Blog #10

Although I did not use Gerontion in my essay on T.S. Eliot, it is a great example of how Eliot uses modernist conventions to convey his purpose and themes that question the pureness and purpose of the human soul. “Gerontion” is derived from a word meaning “of or relating to old age.” It is also one of Eliot’s works that is part of the collection Poems, but is thought to have been written as a prelude to Eliot’s heavier works, like Waste Land. Gerontion explores the life of an aging man, most likely Eliot foreshadowing himself. The first stanza consists of a lot of imagery that creates a negative tone as the narrator describes his state in life. Lines such as “waiting for rain,” “bitten by flies”, “decayed house,”  and “a dull head among windy spaces” all describe how this old man is feeling; a decaying creature as he watches life continue around him. This is a modern convention used by Eliot as he focuses more on loss rather than gain in life, a characteristic in many of his poems. In addition, much like his other poems, Eliot, as usual, alludes to Christ as a tiger, stressing the importance of renewal of the spirit. Although this creates a feeling of hope in the second stanza, the poem continues to describe a what happens in life as one ages. The loss of senses, particularly his sexuality, creates the question of what does one have left after this loss? How is one to engage in acts of passion at this point in life, and what is the result of this?  Eliot continues, however, to conclude the poem by describing how every old man continues to live and exist, just as the spider “suspends in operations.” Eliot uses his conventional poetic devices to achieve his purpose of discovering the human soul through imagery, allusions, and metaphors. These not only deepen the poem’s meaning, but characterize it as a modern poem in the sense that it fits the reality of post -war society in the world.