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In fact, according to the short essay, "T.S. Eliot 1888-1965," he preferred to simply reveal his feelings rather than explain them within his prose (697). A better example could not be found outside of "The Hollow Men." According to the short essay "A Lament for the Weary," the two lines that precede the poem each call to mind a plethora of sights, sounds, and emotions for any reader cultured enough to catch the allusions offered within, allowing said readers to begin the poem feeling exactly as Eliot likely did as he wrote it. To many, "Mista Kurtz He's a dead" would merely be worthy of looking at the footnote for a moment before continuing on. However, for anyone who has read Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, the line calls to mind an entire novelette, and all the emotions that the read evoked. The tale of an amoral British man losing his self and center in the African wilderness, committing unspeakable acts therein, and then, upon his deathbed, realizing what he has become is remembered in an instant, and the thought ends with the powerful final words of the main character, Kurtz," "The horror, the horror!" In the very next line, Eliot continues to use allusions to evoke emotional responses by recalling to the minds of readers the legendary exploits and final hours of Guy Fawkes, the famous traitor to the English crown who is burned in effigy to this day in Britain. To most non-Englishmen reading the poem, the line would, again, mean nothing, but to anyone familiar with British custom, childhood memories of collecting money for fireworks to shoot off whilst burning straw look-alikes of Fawkes would come reeling back from the inner passages of the mind (941). According to M.C. Bradbrook, throughout this piece and many others, Eliot uses such allusions to convey entire subplots and levels of meaning that would have otherwise extended his works by dozens, if not hundreds, of lines. Thus, it is more than a little handy to be familiar with the events and works that influenced Eliot in order to best understand his poetry (92).

As such, a familiarity with various older works, from surrealist French texts to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, does much to change one's perspective on this poem. With his heavy usage of allusions and distinct lack of explanation, Eliot leaves much of "The Hollow Men" up to interpretation. Some passages, such as the one which refers to a "multifoliate rose" mentioned in section IV of the poem, are clear (For instance, this refers to

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