THE HOLLOWMEN -T.S.ELIOT

The Title “The Hollow Land”-William Morris “The Broken Men”-Kipling Allusions: Julius Caesar-Shakespeare Heart of Darkness-Conrad

Four major sources of reference The historical account of “The Gunpowder Plot” Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness Dante’s Divine Comedy Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Four Main sources for The Hollow Men The Gunpowder Plot: Nov 5, 1605 Conspiracy arose from the English Catholic’s resentment of King James I and his reign’s treatment of their religion. Guy Fawkes – arrested on the night before in the cellar of the house of Lords, guarding nearly two tons of gunpowder. Effigy burnt every year, chant used by children going around collecting money for the fireworks.

Julius Caesar: a violent conspiracy of men who are blinded by their cause Brutus-a leading Roman citizen, pondering on the deceitful weakness of his fellow assassin Cassius uses the phrase as he realises that Cassius is not as warm and friendly as he used to be. Cassius- recruiting people to conspire to assassinate Caesar

The Divine Comedy: -Dante as a pilgrim traveling through the three kingdoms of the afterlife: hell, purgatory, and heaven. -Virgil -Beatrice

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

1925 Eliot wrote this poem during a period of absence from 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.

Epigraphs Mistah Kurtz-he dead. A penny for the Old Guy.

The poem begins with two epigraphs: one is a quotation from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness remarking on the death of the doomed character Kurtz. The other is an expression used by English schoolchildren who want money to buy fireworks to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. On this holiday, people burn straw effigies of Fawkes, who tried to blow up the British Parliament back in the 17th century

The first epigraph is a quote from a servant in Joseph Conrad's classic novel Heart of Darkness. The servant reveals to the character Marlow that another character named Kurtz has just died. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, this is the phrase used by the black cabin boy announcing Mr. Kurtz's death. Mr. Kurtz, a European trader, had gone into jungle ( The Heart of Darkness) with high intentions, but was soon barbarized by his own greed. "The wilderness ... found him out early....I think it whisper to him things about himself which he did not know—and the whisper ... proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core." Meets death knowingly- with direct eyes Describes his hollowness. I

Kurtz is an British ivory trader in Africa, and is one of the many Europeans who arrived to exploit that continent's resources in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He seems to have some qualities of greatness because he collects more ivory than other traders, but in one memorable passage, Marlow suspects Kurtz of being "hollow to the core" and lacking a human and moral nature. The epigraph tells us that, in some sense, the poem is set after the death of Kurtz, or someone "hollow" man like him.

Second Epigraph A penny for the Old Guy The English celebrate Guy Fawkes Day every November 5th with fireworks and the burning of little straw men or "effigies." Guy Fawkes was convicted of trying to blow up King James I in 1605 by stashing gunpowder underneath the Parliament building. The incident is known as the "Gunpowder Plot." But Fawkes and the gunpowder were discovered before the plan went off, and Fawkes gave up the names of his co-conspirators under torture. To celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, English children ask for money to fund the explosions of their straw effigies of Fawkes, so they say, "A penny for the guy?" "Guy" being his first name.

Also, according to Ancient Greek mythology, a person who died would need to pay Charon, the ferryman, with a coin before he would take you across the River Styx into the realm of death. So the "Old Guy" also refers to the ancient figure of Charon. Apparently, someone is begging for a "penny" to give the ferryman to get across the Styx

Nihilism Total rejection of all religious and moral belief. Belief that nothing really exists. The Hollow Man is one example of nihilistic work.

“We are the Hollow Men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw” Although the poem has a direct allusion to the historical account of Guy Fawkes, it can also apply to the content of The Great Gatsby in that the key character has a quest to find meaning in his life.

The narrator of the Hollow Men is asking the question that matters- What is the meaning / purpose of life? Hence the direct philosophical relationship to NIHILISM. Def: Nihilism: (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position which argues that existence is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! THE HOLLOW MEN: On the situation and the atmosphere, cf. Dante's account (lnferno III) of Hell's entrance where dwell in "the starless air," in "air forever dark," and "without hope of death," those "who never were alive“—"the wretched souls of those who lived without infamy and without praise" because they were not positive enough spiritually to be either good or evil.

