poem. "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff." - Doctor Who
2. Eliot refers to the eternal footman because this poem is situated around death. Perhaps it is the moment of dying where life flashed before his eyes or maybe he is in Hell where he is reliving his life. As for Hamlet, Eliot is referring to Polonius not Prince Hamlet. Polonius was the Fool who chose to follow the orders of a man he envied. Maybe a reference to soldier life...
3.  The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes, Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains, Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, And seeing that it was a soft October night,  Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

In this quote, Eliot is talking about the mustard gas from the war. He uses a lot of imagery to describe something in a gracious manner, yet almost as if it were a rabid dog showing its threats.This moment taken out of context could be seen as beautiful. yet with time mishmashed in this poem, one can see the insidious side of the fog.