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 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.
II
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.
IV
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 the tumid river
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.
V
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 a whimper.
(1925)
The first stanza of the fifth section reminds me of some childish song because of the repetition (there some song that has similar words to the stanza - or maybe they're exactly the same). The lines "falls the shadow / life is very long" make me think of late in the day when the shadows are long, like the shadow, but I'm not sure that these lines are intended that way. The last stanza of the poem also makes me think of something, but I'm not sure what (it might be a line in a book – maybe Feed - or song or something). It is really interesting the way it repeats "this is the way the world ends" because it seems perpetuation and without pause until the actual end. The lines get shorter and less smooth towards the end, and overall there is less punctuation. I was curious who the "Mistah Kurtz" at the beginning was, and it appears that he is one of the main characters in the novella Heart of Darkness, and he trades ivory in Africa, but the mentioned Kurtz could be a different Kurtz. It’s interesting how connected all five of the sections seem, even though if one were to look at the first and last sections, they wouldn’t seem very related. Another thing I noticed was the punctuation of the line “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.” I found it interesting that there is no question mark, but there is a period. It makes it seem like a question that there already is an answer to, or as if it isn’t a question at all. I liked this poem, but it wasn’t quite as engaging as some of the other poems, perhaps because the story is less defined. I could write a lot more about this poem, but this is probably plenty of really disjointed thoughts. (One other thing I noticed was the use of “stuffed” in the first stanza of the first section, which seems like scarecrows or stuffed animals who don’t think for themselves and are used by people.) Well that turned out long...
ReplyDeleteI also found that this poem contains some very nursery rhyme-like stanza's, which I find to create an almost dreamy mood. Reading this, I found myself almost slightly detached (or maybe that's just my extremely heavy eyelids?) from the written word. I like how you looked at the punctuation, because i feel as though it may have contributed to the dreamy mood mentioned. The lack of punctuation and the enjambment, however, make it more difficult to read along easily. In my mind, this brought some emphasis to the last words of each line. I noticed consonance throughout the majority of the poem. The constant references to the word man and death itself reveals a theme of mortality in the poem. I found quite a bit of it having to do with the fact that everyone will die, especially in the lines "The hope only /
DeleteOf empty men" and "This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends."
Whoa. The final section, particularly the first and last stanzas, are creepily phrased like a child's nursery rhyme, and that every other stanza was talking about a shadow falling between emotion and response, conception and creation, etc., except for the second to last. This poem could easily be a sequel of sorts to "We Wear the Mask," because it's obvious that the men in question here are dead, and they are not in heaven. I see that it never says that but the tone of this poem is very downcast and solemn, and that wouldn't be the case if the speaker was in heaven, because (ideally) there are only happy people there. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that this poem relates to "We Wear the Mask." Both the narrator from "We Wear the Mask" and this poem seem to feel unimportant. This is especially shown in the first part of this poem when the narrator says, "Our dried voices, when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless."
DeleteI see what you mean with the nursery rhymes the first stanza of the last part is in the meter of my favorite nursery rhyme, "Pop Goes the Weasel." If you not sure what that one is it goes like this:
DeleteAll around the cobbler's bench,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought it was all in fun,
Pop! goes the weasel.
When reading this while it seemed like a poem of a man who lost his worth and meaning in the world, the more I read it I am starting to think it sounds like the description of a scarecrow. With hollow bodies standing in a field it could be symbolism saying he lives his life like a scarecrow, isolated and without feeling.
