1. Feb 25 – The Hollow Men Agenda: Quick-write
Notes “The Hollow Men” Background
Eliot
Guy Fawkes Day
Poetry Analysis
Take out:
Pen/Pencil
Notebook
HW:
Complete TPS-FASTT analysis of “The Hollow Men”

2. Quick-Write Complete an initial analysis of the poem title:
“The Hollow Men”

3. “The Hollow Men” Poetry Reading: “The Hollow Men”
Follow along with the reading, annotating for:
Imagery
Figurative Language
Questions you may have
Words to look up
You’ll be completing a TPS-FASTT, in order to answer the question:
WHAT IS THE AUTHOR’S MESSAGE ABOUT THE THEME OF THE POEM?

4. T.S. Eliot
Arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century
Writing is largely Modernist (created by the Impressionist movement)
Poem Directly influenced by many sources, including:
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Dante’s Inferno
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
Partially created by assembling pieces of four of his other poems
Published “The Hollow Men” in 1925 – shortly after a personal breakdown

5. A Little History: Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes – figurehead of the Gunpowder Plot
Failed plan to assassinate King James I in 1605 by blowing up Parliament
Day first celebrated on Nov 5, 1605
Celebrating the survival of the King/downfall of the plot
Celebrated by burning effigies of various “enemies of the nation” (usually Fawkes) on bonfires – usually accompanied by fireworks
“A penny for the Old Guy” – what children say on Guy Fawkes Day – use the money to buy fireworks

7. Kurtz = The Hollow Man
[The heads] only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him -- some small matter which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his magnificent eloquence. Whether he knew of this deficiency himself I can't say. I think the knowledge came to him at last -- only at the very last. But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude -- and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core (138)
The shade of the original Kurtz frequented the bedside of the hollow sham, whose fate it was to be buried presently in the mould of primeval earth. But both the diabolic love and the unearthly hate of the mysteries it had penetrated fought for the possession of that soul satiated with primitive emotions, avid of lying fame, of sham distinction, of all the appearances of success and power. (152)