--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: here is one other element of the…" description: "\"“here is one other element of the apocalyptic tradition to be considered, namely transition. I said a minute ago that one of the assumptions prevalent ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg" --- # here is one other element of the apocalyptic tradition to… ![“here is one other element of the apocalyptic tradition to be considered, namely transition. I said a minute ago that one of the assumptions prevalent in sophisticated apocalyptism was what Yeats called 'antithetical multiform influx'--the forms assumed by the inrushing gyre as the old one reaches…” quote by Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg) > ““here is one other element of the apocalyptic tradition to be considered, namely transition. I said a minute ago that one of the assumptions prevalent in sophisticated apocalyptism was what Yeats called 'antithetical multiform influx'--the forms assumed by the inrushing gyre as the old one reaches its term. The dialectic of Yeats's gyres is simple enough in essence; they are a figure for the co-existence of the past and future at the time of transition. The old narrows to its apex, the new broadens towards its base, and the old and new interpenetrate. Where apex and base come together you have an age of very rapid transition. Actually, on Yeats's view of the historical cycle, there were transient moments of perfection, or what he called Unity of Being; but there was no way of making these permanent, and his philosophy of history is throughout transitional. In this he is not, of course, original; but his emphasis on the traditional character of our own pre-apocalyptic moment, in contrast with those exquisite points of time when life was like the water brimming beautifully but unstably over the rim of a fountain, seems, for all the privacy of the expression, characteristically modern. It is commonplace that our times do in fact suffer a more rapid rate of change technologically, and consequently in the increase of social mobility, than any before us. There is nothing fictive about that, and its implications are clear in our own day-to-day lives. What is interesting, though, is the way in which this knowledge is related to apocalypse, so that a mere celebratory figure for social mobility, like On the Road, acquires apocalyptic overtones and establishes the language of an elect; and the way in which writers, that is to say, clerks, are willing to go along, arguing that the rate of change implies revolution or schism, and that this is a perpetual requirement; that the stage of transition, like the whole of time in an earlier revolution, has become endless.”” [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage describes how historical transitions create a brief unity of past and future, leading to rapid change that feels apocalyptic, yet this pattern repeats throughout history. **In simple terms:** Transitions merge old and new, causing swift change that feels like an ending and beginning. Key Takeaway Recognize and navigate rapid change without fearing apocalypse. Themes history transition apocalypse modernity continuity Mood reflective analytical thoughtful Type philosophical critical interpretive When to use this quote - technological innovation - personal career shifts - social upheaval - cultural analysis Key Concepts dialectics social mobility cultural narrative philosophy of history Questions to Reflect On - How do you experience transition in your life? - Can rapid change be a catalyst for growth? A Different Perspective The view may overemphasize apocalyptic framing, ignoring stable periods. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Apocalyptic Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apocalyptic-tradition-3522698/) [Apocalyptism Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apocalyptism-yeats-3522697/) [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) [Dialectic Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dialectic-yeats-3522699/) [History Transitional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-transitional-3522700/) [Homer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homer/) [Literary criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-criticism/) [Old and new](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-and-new/) [Past and future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-and-future/) [Social mobility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-mobility/) [Sophisticated Apocalyptism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sophisticated-apocalyptism-3522701/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“Yeah, and there’s this constant refrain from privileged people; it’s like they’re all racing to prove how miserable they used to be. Every single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-archura/yeah-and-there-s-this-constant-refrain-from-privileged-people-it-s/) [K. Archura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-archura/) > [Businesses, not benefits, are the true ladder of social mobility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-shapps/businesses-not-benefits-are-the-true-ladder-of-social-mobility/) [Grant Shapps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-shapps/) > [“There is, in the circumstances of modern life, only one solution to the problem of resentment, and that is social mobility. The worst thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-scruton/there-is-in-the-circumstances-of-modern-life-only-one-solution-to-the/) [Roger Scruton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-scruton/) > [We need to focus much more on the bottom 40 per cent. They are losing ground, and the fact that they are losing ground…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-angel-gurria/we-need-to-focus-much-more-on-the-bottom-40-per-cent-they-are-losing/) [Jose Angel Gurria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-angel-gurria/) > [“ 'Venti caramel macchiato, please,' he said. 'Hold the snobbery.' The barista laughed and hit buttons on his register. 'You sure? We're having a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-w-vaughn/venti-caramel-macchiato-please-he-said-hold-the-snobbery-the-barista/) [S.W. Vaughn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-w-vaughn/) > [Social mobility has always been a slippery term, with nebulous markers of success: how many state school children have to achieve postgraduate degrees, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-foster/social-mobility-has-always-been-a-slippery-term-with-nebulous-markers/) [Dawn Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-foster/) > [The stress laid on upward social mobility in the United States has tended to obscure the fact that there can be more than one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-halsey/the-stress-laid-on-upward-social-mobility-in-the-united-states-has/) [Margaret Halsey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-halsey/) > [We need a sustainable system of student finance that promotes opportunity, encourages aspiration, increases social mobility and is governed by fairness. But all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-rayner/we-need-a-sustainable-system-of-student-finance-that-promotes/) [Angela Rayner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-rayner/) > [“There is real hope for a culture that makes it as easy to buy a book as it does a pack of cigarettes."