Texan and Atheist

[thesummerqueen]

That is interesting. I have usually went with the more obvious meaning of peaches being associated with old people eating the fruit out on porch rocking chairs, and here Prufrock may be questioning whether he's ready to resign himself to becoming an old, lonely curmudgeon. Thus, resigning himself to that life, rather than continuing to dream of being with some of the ladies in the sitting room.

"Do I dare eat a peach?" seems to imply his certainty that he has the option of partaking in some sort of sensual activity, that he can, at will, "eat a peach" (or engage in sensual activity with one of the ladies). I think at this point in the poem, he has convinced himself, with this bald head and trousers, that he doesn't have that option, thus resigning himself to his dreams rather than reality.

But the "messy" and inappropriate interpretation is an intriguing one to think about. And yes, if I were God or whoever wrote Genesis, I definitely would have had Eve partake of a peach rather than an apple, something squishy, almost lurid, not crunchy. lol.

So much for not 'spamming'... Sorry Rika!

I've known a few older guys. They were cool, totally capable of keeping a younger woman completely entertained, but their self-esteem issues became self-defeating. You know, they want the girl, they could probably have the girl, but then they think "is she really going to want me over a younger man?" Prufrock seems to go through a lot of time and trouble getting himself ready for the situation, and yet never actually enjoying it. I always felt he had a major stick up his ass...

Someone wrote that they always interpreted it as knowing that he was old enough to lose a tooth if he accidentally bit down on the pit. I guess you could turn that into an extremely extended metaphor for daring to do younger activities. You're down in GA so I guess you see it more often, but where I grew up there really weren't "sitting porches" - I had to move to an older neighborhood in NC to witness people actually sitting out every warm evening on a porch gabbing, etc. I guess that's why something like that never occurred to me.

I have absolutely no description of a peach that in any way sounds publicly appropriate as to why it is a better choice than the apple - they used to use figs as "The Fruit" instead, which made some sense. Although after reading the way Michael Pollan writes about apples in The Botany of Desire, you almost want to stay in favor of a good Jonagold.