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The Hollow Men. -By T.S. Eliot Group Members: Effie, Rebecca, Vita. The Title. “ The Hollow Land ” -William Morris “ The Broken Men ” -Kipling Allusions: Julius Caesar -Shakespeare Heart of Darkness -Conrad. Four Main sources for The Hollow Men. The Gunpowder Plot:
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The Hollow Men -By T.S. Eliot Group Members: Effie, Rebecca, Vita
The Title • “The Hollow Land”-William Morris • “The Broken Men”-Kipling • Allusions: • JuliusCaesar-Shakespeare • Heart ofDarkness-Conrad
Four Main sources for The Hollow Men • The Gunpowder Plot: -Conspiracy arose from the English Catholic’s resentment of King James I and his reign’s treatment of their religion. - A group of extremists - Guy Fawkes (Source)
Julius Caesar: a violent conspiracy of men who are blinded by their cause Brutus-a leading Roman citizen Cassius- recruiting people to conspire to assassinate Caesar (Source)
The Divine Comedy: -Dante as a pilgrim traveling through the three kingdoms of the afterlife: hell, purgatory, and heaven. -Virgil -Beatrice (Source)
Heart of Darkness: a story full of hollow men- men empty of faith, personality, moral strength, and humanity. -Marlow’s journey into the heart of Africa -Kurtz (Source)
1925 • Eliot wrote this poem during a period of absence form the bank, having just suffered nervous breakdown. The theme of “hollowness” presented in the poem directly relates to his own psychological condition at the time. (Source)
1-4 • The “hollow men” and “stuffed men”, “filled with straw”→ • effigies burned on Guy Fawkes Day • The conspirators in Julius Caesar • Kurtz • Eliot’s modern man • Whisper: conspiracy (Source)
11-12 • A condition of unfulfillment as seen in the spiritual state of the shades in Inferno iii. • Marlow’s experience with resistance of death. (Source)
13-15 • Those who have crossed to death’s other kingdom are those who have left behind a state of spiritual nothingness and entered into knowledge and recognition of that state. • Kurtz: “The horror! The horror!” • Dante: couldn’t look at Beatrice. (Source)
19 • In heaven, Dante no longer feels shamed by Beatrice’s gaze. • Once redemption accepted and virtue restored, the formerly hollow man has no reason to feel shame when looking into the eyes of the virtuous. (Source)
23-28 • Resemble Dante’s description of the Earthly Paradise. • Used the star as a symbol representing God or Mary. • A broken column: a traditional graveyard memorial for a premature death. (Source)
32 • The souls fear in the obstacles that will have to overcome before reaching paradise. • Dressing in animal skins: • Possible origins -ritualistic purposes -custom of hanging up the corpse of a member of a crop damaging species (Source)
35 • The Inferno: spirits are blown about by the wind. • The Heart of Darkness: the native dies just because he lift the shutter open. (Source)
37-38 • Both Dante and Marlow must face a meeting they fear. • Dante: Beatrice (divine beauty) • Marlow: Inform Kurtz’s wife of his death. (Source)
III. • The stone images suggests idolatrous worship. • The desert imagery (e.g. dead land, cactus land, hollow valley) suggests sterility of the modern world. • A fading star establishes a sense of remoteness from reality. (Source)
IV. • The eyes are not here a representation of the sterility (modern world), a place where the eyes that offer hope do not exist. • Fromfading startodying star. • The broken jaw might signify that the civilizing factor has broken, allowing modern men’s decline. (Source)
IV. • Meeting the final meeting of the lost, hollow souls before they sentenced to the inferno. • Tumid river the River Acheron flowing around hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy. • Multifoliate rose a vision of paradise in Divine Comedy. The petals are formed by the souls of the saved in heaven. (Source)
V. • A service, ritual service • “go round the prickly pear” • Chant & choral nursery rhyme • The reality/ cactus (footnote 4) vs. the hope/ roses • The frustration of impulse • “Falls the Shadow” -(footnote 5) related to religion -the frustrating shadow of fear -personification of its negative character (Source)
V. • The conflict of the series -frustration/ emptiness -irony of impaired lives • “Life is very long” the burden of life • “Falls the Shadow” “Kingdom” is very hard • “whimper” results from irony & emptiness (Source)
Works Cited • Eliot, T.S. “The Hollow Men.” Baym, Nina, et al. eds. Norton Anthology of American Literature. 6th shorter ed. New York: Norton, 2003. 1994-97. • "The Hollow Men". Planet Papers. 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/1751.php> • “T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men": a Hypertextual Study of Allusion.” 17 Apr. 2006 <http://www.aduni.org/~heather/occs/honors/Default.htm>.