I hardly even know where to start on this poem. The tone sounds like the narrator feels worthless and misused/ unappreciated. He seems to treat the men who have died purposefully and seemingly at their own hand as heroes, and further laments how they were not seen as heroes but rather as empty sacrifices to some unknown and forgotten deity. The rose that is mentioned in the forth section's last stanza, dead center, stuck out prominently to me. All of the other forms of vegetation are associated with death or pain (cactus, dry grass, prickly pear) and then we hear about a beautiful rose with many leaves in twilight's kingdom. twilight's kingdom is also Shadow's kingdom, because that is when shadow's are longest and most prominent in our minds. It is also interesting that no women are present in the poem. The narrator only speaks of empty men, not women, perhaps to try and emphasize the fact that men also experience great loss and depression in life. Eyes are a frequently recurring theme in the text as well. They are depicted as both open and closed, and the open ones are always open in either death or dying,, trying to see the last star. The line "gathered on the beach of this tumid river" is probably referring to the River Styx because not only does it separate the world of the living from the dead in Greek and Roman mythology, but is also the river of hate. I sense a feeling of hatred from the author for the world of the living, filled with people who do not envy the empty men as he does.
ReplyDeletei could keep going and pick apart every last line of this poem, but I wouldn't want to stifle everyone else's imagination.
DeleteI differ from your view on the specific use of only men in the poem and the seeming absence of women. I don't think the author says men to mean that this poem is only talking about guys, I think he says it to mean all of humankind but just uses male terms.
DeleteI agree with josh. I also think this poem seems almost like a song. The author must have depression or going through a hard time in his life because he seems very sorrowful and ignored. The author seems to feel worthless and doesn't feel like he has a purpose.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anika that the author does not seem to think highly of himself and has maybe had a tragic past because the poem is so sad and depressing.
DeleteIn the first stanza it talks about 2 kinds of men, Hollow and Stuffed. I looked up the time in which this poem was written and it was during a time of war. These two references to men could be 2 different sides of the war and their solders. The hollow men seem to be the more evil side between the two: "Remember us—if at all—not as lost
ReplyDeleteViolent souls, but only
As the hollow men". The difference between the two men is when they die they go to two different kingdoms of heaven, one being hell, I'm guessing: "In death's other kingdom and In the twilight kingdom". The ending is very creepy because it sounds a lot like the nursery rhyme "This is the way the pony rides".
I think it is really interesting that you said the two different sides resemble two sides of a war. I didn't think that at first, but that really makes sense! I completely agree even thought that wasn't my first impression on the poem.
DeleteI thought the last four lines of this poem were a great way to end the poem. The repetition creates a creepy, dark tone. I also noticed that the author mentions "rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field." Both rats and crows are associated with death. I wasn't sure what crossed staves were, so I looked it up. I found out that they are a tool used to measure the elevation of heavenly bodies, which also related to death. Considering when this poem was written, I think it reflects people's attitudes toward the post- World War I world: gloomy and unhappy. I liked how this poem was separated into sections. In my opinion, it made it a little easier to follow.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about the sections making the poem easier to follow. I also agree that the last four lines were a very effective way to end the poem because they are really creepy, but they are also very final and it's very clear that the poem ends there.
DeleteI agree with both isabella and Kate. The time period in which this poem was written in seems like this poem may be related to World War I. There is a lot of repetition and the tone is dark and gloomy
DeleteI completely agree. The last stanza gives me the chills. I wouldn't have noticed that the poem was written in WWI if you didn't point it out, and I think that's probably a major inspiration for this work.
DeleteI really like this poem and there is literally way too much packed into it to comment on all of it so I'm just going to remark upon my absolute favorite part. The fourth section of the poem, especially the second and third stanzas, are like poetry gold. I love the line "gathered on this beach of the tumid river" because it appears to be a reference to the River Styx which brings entirely new meaning to the lines of the third stanza. I think that the eyes represent a moral or saving light that these "hollow men" lack and that"s why the eyes both scare and attract them. The eyes are also referred to as the "perpetual star" which reminds me of the north star because it is also known as the guiding star (because of the way that it appears to be nearly motionless in the sky) which supplements the salvation image of the eyes. The rose is also a peculiar and interesting reference not only because it is described as "multifoliate" and thus a prospering, thriving and not the least bit prickly and dangerous flower, but also because of the insight it provides if we stick with the Greek/Roman theme. In ancient Rome roses were symbols of resurrection (like for life in the Underworld, not zombie resurrection) and were planted in funerary gardens. The mention of a rose here makes me think that the light of grace represented by the eyes is the last hope of guidance to any kind of afterlife for these lost souls (because if you can't pay your way across the River Styx to Hades you're essentially stuck in eternal ghostly limbo on the shores of the river).
