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The poem 'The Hollow Men' by T.S. Eliot explores themes of failure, faith, and paralysis through the voices of scarecrows lamenting their meaningless existence. It contrasts the Hollow Men with those who have crossed into the afterlife, highlighting the struggle between despair and religious desire. The poem's modernist style is characterized by free verse, fragmentation, and the use of symbolism, ultimately culminating in an anticlimactic ending signified by the word 'whimper.'

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13 views2 pages

Make Up TP

The poem 'The Hollow Men' by T.S. Eliot explores themes of failure, faith, and paralysis through the voices of scarecrows lamenting their meaningless existence. It contrasts the Hollow Men with those who have crossed into the afterlife, highlighting the struggle between despair and religious desire. The poem's modernist style is characterized by free verse, fragmentation, and the use of symbolism, ultimately culminating in an anticlimactic ending signified by the word 'whimper.'

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Miss E-world
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The poem begins with two epigraphs alluding to two examples of "Hollow Men," one

from fiction, the other from history. Then we are introduced to the main characters: a
group of scarecrows leaning together. These Hollow Men narrate the poem in a
chorus. They lament their condition: their bodies paralyzed; their language
meaningless. On the other side of a mythical river, dead ancestors see and judge the
men. They attempt to pray but fail. In a desert valley on the bank of an overflowing
river under dying stars, the Hollow Men waver between religious faith and despair. The
Shadow of death paralyzes all action, and the language of the chorus disintegrates as
they attempt to recite the Lord’s Prayer. The poem and the world end in an
anticlimactic whimper.

Failure
Failure is a major theme in "The Hollow Men." Eliot collects examples of failure in the
figures of Kurtz and Fawkes, who both failed at living an anarchic life. He also explores
it under other subthemes: paralysis, or a failure of will; impotence, or a failure to
procreate; malaise, or a failure of imagination; and amorality, or a failure of faith.
Failure is also something "The Hollow Men" demonstrates poetically: the syntax breaks
up and the voices in the poem, become unable to complete a prayer. The ritual of
reciting poetry fails; language itself fragments and fails. The poem ends with the world
ending, another failure, and it ends poorly, in the embarrassing sound of a whimper.
Faith
Faith is explored in "The Hollow Men" through contrasts. First, there’s the contrast
between the Hollow Men themselves, who are paralyzed by amorality, and those who
have crossed the river into the afterlife with “direct eyes,” representing faith and
moral clarity. Then, there’s a contrast between the arid desert, the “dead land” of
faithlessness, and the dream state in sleep, where the narrator has access to a distant,
fading world of faith, represented by the figures of the wind singing, the tree swinging,
and the fading star. The poem intensifies with expressions of religious desire, and a
simultaneous opposing resurgence of despair. Prayers are directed to a broken stone;
the vision of the Christian “perpetual star, Multifoliate rose” becomes “The hope
only/Of empty men.” The final word, whimper, describes a sound, expressing the
paradox of praying for salvation without enough faith to form a word.
Modernist Style in “The Hallow Men”.

“The Hallow Men” written by T.S. Eliot in 1925 is a poem about scarecrows that
call themselves the “hollow men”. They narrate their sufferings and fears and lament
deeply their condition, since their bodies are paralysed, and their language is
meaningless. T.S. Eliot’s modernist writing style reflects in the main characteristics of
this poem.

First of all, free verse, fragmentation of content, and symbolism.

Secondly, paradox and irony.

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