The Hollow Men

-By T.S. EliotGroup Members:

Effie, Rebecca, Vita

The Title

“The Hollow Land”-William Morris “The Broken Men”-Kipling

Allusions: Julius Caesar-Shakespeare Heart of Darkness-Conrad

Four Main sources for The Hollow Men

The Gunpowder Plot: -Conspiracy arose from the English C

atholic’s resentment of King James I and his reign’s treatment of their religion.

- A group of extremists - Guy Fawkes (Source)

Julius Caesar: a violent conspiracy of men who

are blinded by their cause Brutus-a leading Roman citizen Cassius- recruiting people to

conspire to assassinate Caesar (Source)

The Divine Comedy: -Dante as a pilgrim traveling

through the three kingdoms of the afterlife: hell, purgatory, and heaven.

-Virgil -Beatrice (Source)

Heart of Darkness: a story full of hollow men- men empty

of faith, personality, moral strength, and humanity.

-Marlow’s journey into the heart of Africa

-Kurtz (Source)

1925

Eliot wrote this poem during a period of absence form the bank, having just suffered nervous breakdown. The theme of “hollowness” presented in the poem directly relates to his own psychological condition at the time. (Source)

1-4

The “hollow men” and “stuffed men”, “filled with straw”→

effigies burned on Guy Fawkes Day The conspirators in Julius Caesar Kurtz Eliot’s modern man Whisper: conspiracy (Source)

11-12

A condition of unfulfillment as seen in the spiritual state of the shades in Inferno iii.

Marlow’s experience with resistance of death. (Source)

13-15 Those who have crossed to death’s

other kingdom are those who have left behind a state of spiritual nothingness and entered into knowledge and recognition of that state.

Kurtz: “The horror! The horror!” Dante: couldn’t look at Beatrice. (

Source)

19

In heaven, Dante no longer feels shamed by Beatrice’s gaze.

Once redemption accepted and virtue restored, the formerly hollow man has no reason to feel shame when looking into the eyes of the virtuous. (Source)

23-28

Resemble Dante’s description of the Earthly Paradise.

Used the star as a symbol representing God or Mary.

A broken column: a traditional graveyard memorial for a premature death. (Source)

32 The souls fear in the obstacles that will

have to overcome before reaching paradise.

Dressing in animal skins: Possible origins -ritualistic purposes -custom of hanging up the corpse of a

member of a crop damaging species (Source)

35

The Inferno: spirits are blown about by the wind.

The Heart of Darkness: the native dies just because he lift the shutter open. (Source)

37-38

Both Dante and Marlow must face a meeting they fear.

Dante: Beatrice (divine beauty) Marlow: Inform Kurtz’s wife of his

death. (Source)

III.

The stone images suggests idolatrous worship.

The desert imagery (e.g. dead land, cactus land, hollow valley) suggests sterility of the modern world.

A fading star establishes a sense of remoteness from reality. (Source)

IV. The eyes are not here a

representation of the sterility (modern world), a place where the eyes that offer hope do not exist.

From fading star to dying star.

The broken jaw might signify that the civilizing factor has broken, allowing modern men’s decline. (Source)

IV. Meeting the final meeting of the los

t, hollow souls before they sentenced to the inferno.

Tumid river the River Acheron flowing around hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Multifoliate rose a vision of paradise in Divine Comedy. The petals are formed by the souls of the saved in heaven. (Source)

V.

A service, ritual service “go round the prickly pear” Chant & choral nursery rhyme The reality/ cactus (footnote 4) vs. the hope/ roses The frustration of impulse “Falls the Shadow” -(footnote 5) related to religion -the frustrating shadow of fear -personification of its negative character

(Source)

V. The conflict of the series -frustration/ emptiness -irony of impaired lives “Life is very long” the burden of life “Falls the Shadow” “Kingdom” is very hard “whimper” results from irony &

emptiness (Source)

Works Cited Eliot, T.S. “The Hollow Men.” Baym, Nina, et

al. eds. Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th shorter ed. New York: Norton, 2003. 1994-97.

"The Hollow Men". Planet Papers. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/1751.php>

“T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men": a Hypertextual Study of Allusion.” 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Default.htm>.