Our dried voices, when 5 We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar 10 Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralyzed force, gesture without motion;

Look at the apparent images of paradox- seemingly impossible contradictions- “shape without form, shade without colour Paralysed force, gesture without motion” This is the paradox of life- Faith vs Reason.

Those who have crossed With direct eyes to death's other Kingdom Remember us--if at all-- not as lost 15 Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men. 13-14. Those... Kingdom: i.e., those who stood for something positive, either evil or good, and so can really die, as the hollow men cannot. Hollow men  stuffed men

Eyes: In the Purgatorio, Beatrice’s eyes are a symbol II Eyes I dare not meet in dreams 20 In death's dream kingdom These do not appear: There, the eyes are Sunlight on a broken column Eyes: In the Purgatorio, Beatrice’s eyes are a symbol of spiritual reality. 20: the image of heaven 23: a traditional graveyard memorial for a premature death.

Star: a symbol of both naturalistic flux and There, is a tree swinging 25 And voices are In the wind's singing More distant and more solemn Than a fading star. Star: a symbol of both naturalistic flux and eternal spirit in the world.

Than a fading star…another reference to faith Than a fading star…another reference to faith. The star that signified the birth of Christ and the light of the world. If the star is fading is he implying that the influence of Christ is fading? Rats Coat, crowskin, crossed staves… another reference to Hollow Men, this time scarecrows, but also pointing towards a reminder of Christ's crucifixion. Again the final meeting is his own judgment, he is afraid he has made the wrong philosophical choice!

37-38: The speaker may meet the eyes in the real world of the dead. Let me be no nearer 30 In death's dream kingdom Let me also wear Such deliberate disguises Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves In a field 35 Behaving as the wind behaves No nearer -- Not that final meeting In the twilight kingdom Scarecrow: a symbol of spiritual looseness of the speaker. 32-34: The speaker conceals his lack of possibility. 37-38: The speaker may meet the eyes in the real world of the dead.

III This is the dead land 40 This is cactus land Here the stone images Are raised, here they receive The supplication of a dead man's hand Under the twinkle of a fading star. Deathlike/ lifeless images: cactus/dead land, a fading star~ The hollow men are like themselves. 43: The speaker views himself as dead or dying and prays for getting out of emptiness and lifeless.

45 Is it like this In death's other kingdom Waking alone At the hour when we are Trembling with tenderness 50 Lips that would kiss Form prayers to broken stone. 46: The speaker’s empty life is another form of death. 51: whispering meaningless is just like a broken prayer.

The water: A symbol of cleansing grace. IV The eyes are not here There are no eyes here In this valley of dying stars 55 In this hollow valley This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms In this last of meeting places We grope together And avoid speech 60 Gathered on this beach of the tumid river The eyes that may reappear beyond the river portend salvation. 54-56: the image of emptiness and death The water: A symbol of cleansing grace. 58-60: The image of the lost souls belongs to a boundary motif.

In this last of meeting places we grope together and avoid speech Gathered together on the beach of the tumid river… A more powerful stanza, groping together in silence for physical comfort and unity. Implying fear. Paralyzing fear- perhaps of death or the unknown. Tumid river refers to the Styx, the mythical river that leads to the other kingdom, or it could refer to the baptismal river that leads to salvation. Equally fearsome.

63: A symbol of the Holy Virgin Sightless, unless The eyes reappear As the perpetual star Multifoliate rose 65 Of death's twilight kingdom The hope only Of empty men. 63: A symbol of the Holy Virgin 64: Dante’s Celestial Rose made of light 65-67: The hollow men remain sightless unless the rose reappears, love along with powers of creation and repentance is still sought in the world of nightmare.

