Gerontion

Gerontion was originally meant to be a prelude to The Wasteland, and I can see why that would be the case. Gerontion is not quite as sporadic, confusing, and bizarre as The Wasteland, but it is certainly in that category. John Paul Riquelme described the poem as “disjointed” and I would have to say that is quite accurate. Paragraphs do not necessarily connect with each other, all sorts of random things come up from nowhere, and it can be tricky to sort through. Looking at the Modern American Poetry website sometimes only added to the confusion of it rather than helped it. However, I will do my best to work through it.

When I was reading Gerontion, I initially thought it would be on old age. The footnotes say that “gerontion” comes from the Greek word meaning “old man”, and the narrator of the story comes across as an old man who is depressed. The poem begins with the first two lines:

“Here I am, an old man with a dry mouth,

Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain”

So I honestly started thinking that it was going to be a depressing poem about how awful it is to get old. That was what I was expecting at first. Other lines do seem to back this up:

“I have lost my passion: why should I need to keep it

Since what is kept must be adulterated?

I have lost my sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch:

How should I use them for your closer contact?” (lines 57-60)

This is clearly coming from an old man who is nearing the end of this life. However, it is not really about old age. One of the biggest topics in Gerontion is actually about Christ.

How can this be? One of the first examples of this is when the poem says the following:

“Signs are taken for wonders. ‘We would see a sign!’

The word within a word, unable to speak a word,

Swaddled with darkness. In the juvescence of the year

Came Christ the tiger.” (lines 17-20)

Why precisely Eliot chooses a tiger to describe Christ is uncertain to me. It could be that he thinks of Jesus as this fierce being, much like a tiger. It reminds me a little like Aslan representing Jesus in the Chronicles of Narnia series. A lion is this powerful creature and is not tame. A tiger is similar to that. But “unable to speak a word/Swaddled with darkness” could also talk about when Christ first came to earth. When He first came to earth, Jesus was a helpless baby, wrapped with swaddling clothes, unable to speak and is far more humble than the conquering king that others were expecting. So the “tiger” could be Christ as the world expected Him to be, as this strong defender, whereas “unable to speak a word/Swaddled in darkness,” is Christ as He actually came to earth. It may also refer to two types of comings of Christ. The “Swaddled with darkness” is Christ’s first coming, where He came and died for our sins, and the “Christ the tiger” is Christ in His second coming, where He returns to judge.

The ‘tiger’ comes again later: “The tiger springs in the new year. Us he devours.” (line 49) This could mean Jesus coming to earth and taking us back to heaven. And in line 75, “Tenants of the house,” the “house” may be referring to the church.

The theme of Christ’s coming might be the glue that keeps this crazy poem together. Christ comes in on a ruined world full of broken people and ‘devours’ those people.