Within
the first few lines the narrator in T. S. Elliot’s work defines himself as an
elderly man who has experienced life and is know aware of the fact that he is
past his prime. However, the poem was published when Elliot was still
relatively young. It seems to me that this play on age may reveal a variety of
emotions and opinions that Elliot has for the elderly.
Elliot
directly states that the old man feels as if he has “… lost my passion: why should I need to keep it since what
is kept must be adulterated?”. His comment
creates and supports a theme of elderly uselessness. Its seems as though Elliot
wants to portray this idea to develop the narrator as a character. It’s could
be interesting to assume that his purpose in doing this is to make the character
less interesting or relatable to the reader. The old man is already a dry and
less appealing than most other people, but the concept of world war may have a
more realistic appeal being told from someone old. It seems as though in
history that the elderly usually are the ones that control and dictate how
historical events are to be presented.
I have to agree with Brendan in that the theme of elderly uselessness is very prevalent throughout the poem, but is somewhat peculiar given T. S. Eliot’s age at the time. Gerontion was written in 1920, meaning the Eliot was 32 at the time he wrote the poem. He begins the poem be saying, “Here I am, an old man in a dry month…” when in reality he still has another 45 years left to live. I did some separate research to see what he may have met by a dry month at the time he wrote the poem, only to find out that he was in a very unhappy marriage with his wife at the time, mainly due to her health issues, and would file for separation a few years later. Perhaps his feeling of un-satisfaction coupled with the disappointing state of his relationship and life in general is why he alluded to himself as an old man.
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