Editing Gerontion (section)

===Sexuality===
The narrator of the poem discusses sexuality throughout the text, spending several lines, including lines 57–58 where he says:
:I have lost my passion: why should I need to keep it
:Since what is kept must be adulterated?
Ian Duncan MacKillop in ''F. R. Leavis'' argues that [[impotence]] is a pretext of the poem the same way that embarrassment is the pretext of "[[Portrait of a Lady (poem)|Portrait of a Lady]]". He argues that the narrator writes each line of the poem with an understanding that he is unable to fulfill any of his sexual desires.<ref name=MacKillop>MacKillop, Duncan. ''F. R. Leavis''. Palgrave Macmillan (1997) p. 136</ref> Gelpi, in ''A Coherent Splendor: An American Poetic Renaissance'' also states that the poem is centred upon the theme of impotence, arguing that old age brings the poet "not wisdom but confirmed decrepitude and impotence." He also argues that this theme continues into Eliot's later works ''[[Ash Wednesday (poem)|Ash Wednesday]]'' and ''[[Four Quartets]]''.<ref name=Gilpi>p. 124</ref> To Sharpe, the inability of the narrator to fulfill his sexual desires leads him to "humiliated arrogance" and the "apprehension of Judgement without the knowledge of God's mercy.<ref name="Sharpe"/>

In lines 59–60, the speaker explains that he has lost his physical senses due to his age:
:I have lost my sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch:	
:How should I use them for your closer contact?
Marion Montgomery, writing in ''T. S. Eliot: an Essay on the American Magus'', equates the loss of these senses with the mindset that controls the narrative of the poem. Gerontion has lost the ability to partake in the same sexual endeavours that face [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]'s hero in "[[Young Goodman Brown]]", yet Montgomery believes he has "turned from innocent hope to pursue significance in the dark forces of the blood". Gerontion's exploration of sinful pleasures takes place in his mind, according to Montgomery, as he can "discover no vital presence in the sinful shell of his body".<ref name=Montgomery>Montgomery, Marion. ''T. S. Eliot: an Essay on the American Magus''.University of Georgia Press (1970) pp. 74–76</ref>