The overarching theme of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is that of a man confronting his mortality. The poem is narrated by a male voice. We know this because he contemplates how to wear his "white flannel trousers" during a time when women did not wear trousers. In confronting his mortality, he is weighing the value of his decisions "and revisions." The poem is existential, in that it considers the necessity of choice...
The overarching theme of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is that of a man confronting his mortality. The poem is narrated by a male voice. We know this because he contemplates how to wear his "white flannel trousers" during a time when women did not wear trousers. In confronting his mortality, he is weighing the value of his decisions "and revisions." The poem is existential, in that it considers the necessity of choice in each of our lives, even choices made about the simplest matters: "Shall I part my hair behind?" or "Do I dare to eat a peach?" In contemplating one's choices, the narrator wonders how many of his had meaning or were worthwhile.
So, if you wanted to use this poem to write a dissertation (I assume that you mean a doctoral dissertation which would require you to use more than one Eliot poem), you could talk about existentialist ideas in "Prufrock." You could also connect the narrator's dilemma to that of other figures in literature mentioned in the poem (e.g., Hamlet, Lazarus).
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