by Merve Cavus

Created on: August 04, 2008

The Hollow Men, is a modernist poem which reflects T.S Eliot's concern for ethical values. The poem was published in 1927 and evokes depression of 1930s and sadness after the World War I which caused hardship for the people and resulted in violence. In other words, Hollow Men is a kind of poem which reflects Eliot's point of view about his time, the people in his time in general a sense of hopelessness and despair which was widespread in his time. The poem expresses a spiritual journey of Eliot's fellowmen towards a spiritual salvation from the despair. It consists of five parts, and in this paper each part will be studied on its own.

THE HOLLOW MEN (1927)
Mistah Kurtz-he dead.
A penny for the Old Guy
I
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rat's feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without color,
Paralyzed force, gesture without motion;
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 poem starts with two epigraphs. First one is" Mistah Kurtz-he dead" is the quote from Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness. Kurtz signifies lost/ violent barbarian the prototypical "hollow man."
Second epigraph " A penny for the Old Guy" refers to the cry English children on Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes who planned to blow up houses of Parliament was hanged and burned. On the day of his execution (November 5) children make straw effigies of the guy and beg for pennies for fireworks.
Analysis of Part I: "We are the hollow men- We are the stuffed men" : We are seemingly stuffed but in the depth of our souls we are empty. The hollow men are Eliot's modern, empty corrupted man. "Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw": We are like Guy Fawkes effigy; our heads are filled with despair, delusions but empty at the core. The hollow men are like walking corpses whose minds are empty and detached from reality and life. They are alive but they are also experiencing death at the same time. The situation of them is like "life in death". They are lifeless without direction and hope of salvation. They have force but a paralyzed one so they can not get into action. "Those who have crossed with direct eyes, to death's other kingdom": In those lines Eliot mentions the dead, who have faced the death

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