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The Hollow Man: by T.S Eliot - Summary & Analysis
Jackiey Ash
24–31 minutes

Introduction: The Hollow Men is a recast of some of the earlier poems written by Eliot. It
was published separately in 1925. Originally, it was intended to form a part of The Waste
Land. As such its theme is the same as that of The Waste Land. It contains in poet's reflection
on the "subject of human nature in this world, and the relationship of this world to another,
the world of death and eternity". The poet's theme has a reference to the gun-powder plot
of 1605, the novel of Conrad entitled The Heart of Darkness and Dante's Divine Comedy.
Southam makes a reference to the connection of the poem with Conrad's novel, which is a
story of hollow men empty of faith, of personality, of moral strength, of humanity. In this
connection, Elizabeth Drew remarks: "Psychologically, the experience in The Hollow Men is
even more despairing than that of the conclusion of The Waste Land. The full horror the
situation of spiritual stagnation is experienced, without the actively dramatized revulsion
from the contemporary scene, or the actively dramatized inner struggle between
compulsion and revulsion towards personal change. It is a condition which Jung, as well as
Eliot, characterizes symbolically as the meeting with the Shadow. To Jung, it is the
confronting of our own inner 'darkness' which means 'bitter shock, though it is the
indispensable pre-requisite to every renewal of spirit'."
The hollow men are like effigies of Guy Fawkes fit only to be burnt.
The Hollow Man

This poem is perhaps the most negative and pessimistic of all the poems of Eliot,
whereas The Waste Land and Ash Wednesday are relieved by the hope of redemption. The
Hollow Men presents a picture of unmitigated horror of modern life. It is in no way relieved
by a ray of hope or light. The poem is gloomy and dark like death's other kingdom.
SUMMARY

Section I. We are the hollow men, the unreal men, stuffed from inside. We have no
energy of our own. We stand together depending on mutual support. Our brain is not filled
with intelligence but with straw. Alas! our empty voices when we whisper together are dim
and meaningless, like the sound of the wind as it passes over dead grass, or like the sound of
rat's feet walking over pieces of broken glass in our vacant basement. We have the shapes of
human beings but not their nature and qualities. We are shapes, but without any color; our
force is paralyzed and we can only make gestures but no motion. Those, who have gone to
the other world after leading a life of action and purpose, do remember us. They regard us
not as active people but as hollow men like stuffed dummies.

Section II. I dare not face even in dream the eyes of "Charon" who will meet me in
death's dream kingdom. His eyes will not be seen by me. In this world, my eyes see the
shadows of sunlight on a broken pillar and observe a tree disturbed by the wind. I can hear
the song of the wind. This vision appears like distant and dim light of a fading star. I do not
wish to be near to the kingdom of death. I would like to avoid it, by wearing deliberate
disguises like the scare crow-wooden poles covered with a hat and a coat in a corn field. The
scare-crow would move according to the impact of the wind and it would have no impulse of
its own. (The condition of the hollow men is also the same.) I am not prepared for my final
meeting with death because I dread the very idea of going into death's dream kingdom.

Section III. The world of the hollow men is a dead land, it is unproductive, it is like the
land of the cactus. Here only stone images are put up. These idols are worshipped by the
hollow men. They receive the prayers from the hands of dead men (hollow men)under the
light of a fading star. I wonder, if it is like this world, in the kingdom of death. We here wake
up alone at an hour and we tremble with love when we kiss the lips that we love. We offer
our prayers to the broken stones.

Section IV. In our worlds, there is no light in the eyes of faith. Our eyes are dim and sunk.
In this dimly-lit valley of dying stars, there is hardly any flow of light This life is like a piece of
broken-jaw cut out from the entire human body. In this last place of meeting we move in
darkness and hold no communication as we stand together. On the bank of the swollen river
of Limbo, we are incapable of seeing anything unless the eyes of light (eyes of Beatrice
reappear as the eternal star- lighting the multi-petaled rose of the kingdom of death.) As far
as we inactive men are concerned, this vision is only a pious hope, perhaps beyond our
reach.

