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Symbols and imagery in the hollow men by t.s.eliot
Dramatic monologue short essay
Dramatic monologue and uses
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At a point in all mortal’s existence, there will be a moment when their soul is between two states of being, waiting to be judged. Without the fearlessness and faith to move on to the afterlife, they will spend eternity stuck in purgatory. When T. S. Eliot wrote “The Hollow Men,” he used symbolism, imagery, and repetition to share his insight to address the lack of courage and faith that plagues every human being.
T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” is a dramatic monologue, free verse poem that consists of five parts that could be considered five separate poems. His use of “allegorically abstract text nevertheless achieves a remarkable unity of effect in terms of voice, mood and imagery” (Morace 948). Before the poem starts, there are two epigraphs; “Mistah Kurtz – he dead. / A penny for the Old Guy” (lines 1-2). Eliot alludes to these two epigraphs because their themes are developed throughout his poem. “The first epigraph is from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” a story …that examines the hollowness and horror of lack of faith, spiritual paralysis, and despair” (Bloom 61), just like the “hollow men” in his poem. The second epigraph “refers to the celebration of Guy Fawkes Day in Britain” (Bloom 61). This is a day that celebrates Fawkes’ unsuccessful rebellion against King James I with his capture in the cellar of the Parliament building, where stored gun powder was supposed to blow up and kill King James I and his family. Once captured, he cowardly turned over his co-conspirators and they all were killed. It is “celebrated with bonfires, fireworks, the burning of scarecrows,
and solicitation of ‘pennies for the Old Guy’. Eliot’s images of scarecrows, a cellar, and violent souls recall this tale of a violent plot tha...
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...nsight to address the lack of courage and faith that plagues every human being. “The poem succeeds admirably in registering a mood not merely of disillusionment, but of personal weakness” (Morace 950). Without the faith and courage to face the final judgment, and move on to the afterlife, one will be left to linger in purgatory.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. "Thematic Analysis Of ‘The Hollow Men’." Bloom's Major Poets: T.S.
Eliot (1999): 60-63. Literary Reference Center. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Eliot, T.S. "The Hollow Men." Famous Poets and Poems - Read and Enjoy Poetry.
6 Aug. 2006. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.
Morace, Robert A. "The Hollow Men." Masterplots II. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Englewood
Cliffs: Salem Press, 1992. Vol. 3. 948-50. Print.
Urquhart, Troy. "Eliot's THE HOLLOW MEN." Explicator 59.4 (2001): 199. Literary
Reference Center. Web. 5 Dec. 2011.
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