The Overwhelming Question

That phrase in Eliot's poem, "The Love Song

of J.Alfred Prufrock" is perhaps the objective

correlative for man's existential fear, and why 

so many people spend their lives trying to

avoid it.

"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'

Let us go and pay our visit."

Do not ask the overwhelming question: "What 

is the meaning of life?" No, no, measure out 

your lives with coffee spoons. There will be time

to contemplate life, once you're retired...once the

children are grown...once you've paid off the

mortgage.

Stay away from human voices, or, you''ll drown

is the fear. Stay away from the truth. When you 

die, they will place your hands like this...your

necktie rich and modest yet asserted by a simple

pin.