--a civic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-rabinowitz/there-is-real-hope-for-a-culture-that-makes-it-as-easy-to-buy-a-book/) [Paula Rabinowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-rabinowitz/) > [“One of the drawbacks of upward social mobility is a sense of guilty indebtedness to the old neighborhood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-gordon/one-of-the-drawbacks-of-upward-social-mobility-is-a-sense-of-guilty/) [Mary Gordon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-gordon/) > [I've been talking about things like reversing the rise of inequality and strengthening social mobility,since before it was cool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-ve-been-talking-about-things-like-reversing-the-rise-of-inequality/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Our political class obsesses over social mobility from one generation to the next - whether or not people are doing better than their parents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lammy/our-political-class-obsesses-over-social-mobility-from-one-generation/) [David Lammy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lammy/) > [Social mobility decreased under Labour and under the current government it is reversing. The differences between the poorest and richest are returning to Victorian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-trigell/social-mobility-decreased-under-labour-and-under-the-current/) [Jonathan Trigell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-trigell/) > [To see off Corbyn's Labour, we need to start the debate as to how and why a market economy is the way to deliver…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-soubry/to-see-off-corbyn-s-labour-we-need-to-start-the-debate-as-to-how-and/) [Anna Soubry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-soubry/) > [“Moved by the need for control, for an unchallenged top tier, the power elite in American history has thrived by placating the vulnerable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-isenberg/moved-by-the-need-for-control-for-an-unchallenged-top-tier-the-power/) [Nancy Isenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-isenberg/) ## More by Frank Kermode > [“The first phase of modernism, which so far as the English language goes we associate with Pound and Yeats, Wyndham Lewis and Eliot and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-first-phase-of-modernism-which-so-far-as-the-english-language/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“It is already the fashion to diminish Eliot by calling him derivative, the mouthpiece of Pound, and so forth; and yet if one wanted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-is-already-the-fashion-to-diminish-eliot-by-calling-him-derivative/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“I suppose it would be better if one were aggressive, contentious and so on. But there's rarely any occasion to be savage.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/i-suppose-it-would-be-better-if-one-were-aggressive-contentious-and/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“When tragedy established itself in England it did so in terms of plots and spectacle that had much more to do with medieval apocalypse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/when-tragedy-established-itself-in-england-it-did-so-in-terms-of/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The novel, then, provides a reduction of the world different from that of the treatise. It has to lie. Words, thoughts, patterns of word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-novel-then-provides-a-reduction-of-the-world-different-from-that/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The books which seal off the long perspectives, which sever us from our losses, which represent the world of potency as a world of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-books-which-seal-off-the-long-perspectives-which-sever-us-from/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“the buoyancy of chiliasts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-buoyancy-of-chiliasts/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [It is one of the great charms of books that they have to end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-is-one-of-the-great-charms-of-books-that-they-have-to-end/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The discords of our experience--delight in change, fear of change; the death of the individual and the survival of the species, the pains and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-discords-of-our-experience-delight-in-change-fear-of-change-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“It might be useful here to say a word about Beckett, as a link between the two stages, and as illustrating the shift towards…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/it-might-be-useful-here-to-say-a-word-about-beckett-as-a-link-between/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The great majority of interpretations of Apocalypse assume that the End is pretty near. Consequently the historical allegory is always having to be revised;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-great-majority-of-interpretations-of-apocalypse-assume-that-the/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“You sometimes hear people say, with a certain pride in their clerical resistance to the myth, that the nineteenth century really ended not in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/you-sometimes-hear-people-say-with-a-certain-pride-in-their-clerical/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“Having compared the novel-reader with an infant and a primitive, one can go further and call him a psychopath; and this I shall shortly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/having-compared-the-novel-reader-with-an-infant-and-a-primitive-one/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“I hope I have now made it clear why I thought it best, in speaking of the dissonances between fiction and reality in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/i-hope-i-have-now-made-it-clear-why-i-thought-it-best-in-speaking-of/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) > [“The formerly absolute distinction between time and eternity in Christian thought--between nunc movens with its beginning and end, and nunc stans, the perfect possession…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/the-formerly-absolute-distinction-between-time-and-eternity-in/) [Frank Kermode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) [Explore all 39 Frank Kermode quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/) ## More Change quotes > [Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/only-within-yourself-exists-the-other-reality-for-which-you-long-i/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-can-t-believe-that-i-m-sitting-in-meetings-with-steven-spielberg/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-hogan/progress-isn-t-necessarily-about-change-but-about-things-turning-out/) [Phil Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-hogan/) > [Nobody can tell me that no changes are necessary in Washington.