1925 Eliot's Poem example essay topic

"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality" -T.S. Eliot Being an expatriate T.S. Eliot was extremely affected by World War I and as a result his writings were blatantly dominated by his cynical views of the world around him. Constructed in 1925 Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men" was one of many depressing pieces that had evolved during the period between both World Wars. It's a poem that evokes a sense of hopelessness within society, assuring his fellow men that they will get lost in it or be defeated by it: His overall pessimistic claim being that our world is corrupt. Generally, Eliot is disgruntled by the profound imperfections in men within his social order; which include two-faced ness, laziness and indifference. He's not pointing fingers but rather warning us that we " re all empty vessels living in a meaningless and negative world. This claim is supported by Eliot's usage of vague and abstract decaying imagery and repetitive references to symbolic words such as drought, dreams and death.

The poem consists of five segments all of which focus on the "subject of human nature in this world, and on the relationship of this world to another, the world of death, or eternity". The first part begins: We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Instead of focusing on one main character, Eliot refers to every man or any man by using the reference "hollow men".

Since the "hollow men" possesses a "headpiece filled with straw" a picture of a scarecrow denied a brain is envisioned. Without intelligence and common sense the "stuffed men" are basically helpless men tied to their posts. Eliot chooses despair as the only alternative possible in such a crooked world. He "saw this kind of metaphysical despair as more intellectual than emotional". The next lines portray an image of repetitiveness and uselessness: Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar The consecutive use of the word "dry" conveys a feeling of deadness. If everything is dry then all growth is annulled.

Without birth or growth there can be nothing. The arid and desolate physical landscape promotes a feeling of barrenness while the "dried voices" are empty and vacant, carrying connotations of death and ruin. Eliot's next reference to "broken glass in our dry cellar" literally examines the pointlessness of the cellar. It has been abandoned while only rats now inhabit it. The uselessness of the cellar symbolizes the uselessness of human beings who have no control over anything the world will throw at them.

Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion; To describe the cellar in terms of binary oppositions Eliot wants to emphasize its unnecessary qualities. Instead of just using adjectives Eliot includes an adjective and its direct opposite to paint a more vivid picture of the colorless and formless setting. In fact, everything is formless and colorless even the entire poem. The concluding lines of part one make crucial references to Dante's "Divine Comedy": 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 hollow men... According to Dante there are a variety of places someone's soul can go after death; people may go directly to Paradise or directly to Hell.

There are also people "who by virtue of their pointless drifting through life have gone to a sort of nowhere, a nothingness, a Limbo at the outskirts of Hell". This place of nothingness is what Eliot means by "death's dream Kingdom". These empty and hollow men aren't evil and "violent souls" but worse; "The condition of the hollow men is that of the lost souls in Hell. They are the inhabitants who have never been spiritually alive, never experienced good or evil, having lived narrowly for themselves".

The second segment reverts to a singular speaker instead of a collective group. The poet perpetually refers to images like kingdom, death's dream, and eyes as a way to understand death and time without end. The poet cannot bear to face the ones who have been able to meet death and go to heaven. The fact that he's able to confront Paradise but not go there tortures him. Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's dream kingdom... Let me go nearer In death's dream kingdom Let me also wear deliberate disguises Once the poet has experienced dream's kingdom the desire to live in Paradise is much stronger than his desire to remain a member of a "dead land".

Part three goes on to describe this deserted world in which the poet has found himself enveloped. The images dramatically symbolize a lifeless terrain: This is the dead land This is the cactus land Here the stone images Are raised... Under the twinkle of a fading star. This land in essence is a wasteland, devoid of flowers, grass and life. The only objects that remain are once again, lifeless "stone images".

Unfortunately, the poet's hope and faith has been stripped away. This is evident by Eliot's usage of the "fading star". If the star is slowly dwindling it's impossible to make a wish upon it and keep the faith. Like the previous sections of the poem, part four dwells on a place that happens to be as "hollow" as its populace.

In the poet's world nothing seems whole, nothing seems to even function; all is lost or being lost. The absolute despair is prevalent when he writes: The eyes are not here There are no eyes here In this valley of dying stars... We grope together And avoid speech Gathered on this beach of the tumid river The hollow man is blind, unable to move forward with any understanding or insight. Feeling trapped by his circumstances under "dying stars", he's obviously afraid of being overtaken by the sinister river. The final portion of the poem begins lightheartedly, poking fun at lines from a child's nursery rhyme: Here we go round the prickly pear Prickly pear prickly pear Here we go round the prickly pear... Although the real song focuses on a flourishing mulberry bush Eliot doesn't.

Instead there is the "prickly pear" that parallels the image of the "the cactus land" previously discussed. Referring to a prickly fruitless object yet again, the poet repeats himself. Through repetition Eliot proves to us that the reality of the "hollow men" is never-ending. Generations may pass but the world will still be a futile one with futile men. Directly following the nursery jingle are bits and pieces of the Lord's prayer. Only through broken lines can the "hollow men" access this common prayer.

"Their attempt to utter the Lord's Prayer is muffled by the broken apprehension of the dreariness of life". It's unfortunate that these men can't reach God, but that is Eliot's point. Being empty bodies without any kind of emotion, intellect or sincerity, it's inevitable that they will also be without religious beliefs. In conclusion, taken as a whole the image of humankind as being "hollow men" is powerful and depressing. The structure of the poem consists of regular rhythms and short linear lines.

This simple, uniformed and repetitive style reflects the lives of the "hollow men". The lack of punctuation in the poem, not only reveals misdirection within the poem but it also mirrors Eliot's lack of direction within a larger context. As one of the "hollow men" Eliot is without hope. His grim view of life leads him to believe that our world with end "not with a bang but a whimper". Inevitably, when the world ends so will the people. Assuming life is worthless the "hollow men" won't put up a fight but go down with a whimper.