ReplyDeleteBasically I just really like this poem.
Abbey drops the mic!
DeleteI really like that you really like this poem! And yes, it is packed. I picked it on purpose so people will talk about different things...
This poem has lots of repetition and the repetition makes it seem like some kind of song or nursery rhyme. I really liked the last stanza of the poem because of its repetition of the same line three times and then "Not with a bang but a whimper." It kind of makes you like picture the world ending and death. This narrator seems to have a negative view on the world and considering when it was written, it does seem like he was maybe in the war or had known people who died fighting in the war. It keeps going back and forth comparing two different types of men: the hollow men and the stuffed men- one which goes to heaven and the other which goes to hell.
ReplyDeletethink this poem is like a free verse because I don't think it had a specific rhyme and I agree with Jamie that the last section had a nursery rhyme and it feels like a dramatic speech more than poem.
ReplyDeleteThe poem says that the men are "hollowed" and "stuffed" at the same time and I believe he said "hollow" as a lack of the soul in these men.
I found the way the poem ended awesome. The repetition of the last sentence "This is the way the world ends" made it last in my memory.
I really liked the poem even though (I'm sorry to say it) I wouldn't have really understood a lot of the things "that made this poem packed" if I didn't read what the others said.
"We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men" The first thing that popped in my head when i read this was two fat men eating. I'm not so sure why, but that's all that popped in my head. If i were to view the poem as a whole, i would say that it has a negative connotation. It's depressing and it seems like the author is fed up with the world. "Life is very long," that line expresses the authors attitude towards life. Happy people usually say, "life's too short," however this poet say the opposite showing that he's sad/depressed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Harpreet on the author's outlook on life because the author is constantly making references about death. This poem may have a "live life to the fullest" feel to it but in a subtle way like the author was trying to warn people about the world ending soon or death coming.
DeleteThis was a very strange poem. It did not seem to be very sad, more resentful. To me at least, the speaker seems to feel bad that they missed out on life and now have to be hollow for the rest of eternity. And like Dona, I would not have seen the packed-ness of the poem without having read other peoples responses.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a seriously packed poem, and there's certainly no way that any one person could get all of it. It does seem that the speaker has missed out on life to a serious extant and that death has given him a rather cynical outlook on life.
DeleteTo me it seems that the narrator has not missed out on life, rather, he has had too much of it. The way in which the author presents each image does not seem to be longing, it is regretful. The fact that T.S. Elliot used scarecrows to represent himself and his comrades leads me to believe he was trying to express that the humanity he expects to be there simply isn't, just as when you look at a scarecrow and realize that it has the basic characteristics of a man, but is far from it.
DeleteLike Josh, I really agree that this poem sounds like a song, especially after the last repeating lines in the last stanza. This poem seems very depressing to think about and is also very sad and gloomy. I like that is separated into pretty short stanzas. I think that this makes all the information in the poem easily understood and adds to the meter and rhyme.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you but how does the form of the poem add to the meter, do you mean in making it seem more like a song or just making it a sadder poem?
DeleteThe rhyme in this poem is pretty weird. I think it also has some slant rhyme in it but it looks like every other or every three lines rhyme. It is not a set pattern but that is the majority of it. I think the author was from the UK because of how some of the words were spelled. I find this poem dark and scary in a way. When the author says "Eyes I dare not meet in dreams/ In death's dream kingdom" I think of "death's dream kingdom" as a dark underworld. I think it is interesting that the poem ends with the same line repeated three times but then the very last line is an unexpected one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jenna that there is slant rhyme in the poem and that there is no set pattern for the parts that do rhyme. I also agree that the last couple of lines are very powerful because of the repetition of the same line and then the one line that is different.
