PLEASE HELP! In the opening stanza, Prufrock invites someone to go with him. Describe the place he plans to visit.

Answer and Explanation:

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem by T. S. Eliot. The speaker is a lonely man, socially and sexually frustrated, who observes the world from a distance. He does not dare approach people, especially women. Instead, he predicts what they will say about him, how they will criticize him. And, thus, he only gets more and more lonely.

In the first stanza, Prufrock invites "you" to come with him to the streets, the hotels, the restaurants. However, he describes those places in a way that is not very inviting. He uses adjectives such as "cheap" and "tedious". Perhaps this is a sign that Prufrock's fear of being judged by others comes from his own tendency to judge harshly. Take a look at the first stanza below:

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question ...

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.