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I'm not clear whether signs are good, and wonders only superficial spectacles, or vice-versa. "We would see a sign!" suggests signs are vulgar crowd-pleasing phenomena. Diana Sent from my iPod On Mar 15, 2010, at 9:09 PM, "Rickard A. Parker" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:29:48 -0500, Terry Traynor > <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> from "Gerontion": >> >> Signs are taken for wonders. "We would see a sign!" >> >> Does anybody know the difference between signs and wonders? >> >> Terry >> > > As I wrote in another post I was reading chapter 25 of Henry Adams' > autobiography. As I was something put the thought in my mind that > Eliot may have taken the technological devices written about by > Adams' as "signs" and the Godly miracles as the wonders. > > He is one statement by Adams that may come closest to the idea: > As he grew accustomed to the great gallery of machines, > he began to feel the forty-foot dynamos as a moral force, > much as the early Christians felt the Cross. > > Regards, > Rick Parker > > > Here are some links and other bits of information that may be > helpful in a reading of "Gerontion" or else just a start on some > surfing. I'm including this information redundantly in two different > Eliot list posts on "Gerontion" that both mention Adam's chapter 25 > of his autobiography. One post deals with signs and wonders and the > other with the Virgin Mary and history. > > Henry Adams was a third cousin of T.S. Eliot's father, Henry Ware > Eliot, Sr., whose mother was Abigail Adams Cranch, a grandchild of > Mary (Smith) Cranch, sister of Abigail (Smith) Adams. > > Wikipedia article about > Henry Adams > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Adams > Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918; normally cal > led > Henry Adams) was an American journalist, historian, academic and > novelist. > > Wikipedia article about the book > The Education of Henry Adams > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Education_of_Henry_Adams > > Chapter 25 of The Education of Henry Adams > The Dynamo and the Virgin (1900) > http://www.bartleby.com/159/25.html > > Eliot wrote a review of Adams' book. > C79. A Sceptical Patrician. Athenaeum, 4647 (May 23, 1919) 361-2. > A review, signed: T.S.E., of The Education of Henry Adams, An > Autobiography. > > In Chapter 25 of his book Adams writes of the Paris World's Fair of > 1900. > Two prominent men mentioned are Langley and St. Gaudens. > > Wikipedia article about > Exposition Universelle (1900) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_(1900) > The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in > Paris, France, to celebrate the achievements of the past century > and to accelerate development into the next. > > Wikipedia article about > Samuel Pierpont Langley > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pierpont_Langley > Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834, Roxbury, Massachusetts – > February 27, 1906, Aiken, South Carolina) was an American astronomer, > physicist, inventor of the bolometer and pioneer of aviation. > > Wikipedia article about > Augustus Saint-Gaudens > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Saint-Gaudens > Augustus Saint-Gaudens (March 1, 1848, Dublin, Ireland – August 3, > 1907, Cornish, New Hampshire), was the Irish-born American sculptor of > the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the > "American > Renaissance". > > Adams had previously commissioned Saint-Gaudens to produce a memorial > for his wife (who had committed suicide). The public reaction was > disappointing to Adams. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_Memorial_(grave marker) > > > Also related to Eliot's poem "Gerontion" are allusions to > to Lancelot Andrewes: > > Wikipedia article about > Lancelot Andrewes > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelot_Andrewes > Lancelot Andrewes (1555 – 25 September 1626) was an English > clergyman and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of > England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. > During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop > of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of > the Authorized Version (or King James Version) of the Bible. > > > Lancelot Andrewes: T.S. Eliot's Essay on Bishop Andrewes > http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=288693049002 > > Lancelot Andrewes Works, Sermons, Volume One > SERMONS OF THE NATIVITY. > PREACHED UPON CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1622. > Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Wednesday, > the Twenty-fifth of December, A.D. MDCXXII. > "Christ is no wild-cat." > http://anglicanhistory.org/lact/andrewes/v1/sermon15.html > > Lancelot Andrewes Works, Sermons, Volume One > SERMONS OF THE NATIVITY. > PREACHED UPON CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1618. > Preached before King James, at Whitehall, on Friday, > the Twenty-fifth of December, A.D. MDCXVIII. > "Signs are taken for wonders" > http://anglicanhistory.org/lact/andrewes/v1/sermon12.html > corrupted? >