DeleteThis poem was rather confusing and I do not hope to see it ever again. The first part or stanzas one to three seem to be about us humans and how we are merely plain and worthless objects equal to straw filled, uncolored skin with no "life" in us at all. It seems to speak of the other kingdom we fear in death, is it hell? It seems in part two that within this kingdom, everything seems distant and the narrator does not wish to see or be seen by whatever lives within deaths kingdom. From there he must go to another undesirable place, the twilight kingdom. It seems that this place is like a desert with only cacti, rocks and sand. The narrator seems to begin praying for home at the end of part three. It seems that in the last of places he must visit is a dead valley with no eyes, only the stars and the people he died with (Hes dead, right?). They group together and can only hope (for what?). The last part confuses me the most. It seems as if the narrator is talking about the concept of life and death and what it has to offer. The way the narrator describes us as seems to be like scarecrows, who are mere fake dummies with no soul or anything to exist for. In all honesty, none of this makes sense. #Ifoundneverland The hole tone of this poem seems dark, foreboding, and depressing. The way it ends puts emphasis on the whole thing by saying that we are so unimportant that our end will be completely insignificant. #Istillneedtofinishmynotes
ReplyDeleteYeah... I agree. You've opened my mind. I feel the same way in a way.
DeleteOn second thought, go back to the really dirty poems. I can't handle the uber creepy ones...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I thought I understood where this poem was going at first, but then I kind of got lost. There were a couple interesting lines, though, that stood out to me. The poem continually mentions kingdoms, eyes, and stars, as exemplified in this stanza: "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." I could be completely backward, but the kingdom is very likely the Underworld or wherever people go after they're dead. I'm not sure why multiple kingdoms are mentioned, but I think they're supposed to be different levels of the Tartarus that you go to depending on how good of a person you are. I'm not a hundred percent sure about anything on this poem and I'm definitely looking forward to a giant discussion tomorrow to get some things straight!
I agree Kayley! Go back to your old creepy poems please, Ms. Prodromo.
DeleteI like how you mentioned some of the repetition in the poem (motifs?). I found the constant repetition of the word eyes to be particularly interesting because I kept thinking of the idea that the eyes are the window to the soul. This along with the title "The Hollow Men" seem to contradict one another. To me, the word hollow means that something is missing. The poem in its entirety creates a lonely mood which feels detatched--not very soulful, so the windows to the soul reveal a lack of soul. The repetition of the word kingdom I also found to be quite interesting because of the four different ways it is used. The first time we see the word kingdom is "death's other kingdom," which as you said, relates this kingdom to being a level in a place like Tartarus or hell. The next time is "death's dream kingdom," which I find to sound more like heaven, as it is a dream. Death's dream kingdom is less attainable for the narrator than death's other kingdom. The third use of kingdom is in the "twilight kingdom," which also seems to relate to death. Twilight is the closing of the night, the end, death. The final use of kingdom is in the eerie last section (V) as "For Thine is the Kingdom." This has a carpe diem like tone to it as it is saying for yours is the kingdom or maybe the kingdom belongs to you, the reader. Almost telling the reader to seize the day but in a cautionary way. Okay I don't know where I'm going with this now so I'll leave it there :)
DeleteWhen I read the poem the first time I realized how powerful the last stanza is. In the last stanza it repeats the line "This is the way the world ends" three times then the last line is "Not with a bang but a whimper", this makes the ending of the poem really dramatic. I think this poem is very creepy and dark, the choice of words makes the poem that much more creepy. I also noticed the word "eyes" come up a lot in this poem, the eyes seem to disappear and reappear throughout the poem, they are watching but then they go away.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the repetition of the word "eyes." It may symbolize of hope, wanting to be rescued from them.
