The Hollow Men

by T.S. Eliot

Welcome to a journey through the haunting and evocative landscape of T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men." This poem, rich with imagery and profound themes, delves into the depths of human experience. Prepare to immerse yourself in a world where voices whisper through the dry grass, where eyes remain unseen, and where the end of the world approaches.

Mistah Kurtz - he dead.

A penny for the Old Guy

We are the hollow men
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 rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed 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.

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer -

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land
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.

Is it like this
In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of this tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

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

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

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

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 with a whimper.

Summary and Analysis

Introduction:

The poem begins with two epigraphs, "Mistah Kurtz - he dead." and "A penny for the Old Guy." These references to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and the historical figure Guy Fawkes set a tone of disillusionment and lost ideals.

Section I:

This section introduces the "hollow men," who are depicted as empty and insubstantial, like scarecrows ("Headpiece filled with straw"). Their voices are dry and meaningless, representing a lack of genuine communication or emotion.

Section II:

The hollow men are afraid to face the truth or judgment, symbolized by "eyes" that they dare not meet. This section explores their desire to remain in disguise and avoid confronting their emptiness.

Section III:

The landscape described here is barren and lifeless, referred to as "the dead land" and "cactus land." This symbolizes a spiritual wasteland where the hollow men exist without purpose or vitality.

Section IV:

The absence of eyes in this section emphasizes the lack of vision or insight. The hollow men are trapped in a hollow valley, unable to find meaning or connection, groping together in darkness.

Section V:

The final section references a children's rhyme but with a dark twist. The repetition of "Falls the Shadow" highlights the barrier between different states of being and action. The poem concludes with the famous lines, "This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but with a whimper," underscoring a sense of anticlimactic and inevitable decline.