David Lehman: “Reread Prufrock Before Writing”

There’s a line in T. S. Eliot’s “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: “No, I am not Prince Hamlet; nor was meant to be.” Write a three-stanza poem, each stanza containing an equal number of lines (six preferably) and each beginning “No, I am not ” — completing the phrase in a different way each time. It might be a good idea to reread Prufrock before writing, but it isn’t an absolute necessity. Sometimes it is easier to discover who you are by eliminating other possibilities that come to mind.