[Magdalen] The word “me”

[Mahoney, W. Michael]

I once asked a lecturer on modern poetry whether T. S.  Eliot had
sacrificed grammar for rhyme in the opening line of "The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock".   His initial reaction was "Never" but he did later take
up the issue with his colleagues at a local university, where he found no
consensus.

What do you think?  The line in question is:

   *  Let us go then, you and I,*

*When the evening is spread out against the sky*
*Like a patient etherized upon a table;*

Mike M


On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 3:01 PM Juli Tarsney <juli at tarsney.net> wrote:

> Me and Julio down by the schoolyard...
>
> On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 9:28 PM Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > One of my pet peeves as well, Allan!  However, do not despair--the use of
> > "me" is not dead!  I hear it all the time in sentences such as "Me and
> him
> > went to the store,"  "Me and Julie are going swimming," etc. You get the
> > idea!
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 4:23 AM Allan Carr via Magdalen <
> > magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
> >
> > > I read messages in a group called Nextdoor. Most of my neighbors here
> in
> > > Southern California never use the word me, as in “A dog attacked my dog
> > and
> > > I” (an actual sentence I just read).
> > > This is so common, even in newspapers, that I’m wondering if what we
> used
> > > to call the first person objective case “me“ has become obsolete in
> > > standard American English.
> > > If not, the proper usage is no longer drilled in school as it was years
> > > ago.
> > > Is the word “me” now obsolete?
> > >
> > > Allan Carr
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Grace Cangialosi
> > Ruckersville, VA
> >
> > *"Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with
> great
> > love."*
> > *St. Teresa of Calcutta*
> >
>