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-weld/nobody-can-tell-me-that-no-changes-are-necessary-in-washington/) [William Weld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-weld/) > [If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-stein/if-my-campaign-is-not-in-the-debate-we-will-not-be-talking-about-how/) [Jill Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-stein/) > [When you walk down the street of Kabul your values for life changes, they do change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-pierre-white/when-you-walk-down-the-street-of-kabul-your-values-for-life-changes/) [Marco Pierre White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-pierre-white/) > [Your world will change whether or not you choose to change, but you have the power to choose it's direction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/your-world-will-change-whether-or-not-you-choose-to-change-but-you/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [I hope I continue to evolve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-flair/i-hope-i-continue-to-evolve/) [Charlotte Flair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-flair/) > [“Stay focused on bringing people together and more on positive messaging so that you can be the change you wish to see in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germany-kent/stay-focused-on-bringing-people-together-and-more-on-positive/) [Germany Kent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germany-kent/) > [The biggest change for me as a mom was realizing I needed to put someone else before me. Now the hardest part about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-alexis/the-biggest-change-for-me-as-a-mom-was-realizing-i-needed-to-put/) [Kim Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-alexis/) > [“After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/after-the-funeral-my-life-changed-i-felt-as-if-time-were-suddenly/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-practice-mindfulness-on-the-one-hand-to-be-calm-and-peaceful-on/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Irish research will contribute to global progress and have the potential to help all countries realise the potential of their land sectors in addressing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enda-kenny/irish-research-will-contribute-to-global-progress-and-have-the/) [Enda Kenny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enda-kenny/) > [No man can change himself into anything from sheer reason; he can only change into what he potentially is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/no-man-can-change-himself-into-anything-from-sheer-reason-he-can-only/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) [Browse all 33,920 Change quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“here is one other element of the apocalyptic tradition to be considered, namely transition. I said a minute ago that one of the assumptions prevalent in sophisticated apocalyptism was what Yeats called 'antithetical multiform influx'--the forms assumed by the inrushing gyre as the old one reaches its term. The dialectic of Yeats's gyres is simple enough in essence; they are a figure for the co-existence of the past and future at the time of transition. The old narrows to its apex, the new broadens towards its base, and the old and new interpenetrate. Where apex and base come together you have an age of very rapid transition. Actually, on Yeats's view of the historical cycle, there were transient moments of perfection, or what he called Unity of Being; but there was no way of making these permanent, and his philosophy of history is throughout transitional. In this he is not, of course, original; but his emphasis on the traditional character of our own pre-apocalyptic moment, in contrast with those exquisite points of time when life was like the water brimming beautifully but unstably over the rim of a fountain, seems, for all the privacy of the expression, characteristically modern. It is commonplace that our times do in fact suffer a more rapid rate of change technologically, and consequently in the increase of social mobility, than any before us. There is nothing fictive about that, and its implications are clear in our own day-to-day lives. What is interesting, though, is the way in which this knowledge is related to apocalypse, so that a mere celebratory figure for social mobility, like On the Road, acquires apocalyptic overtones and establishes the language of an elect; and the way in which writers, that is to say, clerks, are willing to go along, arguing that the rate of change implies revolution or schism, and that this is a perpetual requirement; that the stage of transition, like the whole of time in an earlier revolution, has become endless.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frank Kermode" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocalyptic-tradition-to-be/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Change" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocalyptic-tradition-to-be/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/316/frank-kermode-16485_change_here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocaly_2811375.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“here is one other element of the apocalyptic tradition to be considered, namely transition. I said a minute…” — Frank Kermode", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Frank Kermode", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-kermode/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“here is one other element of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocalyptic-tradition-to-be/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-kermode/here-is-one-other-element-of-the-apocalyptic-tradition-to-be/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```