1. Is Prufrock an emotional freak or does he embody problems many of us have?  Be sure to use specific examples to support your argument.

2. What might the song of the mermaids (l. 124) signify, and why does Prufrock think they will not sing to him (l. 125)? What do the other references to heroic or historical figures reveal about Prufrock's view of himself?

4. How does Eliot use the relationships between men and women to comment on society and culture?  In what way can "Prufrock" be considered a "love song"?

5. What types of images does Eliot use in his poems to demonstrate that people are dehumanized in modern life, and to suggest that inanimate objects are alive?

6. How do Eliot's innovations in the uses of images, language, and poetic form in "The Waste Land" help him to convey his views about modern society?

7. What is the "Waste Land" Eliot describes? What other kinds of physical settings does Eliot use? How do they influence the messages of his poems?

8. What details in Sandburg’s poems might have offended a traditional “genteel” reader?

9. How does Sandburg’s view of the city compare to Eliot’s views of city life?

10. What are the effects of Sandburg’s use of combinations of images from nature and from industrial society?

11.  In "A Sort of a Song," William Carlos Williams writes "no ideas but in things."  Consider several of Williams' poems that appear to be about things rather than ideas (for example, "The Red Wheelbarrow," "Death," and "Burning the Christmas Greens."  What do these poems achieve?

12. One of the most famous lines from Stevens, and one of the most enigmatic, appears in Sunday Morning: "Death is the mother of beauty." Explain the meaning of this line, as you understand it in the context of this poem, and then apply this concept to at least one other poem we've read.