What is the "It" in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?What the "it" is.

Is your question refering to the "it" that is mentioned in
the first stanza of this excellent poem? Let us remind ourselves of the context of this
quote. J. Alfred Prufrock is walking through some rather shady streets of London
thinking about what awaits him when he reaches his
destination:

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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.

The "it" thus relates
to the "overwhelming question" that he feels driven to ask when he reaches his
destination. However, the way that the poem instructs us not to ask what this question
is and just focuses on the thoughts and feelings of J. Alfred Prufrock reflects his own
fear or hesitation of asking such an "overwhelming question." Although the precise
nature of this question is never exactly specified, we can infer that it is perhaps a
marriage proposal to the woman that awaits him. Of course, his inability to even mention
this question reflects his overall indecision and lack of sureness that this is the
right thing for him to do.