Who is Fragilion?

Question

In T.S. Eliot's poem "Mr. Apollinax" he mentions "Fragilion, that shy figure among the birch trees." Does anyone know who or what this is referencing? Also, what is the correct pronunication?

Answer 1

Fragilion is a reference to an "effeminate man." Fru-jill-ion.

Answer 2

Mr. Apollinax is the name Eliot gives to George Gurdjieff, who visited the United States, as he said himself, to shear the sheep, i.e., to raise money for his Institute in Paris. The son of Apollo? Poetic license. But Gurdjieff was "alive" more than most people. Fragilion is an 18th c. French painter of fanciful garden scenes. The lady on the swing exposes her underwear at the height of her swing: just pantaloons, but context is everything.