DeleteThe speaker in this story describes himself as "hollow" and has not lived a fulfilling life. He is in a desert with other "hollow" men and describes how the desert is as dry as he is. The desert is a symbol for his life. Stanzas 13, 14, 15, and 16 have a very interesting use of repetition. Stanza 16 is made up of three fragments, "For Thine is/Life is/For Thine is the" and the full line from each of these lines is used to end the three stanzas before it. (That was confusing but I think you know what I mean!) I think this is because the speaker can't bring himself to say these things because he just doesn't believe them. The speaker is obviously unhappy, but I would be too if I felt like my entire life was "hollow" and "empty." I like the point he makes with the last two lines and the fact that this is how he ended the poem, "This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper." That's a pretty sad thought.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the poem at all. It's too deep. I guess its about dying and stuff like that. I can't tell if he's about to die or maybe thinking about it. One thing I can see is that the poem is sad.
ReplyDeleteThis poem really give off a hopeless tone, and you can pick that up from the title. Just from the title, I guessed that the narrator feels unappreciated, unhappy, and unfulfilled. Throughout the poem, the continued use of words like death, empty, and other words with dark connotations. As I read this, I pictured darkness and fire. I think that the hopeless tone is forcefully established when he says, "Remember us-if at all." I think this shows that the narrator knows his fate. The last stanza really shows this idea of the narrator's pessimistic view and knowing the end. I think that is a powerful line to finish the poem. Nobody wants to go out with a whimper and that sparks thought and emotion inside you, as you read it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the hopeless tone, but is that really the author's tone? Hopeless seems like a better way to somehow describe the over all way the narrator feels.
DeleteI think the title shows how the talks about us humans being useless things. This poem talks about how the elements to life are here but us as humans don't desire them as much as we should and instead we occupy ourselves with meaningless achievements. (Not sure about the following) Then it talks about how if when we die we are still part of Earth because we have always been here. Then it has sexual reference in the second-to-last part and then talks about how our lives are like a shadow. The last part is the opposite of how the world started, the big bang theory because we started as something great but we have affiliated ourselves with worthless events that embarrassed humankind in general.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is about people living useless, hollow lives. It contains many references to dying with nothing of meaning in their lives. It mentions the afterlife and I assume that is an allusion to the Bible. I also think that the first two lines are an allusion to something, but I am not sure what it is. Also, looking at the syntax, there are only about seven sentences in this entire poem, and the sentences are usually at the end of each section which emphasizes the idea that life can seem long, but it will end eventually.
ReplyDeleteI don't really get the poem. I'm confused about the tone and such. I only saw some repitition with the prickley pear. I'm sorry Ms. Prodromo.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand this poem. I'm confused on what it is about and what it means. I'm reading other people's comments and I don't see anything they are talking about. I think it is about someone who is living a lousy life and it doesn't feel complete. I also saw some rhyming here and there.
ReplyDeleteI don't get this poem but I think he's describing what it feels like to be dead yet alive, which I got from the first stanza. The poem itself is very stable, but yet depressing. It kind of makes the reader wonder what life has in store. In my opinion, the mood is very solemn yet spontaneous.
ReplyDeleteBroooooooooo, straight trippin'! Home dawg! Yeeuh, foo you finna try wit da best mayne? I bet you isn't goin' be not sayin' "yumpppp" right? Tryin'a chuck it bluh! Bring it cu, bring it! Swing first yo, don't be like dem guys dat be doin' dat fight breh. Wanna go? Yeeeuh,so dats I thought shoot mayne! Dang girl! Uh!! Uhh!! Yeeuhhh, can't hang yo, ball. dont. lie. What's Gucci, home slice! You skillet right? You skillet right? Come get some! Uh 'ro bouta go down. Bouta go down TO-day! Uhhh! Yeeeuh!
