Eliza Hale

The Hollow Men

This is the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper

His earlier work is more negative, as he was searching for a “higher world”.

Many religious references and allusions points to his interest in the subject.

The Hollow Men1925

Early Work - Bleak

“Our dried voices, whenWe whisper togetherAre quiet and meaningless…”

“Remember us -- if at all -- not as lostViolent souls, but onlyAs the hollow men…”

“Between the desireAnd the spasmFalls the Shadow…”

Main Idea of The Hollow Men

The speaker is a hollow man. He has a bleak opinion of mankind, and thinks this shadow has fallen down to block mankind from living meaningful lives.

(-1) Mistah Kurtz – he dead.

(0) A penny for the Old Guy

-1 – Heart of darkness. Man who died in the Jungle of Africa.

0 – Guy dies trying to overthrow the British government. Now they have a holiday where they burn stuffed scarecrows representing Guy.

Allusions – Heroes vs. Hollow

Men

*Well-known stories and figures have connotations which add meaning to the poem.

(55) In this hollow valley(56) This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms.

Samson was a hero who killed 2,000 Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass.

Another who died doing something brave.

Here the jaw is “broken”, therefore not like strong Samson.

Allusions – Heroes vs. Hollow

Men

First lines:(1) We are the hollow men(2) We are the stuffed men

Contrast between heroes and hollow men.

Does the speaker admire these martyrs?

Allusions – Heroes vs. Hollow

Men

(13) Those who have crossed(14) With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom(15) Remember…

Kingdom capitalized implies specific place… In Dante’s Paradiso those with “direct eyes”

go to heaven. Dante had more than one heaven, more than

one hell, purgatory.

Those who have lived might not even remember us… Plea for people to do anything.

Allusion – Dante’s Kingdoms

(20) In death’s dream kingdom (30)(38) In the twilight kingdom (65)(46) In death’s other kingdom(56) … our lost kingdoms

Attitude towards the kingdoms? Are these places for the spirit or for the

body?

Allusion – Dante’s Kingdoms

(57) In this last of meeting places(58) We grope together(59) And avoid speech(60) Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Tumid = river to cross into hell in Dante’s inferno.

Why? The hollow men are going to hell.

Allusion – Dante’s Kingdoms

(63) As the perpetual star(64) Multifoliate rose(65) Of Death’s twilight kingdom(66) The hope only(67) Of empty men.

Star = Jesus Rose = Mary “Eyes” from the “twilight kingdom” Hope only of empty men. They

want to be saved, but don’t do it themselves.

The speaker does not have faith that religion can help

Allusions - Biblical

(68) Here we go round the prickly pear(69) Prickly pear prickly pear(70) Here we go round the prickly pear(71) At five o’clock in the morning.

Mulberry bush vs. prickly pear What happens at 5 o’clock in the

morning?

Creepy to turn children’s rhyme into song of hollow men.

Allusions – Children’s Rhyme

(52) The eyes are not here(53) There are no eyes here(54) In this valley of dying stars(55) In this hollow valley(56) This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

Eyes replace judgment, because these eyes can see past the outside to the hollow interior

Synecdoche

(1)We are the hollow men(2) We are the stuffed men(3) Leaning together(4) Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!(5) Our dried voices, when(6) We whisper together(7) Are quiet and meaningless(8) As wind in dry grass(9) Or rats’ feet over broken glass(10) In our dry cellar

(37) This is the dead land(38) This is cactus land….(68) Here we go round the prickly pear

Diction - Dry

DRY DICTION EFFECT• Unpleasant• Without meat, or value• Dead

(23) Sunlight on a broken column(24) There, is a tree swinging(25) And voices are(26) In the wind’s singing

Life, energy. In the “dream kingdom”.

Diction – Contrast to Dry

(1) We are the hollow men(2) We are the stuffed men

(17) As the hollow men(18) The stuffed men.

Highlighting speaker’s despair.

Repetition

(11) Shape without form, shade without colour,(12) Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Repetition of structure (parallel) Antithesis. Comparison. Lost at first. Description of hollow men

after.

Lines 72 – 91 three stanzas:“Between the _____ (motion)

And the __________ (act)

Falls the Shadow” Demonstrating how infiltrated the

“shadow” is in the hollow men’s lives. Valley of the Shadow of Death (54-55)

Repetition

Is the shadow between the men and their souls? Is that why they’re hollow?

(77) (91) For thine is the kingdom (separated in other versions)

The lord’s prayer.

Repetition in religion. Sounds like sermon.

Followed by prediction of world’s end in nursery rhyme rhythm.

Repetition - Religion

(95) This is the way the world ends(96) This is the way the world ends(97) This is the way the world ends(98) Not with a bang but a whimper.

How did Mistah Kurtz, Guy, and Samson end?

Repetition - Bleak End

Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is Life is For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends

The speaker describes a life without substance using: Dry diction Allusions to purgatory, inferno and paradise Allusions to the Valley of death

2 separate deaths: physical and spiritual.

The repetition of antithesis

Sum of the Parts