Prufrock and Other Observations (1917) - Rhapsody on a Windy Night Summary

The narrator of this poem walks along a windy street at midnight in an eerie atmosphere. At this desolate hour, his memories come alive to haunt him. An hour and a half later, he continues walking the night streets and comes upon a house with a woman standing in a lighted doorway. She wears a dress that is torn and sand-stained. The sight of this woman conjures up more memories in him: a twisted branch on a beach and a broken, rusted spring in a factory yard.

Now it is two-thirty in the morning. The street lamp lights a cat lying flat out in a gutter, sticking out his tongue to capture a piece of food. This reminds the narrator of a small boy reaching...