"slobbering cretin grinding at a wheel"

[bloomcountry]

Could you please paraphrase this? I do not quite see what the "cretin" is really doing, I get lost especially when he says: "he ground":

"and there I saw a slobbering cretin grinding at a wheel/
and sweating as he ground,..."

Aldous Huxley's "The Merry-Go-Round" in Leda.

 

[bibliolept]

I think grinding at a wheel would refer to a presumably human-powered mill used to grind materials like grains. The "wheel" would be a large and heavy millstone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millstone

 

[bloomcountry]

And what does "as he ground" implie to the context?

 

[bibliolept]

"Ground" is the past tense of "grind."

 

[envie de voyager]

Ground is the past tense of the verb grind. For example "...and sweating as he ground" can be changed to "...and sweating as he was grinding".

 

[se16teddy]

The context makes it clear that it is the cretin grinding at the wheel who is propelling the merry-go-round.
But I happened to look inwards among the machinery of our roundabout, and there I saw a slobbering cretin grinding at a wheel and sweating as he ground, and grinding eternally. And when I perceived that he was the author of all our speed and that the music was of his making, that everything depended on his grinding wheel, I thought I would like to get off. But we were going too fast.

http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924012974428/cu31924012974428_djvu.txt

I understand, then, that the wheel in question is a treadmill.
http://www.openairclassroom.org.uk/images/images%20english/treadwheel%20interior.jpg
http://www.hirab.co.uk/slides/hol05_29.jpg
http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/resources/images/988738/?type=display

Grinding here means working hard - one's tedious work is one's daily grind.

I suppose that the roundabout represents the world, and the slobbering cretin is the working classes who do the work to keep it going.

 

[bibliolept]

Consider the phrase "organ grinder." I would venture to suggest that the "grinding" there is not just a reference to hard work but to spinning or winding movements, particularly moving something in a manner that is reminiscent of a mill's motion or operation.

 

[se16teddy]

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following meanings for the verb grind.
7. a. intransitive To work as if grinding with a hand-mill; hence, to turn the handle of a barrel-organ.
b. quasi-transitive To produce (music) on a hurdy-gurdy or barrel-organ. Also with out.
8. intransitive a. To work laboriously and steadily; to toil away at some monotonous task; esp. to study hard. Const. at. Also with away, on.
I think that grinding here partakes of all these meanings.

 

[bloomcountry]

I agree with Set, I think that the idea of "grinding" here is that of a very hard work, mostly according to the context of the whole poem in prose

 

[bibliolept]

I agree with Set, I think that the idea of "grinding" here is that of a very hard work, mostly according to the context of the whole poem in prose

That's the thing about poets: they're tricky, intending to call up multiple meanings.