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Jarred James Breaux
There are two separate annotated editions of T. S. Eliot's “The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock,” which are in “The Norton Anthology” and “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock Page” located on
the internet. Even though both editions have their advantages and disadvantages, “The T. S. Eliot
Prufrock Page” explains the poem better. “The Norton Anthology” is a book, meaning it is a hard
copy which is easier to read in most cases. In “The Norton Anthology,” the footnotes are on the
same page where they are being noted; however, information in a book is limited by space. “The
Norton Anthology does not go into as much detail as “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock Page.” More of
the poem is explained with much more information on “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock Page.” For
example, the online source explains the line “In the room the woman come and go / Talking of
Michelangelo” but “The Norton Anthology” does not. “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock Page” has the
advantage of being an online source, meaning it is accessible from any internet terminal. On the
the other hand, if you were to print “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock Page,” it is harder to read because
the annotations are not as easy to find and the format changes. Also, “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock
Page” has a space after each line making it harder to determine where a stanza ends or begins.
The advantage of the extra information provided on “The T. S. Eliot Prufrock Page” and the
accessibility of an online source outweighs the format problem and makes it a much more
valuable source than “The Norton Anthology.”
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