Literary Allusions in Eliot's The Hollow Men
Scholars have long endeavored to identify the sources of various images in T. S. Eliot's work, so densely layered with literary allusions. As Eliot himself noted in his essay "Philip Massinger" (1920),
One of the surest of tests is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate, mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.
In Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," several sources have been posited for the "hollow men . . . the stuffed men / leaning together . . . filled with straw" (lines 1-2). B. C. Southam notes three: that the "hollow . . . stuffed men" are reminiscent of the effigies burned in celebration of Guy Fawkes Day; that "according to Valerie Eliot, the poet had in mind the marionette in Stravinsky's Petrouchka"; and finally, that the "straw-stuffed effigies are associated with harvest rituals celebrating the death of the fertility god or Fisher King."(n1)
In 1963, some years before Southam's summary, John Vickery had proffered an interpretation similar to the third point mentioned. He noted that "the opening lines of `The Hollow Men' with their image of straw-filled creatures, recalls The Golden Bough's account of the straw-man who represents the dead spirit of fertility that revives in the spring when the apple trees begin to blossom."(n2) Whereas Eliot may well have had any or all of these ideas in mind, I suggest that there is yet another connection to be made, namely between Eliot's "hollow . . . stuffed men" and the Roman ritual of the Argei.
In 1922, a few years before Eliot wrote "The Hollow Men," W. Warde Fowler described the particulars of this ritual, which was to him a "fascinating puzzle" and "the first curiosity that enticed" him "into the study of Roman religion," in his book Roman Religious Experience.(n3) The rite according to Fowler occurs
each year on the ides of May, which is in my view rather magical than religious, though the ancients themselves looked upon it as a kind of purification, [namely] the casting into the Tiber from the Pons Sublicius of twenty-four or twenty-seven straw puppets by the Vestal Virgins in the presence of the magistrates and pontifices. Recently an attempt has been made by Wissowa to prove that this strange ceremony was not primitive, but simply a case of substitution of puppets for real human victims as late as the age of the Punic wars.
The story behind the titanic is controversial, some people have seen the movie but they do not know the real facts behind it. This essay is going to talk about the main factors behind the Titanic’s failure, the design, the manufacturer, materials, the crew, survivors, Cost of building the ship, the engine, as well as human errors, and the cause from different point of views.
The object of analysis for today’s program is an Etruscan Votive ear which is displayed in the Eaton Gallery of Rome at the Royal Ontario Museum. The Etruscan Votive ear is a beige sculpture, roughly five to ten center meters in length, of a human’s right ear produced during the Republican Era of Rome between 200-100 BC (Refer to image 3 on page 9). According to the Royal Ontario Museum, the Votive Ear reflects “the lasting influence of Etruscan religion in Rome” (Refer to image 4 on page 8)
April 14th, 1912, will go down in history as a day when disaster struck. It was the day the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg that after a mere four hours, caused it to sink to the bottom of the ocean, taking 1,500 people with it. But it wasn’t just one thing that caused this tragedy, and although there were many individuals and events that led to the sinking of the Titanic, the person most responsible for the sinking of this ship is Bruce Ismay. He chose not to put enough lifeboats on the Titanic, urged the captain to make the ship maintain speed while passing through ice fields, and allowed the use of cheap material and watertight compartments that didn’t reach high enough.
Rylee O’Brien Ms. Daniel Language Arts 5-6 10 December 2017 Recapturing The Past A woman named Lauren Oliver once said, “Take it from me: If you hear the past speaking to you, feel it tugging up your back and running its fingers up your spine, the best thing to do-the only thing-is run.” When reading the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this quote is very relevant to the people of Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane lives in a the small town of Sleepy Hollow, he falls in love with Katrina Van Tassel.
What is described above may very well seem like a rite that could be celebrated in some traditions of religion. However, it is arguably, what essentially happens at an Ohio State Football game on nearly every Saturday in Columbus, ...
Form often follows function in poetry, and in this case, Eliot uses this notion whe...
Damage beyond the hull was also witnessed that allowed for the influx of water. Whenever the forepeak tank was damaged, “six watertight compartments flooded with water, causing the ship to sink faster than it should have,” (Bassett). The Titanic, being the largest ship at this time, should have stayed afloat for two to three days after striking the iceberg. Within three hours, the Titanic sank, which never should have
Statistical data shows that rescued passengers and survival rates were very different for categories of passengers depending on their material and social status and directly reflected on the latter. Lower class passengers had very few chances of survival, whether they were male, female, or children. These facts reveal the power of social stratification in society of the period and demonstrate how social injustice strongly affects the issues of life and death of the people. The history of the Titanic highlights some of the most sensitive issues of social justice and social stratification that should be studied in more detail and cannot be overshadowed by the popular stories that level or underestimate the social and historical importance of the messages this disaster left to posterity.
2. People with autism have problems with abstract and conceptual thinking. Some may eventually acquire abstract skills, but others never will. When abstract concepts must be used, use visual cues, such as drawings or written words, to augment the abstract idea. Avoid asking vague questions such as, "Why did you do that?" Instead, say, "I did not like it when you slammed your book down when I said it was time for gym. Next time put the book down gently, and tell me that you are angry. Were you showing me that you did not want to go to gym, or that you did not want to stop reading?" Avoid asking essay-type questions. Be as concrete as possible in all your interactions with these students.
I arrived at the destination of where the ritual observation was to take place at 9:45 a.m. on February 23, 2014. The ritual takes place in Brockville, Ontario in a building called the New Hope Brockville Tabernacle. The tabernacle is a large building that has a tower, also known as a steeple, erected on the roof. On the steeple is the symbol of the cross. The front doors opened up to a large foyer where the majority of the people inside were gathered in various small groups. These groups were composed of members similar in age. Everyone who entered through the doors was greeted with lots of hugs and welcomes.
The titanic was a ship that was huge and extremely advanced. The ship took 3 years to be completed and over 3, 000 people worked on it. Although the final product could not be fully used it was a well built ship. This ship was well equipped with the best and
That was the only meal the guys liked. And they had just finished eating when they approached somewhere near ballad around nighttime and the titanic hit an iceberg and the ship started to sink. They dropped all of their food and were running around to try to get on lifeboats. The Titanic's radio call sign was: MGY. The ship immediately started to fill with water. That is when everyone panicked! They had lifeboats on the ship and all of the ladies and the kids had to climb on too the lifeboats while the men stayed behind. Even though they only had 20 lifeboats 706 survived, that is including the crew. And if there were no lifeboats by the time you got up there you are basically wrecked. Because the water, itself, was about -2˚Fahrenheit and that is too cold to swim in which some people tried to including Jack Jill because he fell out of his
The living quarters for the upper class were lavish, with everything from fireplaces to private bathrooms. A first class room was extremely large with access to the decks, and had all the comforts of home. These rooms were located on the top of the ship, each with their own personal ...
. It's almost as if they heard of the tradition, took the stoning someone to death part, and then created the rest of the ritual themselves.
Little to there knowledge it wasn't the weight of the ship they had to worry about. It was traveling across the Atlantic Ocean in the dark with many icebergs. The builders of the ship took extra precautions in securing the safety and welfare of its passengers. It exceeded the legal requirement for safety boats, which were sixteen. The Titanic, carrying twenty lifeboats, still didn't have enough for all 2,227 passengers.