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The poet surveys life in the modern, industrialised cities and concludes that it is empty and hollow. There
is no substance to our lives. We produce nothing that is worthwhile. Our world is shallow and sterile.
Eliot makes great use of the image of the afterlife to underline this point, adapting Dante's Divine
Comedy which speaks of the triple afterlife of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.
Although we have not done enough to deserve Hell, the poet argues, we also do not deserve Heaven.
Our future is therefore the dark and sterile life in Purgatory, where there will be no joy.
A NOTE ON THE POET
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1888. He attended Harvard University and
graduated with a Masters degree in Philosophy. While there, he published several poems in the
Harvard Advocate.
The poet left the United States in 1910, moving first to France, then to Germany and finally London. He
married Vivienne Haigh-Wood in 1915, which caused him to settle permanently in England.
His marriage was never successful, however, and they separated in 1933. In 1956 he would remarry, this
time to Valerie Fletcher.
Early during his stay in London, Eliot fell under the influence of the great American poet Ezra Pound, who
assisted in the publication of his early poetry.
The publication of his first book of poetry - Prufrock and Other Observations, 1917 - revealed
Eliot as a forerunner of Modernism, the philosophy of Modern Art. His next book - The Waste
Land, 1922 - is claimed by many to contain some of the most important poetry of the 20th century.
Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. He died in London in 1965. He was 77 years
of age.
"The Hollow Men" is a complicated poem, drawing on other works of literature, especially Dante's
Divine Comedy and Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
The title "The Hollow Men" probably comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:
"But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
Make gallant show and promise of their mettle;
But when they should endure the bloody spur,
They fall their crests and like deceitful jades
Sink in the trial."
This roughly translates as: "Hollow or empty men are like horses, eager at the start of a race, but as
soon as they feel the pain of the spur, they lose heart and fail."
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
Eliot is renowned for quoting from other sources, although it is highly unlikely you would need to know this
unless you are a university student. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to speculate on the significance
of the two quotes at the start of this poem.
- Can you perhaps speculate about the significance of the first quote: "Mistah Kurtz - he dead"
which is taken from Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness? (4)
[Need help?]
Conrad's novel concerns the hollowness of civilization. The narrator, Marlow, is sent from Europe (the
heart of enlightenment) to find the renegade Kurtz far up the Congo River (the heart of darkness).
When Marlow reaches Kurtz, however, he discovers a world turned on its head. It is Kurtz who is the man
of substance and it is Europe which is the heart of darkness where hollow people live.
If you've seen the movie Apocalypse Now, you will have noted the similar theme. Indeed, the
movie was based upon Conrad's novel but set during the Vietnam war rather than the Congo of the 19th
century.
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- And what about "A penny for the Old Guy"? (4)
[Need help?]
Guy Fawkes was one of a group of people who had determined to blow up the British Houses of
Parliament, while at the same time killing the king. They actually succeeded in smuggling barrels of
gunpowder into the cellars beneath Westminster Palace, the real name for the Houses of Parliament.
The plot was leaked and Guy Fawkes captured. He proved, however, to be a man of no substance. Upon
being tortured, he whispered the names of all his accomplices who were thereupon rounded up and
executed.
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"Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion."
- What does one call words of opposite meaning which are paired with each other? (1)
[Need help?]
- Can you perhaps explain the way in which the poet uses oxymorons in these two
lines? (4)
[Need help?]
"Shape" and "form" are almost synonyms. So are "shade" and "colour", as
well as "gesture" and "motion".
On the other hand, the moment we combine the word "without" with the words which follow to turn
them into compound words, one gets an oxymoron: "Shape without-form", "shade without-
colour" and "gesture without-motion".
"Paralysed force" is a straightforward oxymoron.
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"Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us - if at all - not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men."
- The poet speaks of "death's other Kingdom". What would he mean by this? (4)
[Need help?]
One could normally conclude that the poet is speaking of Heaven because it is the future home for people
who are of worth, who are of value - those with "direct eyes" who see and therefore do things
properly and well.
The "hollow men", however, appear to be NOT in Heaven because they are not of value and do
not deserve such a final reward.
Where could they be then? In Hell? But it's not quite as simple as that because Eliot is referring here to
another famous poetic work - Dante's Divine Comedy - where there are THREE places for
the Afterlife: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.
Purgatory is not a place of everlasting suffering. If the souls of the "hollow men" are found in
Purgatory, there is still hope that they will eventually find their way into Heaven. Before that happens,
however, the "hollow men" will have to learn to find some substance.
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- Why would the "hollow men" be remembered "not as lost violent
souls"? (4)
[Need help?]
If they had been "violent souls", then traditional theology would say that their souls would end up
in Hell, and therefore they would be lost forever.
The poet says, however, that those "with direct eyes" who are in Heaven can "remember"
them. If they are "remembered", then the "hollow men" might still eventually find their way
into Heaven. They must therefore be in Purgatory.
The point that the poet is making is that "the hollow men" are not bad, violent people as such but
are simply insignificant people, people who lack substance.
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- What does the poet mean when he asks those with "direct eyes" to "remember
us"? (2)
[Need help?]
"Remember us" probably means "pray for us".
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"Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star."
- To whom do the "Eyes" belong, the "Eyes" which he dare not meet in
dreams? (2)
[Need help?]
If this stanza has a message which runs on from the previous section, then the "Eyes" are the
"direct eyes" of the people of substance, the people who are living worthwhile lives, the people
whose souls will eventually be in Heaven.
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- Why does the poet "dare not meet" these "Eyes"? (4)
[Need help?]
A person who does not meet another's eyes is someone who is embarrassed or who has something to
hide.
The fact that he is a "hollow man" - who is lacking substance or sincerity - makes him feel
inferior, insecure, ashamed when he meets someone who is of value. He therefore cannot look them in
the eye.
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- Contrast the futures of those "with direct eyes" and the "hollow men". (4)
[Need help?]
The people who have worth, are worthy or have insight - those with "direct eyes" - are
happy and have a fortunate future in Heaven ahead of them.
The "hollow men" - those who are without value or sincerity - are insecure and unable to look
the others in the eye. They have little in the future to look forward to but will be consigned to Purgatory
upon their deaths, where they will have to wait until God has mercy on them - or wait for those worthy
people in Heaven to pray for them.
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