ReplyDeleteThis written work is opposite of " The Highwayman. It's not a story, but it's long as geck! I think that the story reflects on what those whom aren't alive anymore feel like. Anyone else notice "Mistuah Kurtz" is like Mr. Kurtz, just spelled funny? I thought that part said the mood for the poem, and it continues down that path. "This is how the world ends"X3 for reals though? The world ain't endin' like that bro, read a Holy book. It's called "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth." Whattt?! Didn't see that one coming now did you? This guy talks funny though, "twilight", "cactus", "crawskin", can't he just say regular words? Anywho, I noticed this writer person says a lot of the same words, and he talks about body parts too. Hands, eyes, bodies, it's all relative here!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of repetition in this poem. I am not sure of the meaning but the tone of the poem is very depressing and dark. It makes me think of being stuck between life and death. There is a lot of lines that say "eyes," which might resemble something but I am not sure what it could be.
ReplyDeleteThis poem seems to have a motif to the after life: such as death, and in death, heaven and hell. "The kingdom" is mentioned which is known as a way to refference heaven. The poeple in the poem, the "hollow ones," seem to be alone and unnoticed. They seem to be like the poeple described in "We wear the Mask." This poem seems very lonely and the people seem kept from something.
ReplyDeleteI dont fully understand this poem that's why it's taken me so long to post but I think that the narrator of the poem feels useless and that all of their accomplishments are not really important. There is some rhyming throughout but it's not consistent.
ReplyDeleteThis poem was very hard to comprehend at first. I think it is hard to understand because it can be interpreted in so many ways. The tone is a little depressing because there are many references to death and negative connotations. I agree with everyone how the poem sounds like it would be a song. As I was reading it, I noticed that I was almost singing the poem in my head.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is hard to identify the meaning. From what I understand, the poem has a lot of vague in it. Its vagueness creates complexity. It is full of paradoxes, examples include "We are the hollow men, we are stuffed me" and "shade without color." The pot uses great alliteration, such as "prickly pear" or "trembling with tenderness." One of the themes i come across of this poem is spirituality. The poet might suggest that we have to be strong because life in this world is not forever. We eventually go to the afterlife or "death's other kingdom."
ReplyDeleteWhat I got from this poem is that all things end, and when they do they end in a very un-impressive manner. I say this mainly becasue the final stanza repeats the phrase "this is the way the world ends" three times, then the final phrase "not with with a bang but a wimper" emphasizes this feeling.
ReplyDeleteOkay sorry for the late-ness but i did originally write a comment. I think this is creepy partially connotation and imagery. There are no (or close to no) words with happy connotation, and it really puts a damper on reading it. Then he starts to talk about the end of the world and it gets really sad. For me, I think he is talking about his views on war.
ReplyDeleteVery early on in the poem, I started picturing the men as scarecrows. He's describing people and the end of the world as very unimportant and anticlimactic. I don't think he gives away what he's talking about specifically, but the speaker has definitely experienced something that makes him feel hopeless and nihilistic, judging by the diction.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Grayson about picturing the men as scarecrows. I think the men are empty but are judge and force to be a certain way. Almost like their personalities or actions are shoved down their throats. There is hardly any positive diction, and the world ending with a whimper could mean that the human race will kill themselves off before something they cannot control kills them all.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I simply can't wrap my head around is in part two where the narrator mentions wearing a Rat's coat as a deliberate disguise. Now why would the narrator want to blend in with things that symbolize poverty and disease? To do so would imply that the were different from such in the first place. I also agree with what Abbey says about the eyes symbolizing a higher power saving light, and I feel that the hollow men feel too inadequate to be saved by or accept the eyes, therefore they wear these disguises to show themselves as something else. Yet at the same time, rather than choose a disguise to say something good about themselves, they choose a disguise that undermines them. They feel too lowly to even try to front(excuse my slang) with a disguise that would put them off as better standing. They may even in a way feel judged by this watching light, rather than able to accept that it is a salvation and it's something they shouldn't have to hide from.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I want to comment on ALL OF THIS POEM, I got practically everything above just from two lines. So I don't want to break this website with my letter count. Sorry, adios
This pome is quite depressing and sad. The pome alludes to many depressing things such as disease, death and loneliness. The imagery in this pone is very strong I can really picture what I assume to be a prison cell and the war.
ReplyDelete