Dear Peter,

It might mean knobby knees, or Knob Hill, or any number of knobby
things, the point is to establish evidence from the text as to its
meanings, not to offer web-spinning as a valid interpretation.

Diana

Sent from my iPod

On Mar 3, 2010, at 2:09 AM, Peter Montgomery <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Wikipaedia supplies the following:
> a.. A rounded handle that one pulls or twists:
> a.. Doorknob, a round handle one turns to open any door
> b.. Control knob, controls a device
> c.. Brodie knob on the steering wheel
> b.. A prominent rounded hill or mountain, particularly in the
> Appalachians
> and the Ozarks
> c.. Knob (band), an Israeli Electro-House band
> d.. A slang term for the penis
> e.. A derogatory epithet similar to "idiot"
> If Gerontion is sitting below the window in which the jew is
> squatting,
> and sees the jew as an idiot and so uses his favourite slang word of
> "knob",
> then it might make sense.
>
> In an episode of the Inspector Morse series, set in Oxford at a
> convocation,
> featureing John Guilgud as the Prexy of Oxford, entitled Twilight of
> the
> Gods"
> there is a WWII persecutor of Jews (only exposed as such at the end)
> who is
> very rich and totally obnoxious. He refers to almost everyone as
> knob or
> knobhead and addresses them as such. The whole thing is one of the
> finest
> send ups of academia I have seen.
>
> So "windy knob" might well mean the jew in the window talking a lot,
> or at
> least as the source of scripture, but the line comes well after the
> introduction of Christ.
>
> If the part before the juvescence of the year is in fact a reference
> to the historical period of Judaism, pre Christianity, then "the jew"
> could well be seen as Abraham, for he truly was the only Jew at one
> point.
> I rather like that idea.
>
> There is also the Israeli Electro-House band called Knob.
> Perhaps it transcends time.
>
> P.
>
> P.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George Carless" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2010 5:20 PM
> Subject: Re: 'Gerontion' -- the dramatic arc
>
>
>> Diana Manister ([log in to unmask]) wrote the following on Tue,
>> Mar 02,
> 2010 at 07:21:42PM -0500:
>>> I have no clue about what is meant by "a windy knob" or why the old
>>> man is under it. Can anyone decipher that for me?
>>
>> I'm not sure, but note that "windy" is repeated three times through
>> the
> poem, and quite prominently. Im
>> this instance it would seem likely that it's a door knob,
>> indicating that
> the man is sitting with his back
>> to the door. Windy because draughty, perhaps - in that the wind
>> moves
> through it?
>>
>> George
>