The eyes, the rose and the star are Part II, III,IV The eyes, the rose and the star are equivalent the “Grail” of The Waste Land. The repetition of the same words, like “eyes,” ”broken,” ”death kingdom,” “a fading star,” makes powerful images. The hollow men appear as the “distraction, delusion, pretence” of the unenlightened people and each one of them is a “fugitive from reality.”

For Thine is the Kingdom V Here we go round the prickly pear Prickly pear prickly pear 70 Here we go round the prickly pear At five o'clock in the morning. Between the idea And the reality Between the motion 75 And the act Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom

What is the shadow..? It falls between the intention and the reality. The conflict between what is real and what is believed. It is the shadow of consequence. He is judged on his actions, but he fears he has made the wrong philosophical choice.

If you look back to lines 12-13, you'll remember the list of "missing essentials," or things that are lacking some essential component, like "gesture without motion." In this final section of the poem, Eliot presents a similar idea. For the Hollow Men, some mysterious "shadow" has fallen between some potential for action and the action itself to prevent them for doing anything. They have "ideas" but cannot bring them into "reality." They can "move" but not coordinate their movements into "action." The "shadow" falls like an iron curtain to block their intentions.

For Thine is the Kingdom The Hollow Men begin to say part of a prayer but do not finish it. "For Thine is the Kingdom" is part of the ending to the Lord's Prayer that goes: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." One gets the feeling that if the Hollow Men could just get to the end of the prayer, maybe they would be saved. Notice that the word "kingdom" has been used a lot in this poem. God has his everlasting kingdom in Heaven, and the Hollow Men had their "lost kingdoms."

V Between the conception And the creation 80 Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Life is very long

Here comes that Shadow again Here comes that Shadow again. "Conception" is the moment of pregnancy or the beginning of idea, but "creation" is when that being comes into existence. An "emotion" is a mental state, but a response is an action resulting from that state. The shadow prevents one thing from leading naturally to the other. If you went to the doctor and he or she tapped your knee with that little rubber hammer, and you had no physical response, it would be a problem. The stanza ends with the beginning of another statement: "Life is very long." You can almost here the Hollow Men sighing wearily as they say that, as if they are bored and worn down. Compared to eternity, of course, life is pretty short.

For Thine is the Kingdom V Between the desire 85 And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent 90 Falls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom

The poem gives three more examples of the Shadow's dirty work The poem gives three more examples of the Shadow's dirty work. It prevents "desire" from becoming the "spasm" . It also comes between potential or "potency" and existence, and between the higher "essence" of things and the "descent" of this essence into our physical world. In a simpler way of putting it: the Shadow prevents things that should naturally follow from one another from happening. Shadowof indifference and surrender lies between conception and fulfillment. The stanza ends, again, with a fragment of the Lord's Prayer. They still can't say any more than this one part of the prayer.

For Thine is Life is For Thine is the The Hollow Men repeat the fragmented lines from the end of the last three stanzas, but this time chopped down even further. They just trail off, as if they can't remember how the rest goes or have slipped into some semi-conscious state. Cut them some slack, though: their heads are filled with straw.

This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. V

They pick up again with another crazy adaptation of the "Mulberry Bush" song. The song provides little lessons about how to do chores around the house, like "This is the way we wash our clothes" and "This is the way we sweep the floor.“. By resorting to parody, speaker is selfmocking. In Eliot's version, the Hollow Men are singing about how the world ends as they dance around the prickly pear. These lines are the most famous and frequently repeated lines in the poem. The world ends not with a "bang" like you might expect, with some huge war between angels and demons, but with a "whimper," like a defeated puppy.

May allude to, amongst some talk of war, the actual end of the Gunpowder Plot mentioned at the beginning: not with its planned explosive bang, but with Guy Fawkes's whimper, as he was caught, tortured and executed on the gallows. Some critics, have also pointed out a note of hope in that a 'whimper' could be interpreted as the sound of a new-born. As a new beginning, a fresh start for the hollow man. But overall an anti-climax.

Thank you.