The Hortatory Subjunctive (More Prufrock by T.S.Eliot)

The hortatory subjunctive is what makes a sentence a suggestion and an exhortation, but not a command. In English, we use "Let [subject] [verb]." That is a bizarre construction, but it works for us. One of my favorite poems in the universe starts out with this:

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.

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo. 

 

--T.S. Eliot

 

I was thinking of hortatory subjunctives because Steven and I were discussing them in Spanish and in Latin last night. It is much cleaner in both of these langauge - English's subjunctive is a bit clunky, and it is on its way out.