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I've long been a fan of T.S. Eliot's poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. However, it seems to me that his use of "you and I" in the opening lines is incorrect.

Let us go then, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky

My reasoning is that "you and I" replaces "us" and you wouldn't say "Let I go then", so it should be Let us go then, you and me.

Is this Eliot taking poetic license or am I just wrong?

Chris Sunami
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    I was chosen to rhyme with sky ( the answer is as easy as pie.) – Gary's Student Apr 21 '14 at 14:23
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    It is a parenthetical explicit reference to the subject of the sentence: "Let us (you and I) go then . . ." – Robusto Apr 21 '14 at 14:27
  • possible duplicate of (certainly addressed at) Pronoun Dilemma - "The winners of the contest were Morgan and me / Morgan and I – Edwin Ashworth Apr 21 '14 at 14:28
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    This particular one is probably best not called 'incorrect' either way. "Let's you and me mosey along to the old corral" is certainly met with in colloquial Western-speak. "It's goodnight from Moira and I" is certainly met with in BBC highbrow. I think Eliot's choice sounds far better than the alternative here, and, accepting Robusto's parenthetical claim, it can be alleged to refer to either the recoverable missing subject or the object (us). There's also the complication that the first person imperative (Let's + infinitive) is idiomatic and quirky, not really allowing typical analysis. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 21 '14 at 14:40
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    We must remember that the voice is not that of Eliot but of J Alfred Prufrock, who I can imagine saying ‘Let us go then, you and I’ rather than ‘Let us go then, you and me’. – Barrie England Apr 21 '14 at 16:45
  • If we shadows, you and me, have offended, let us be "you and I," and all is mended. – Sven Yargs Apr 21 '14 at 18:24
  • I looked at the question indicated as a duplicate and the ones further referenced in that one, but I'm not convinced they answer this question. According to the rule of thumb from the duplicate question, it should be "you and me" as I indicated. The question is why is Eliot not following that rule, and is there a real justification? (Of course, in the Rastafarian idiolect, it would be Let us go then, I and I) – Chris Sunami Apr 21 '14 at 19:12
  • If you do believe that Eliot is 'not following that rule', then the answer is in my last comment. – Barrie England Apr 21 '14 at 19:20
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    Neil Coffey wrote: 'It's not so much that there's confusion per se. It's more that the arbitrary "rules" about 'I' and 'me' being used in particular cases [were] arbitrarily invented – and then the inventors and followers of these arbitrary rules arbitrarily became surprised/indignant when it turned out that the language doesn't behave in accordance with their made-up rules. If anything, it's the rules and followers thereof that are "confused".' As a teacher, I'd have marked 'you and me' down for inconsistent style here, not 'you and I' for breaking a rule made by someone who was all thumbs. – Edwin Ashworth Apr 21 '14 at 22:45
  • But you would say (if you can get around my terrible scansion), "Let us go then, we three, and engage in polyamory". "You and I" describes "us" but doesn't replace it. And certainly in modern British English you could say "Let us go then, us three", or for that matter "Us three went shopping", but in polite society you might not be invited back. You can also say "Let's you and I go", not that it's the same construction since that clearly can be construed as "us" being let, and "you and I" going. – Steve Jessop Sep 18 '14 at 04:01
  • @EdwinAshworth: to be fair, I think even BBC highbrow considers that "It's goodnight from Moira and I" is an error, albeit one they're not able to stamp out. Or as the two Ronnies didn't have it, "It's goodnight from I", "And it's goodnight from he". – Steve Jessop Sep 18 '14 at 04:09
  • Following Edwin's : There's also the complication that the first person imperative (Let's + infinitive) is idiomatic and quirky, not really allowing typical analysis. I'd like to confirm let's is quite peculiar. Shoe commented A CGEL calls let's a "quasi-modal". As such it is followed by a second verb “let's go .., let's eat ..., let's not be late”. etc. in a way that regular transitive verbs give, get and take are not. The let-imperative is an interesting, complex topic;. . . – Mari-Lou A Apr 24 '15 at 06:09

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The question can, as Edwin has said, be related to questions about ‘between you and I’ and ‘They invited my wife and I’. The fact is that English pronouns, particularly the first person singular personal pronoun, are unstable, and have been for a long time. To me, as a fairly well educated speaker of British English, there is nothing ungrammatical about Eliot’s use of ‘you and I’ in that line. He was too good a poet to use it only to make a rhyme with ‘sky’.

Barrie England
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