Section V. In this world, in the manner of the childish nursery rhyme we go round and
round the prickly pear tree in place of the mulberry tree, early in the morning. This
movement leads nowhere. In between the idea and the action necessary to concretize it,
between the resolution and the follow-up action, the shadow of fear falls. In such case, our
only refuge lies in a prayer to God to remove our fear and frustration. Between the thinking
and the execution for fruition, between the feeling and the achievement, the shadow falls.
Life appears very long and weary; Between the desire and the action, between the inner
power and its external manifestation, between the seed and the fruit falls the shadow of
doubt and fear. In such a case the only hope lies in a sincere prayer to God for strength and
courage. We cannot even find courage to utter the words of prayer seeking God's help. We
feel tired, exhausted and lifeless. This is perhaps the way in which our world ends, not with a
loud voice but with a painful and halting whisper.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Section I - The Hollow Men - their inertia: This is a sort of group chant where the hollow
men lament their loss of activity, their vacuity and their emptiness. Symbolically the modern
men are spiritually barren, lacking faith and Christian spirit. Their life is one of spiritual
decay. They are like ghosts for abstractions. They suffer from physical and spiritual paralysis:

"Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion:"

They are not like the notorious men of action, like Mistah Kurtz and Guy Fawkes. Of
course, those persons were violent and villainous, yet they were men of action. These
hollow men are leading a life like death-in-life:

"Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom."

The hollow men are like effigies of Guy Fawkes fit only to be burnt. They do not have the
will to follow the example of men of action. They are tied down to a meaningless and futile
routine. Eliot seems to suggest that it is better to be up and doing even evil, than to be doing
nothing at all.

Section II - Death's two Kingdoms: The protagonist who represents the poet, expressed
his fear of death. There are two kingdoms of death-one is the death's other world i.e. the life
after death and the other is death's dream kingdom i.e. the world of hollow men which is a
state of spiritual death. The hollow men would like to go over to death's real kingdom i.e.
the other world, but they do not have the strength to face the eyes of those men of action,
died before them and would look upon them (hollow men) with scorn and reproach.
Actually, the hollow men are afraid of facing the sharp eyes of Charon the Ferryman who can
take him to the other world. So, in both ways the hollow men can neither face the reality of
life nor the reality of death.
 The world of the hollow men is like the dream world-meaningless and futile. They are like
the Lotus Easters, who cannot face the responsibilities of life. To avoid the world of action,
the protagonist would like to disguise himself as a scare-crow or as a rat running on dead
grass or as a mock crucifix. He would be passive to the world and be blown by the wind here
and there. He likes a passive and inert life so as to evade all duties and responsibilities. He
has no courage to face death. He is quite happy with his own condition of death-in-life.

Section III - A Dead Land: The hollow men live in a dead land-a land spiritually barren and
sterile. Instead of worshipping Christ they worship stone images. Spiritual truth are as far
from them as a fading star. The hollow men wonder if death's other kingdom-the other
world- is also like their own desolate land. Is the life after death similar to the one that the
hollow men are leading? Here, they get up and kiss the lips of images they love and worship.
How much different the life in the other world will be? Will it be totally different from or
similar to the life they are leading? We may sympathize with their lack of knowledge and
their desire to continue their present pattern of life in death's other kingdom. How foolish it
is to wish that the next life i.e. life after death may be a continuation of their present way of
life. They are shocked by the assumption that their routine in the modern life will come to an
end when they pass from this life to the next. They are not in a position to reconcile
themselves to any life other than the one, which they are leading.

Section IV - The Hollow Men are Sightless: The hollow men lack the eyes of will and
action. They grope in this dark and dismal valley. They are speechlessly awaiting their fate.
Their life has been a useless drift without any purpose. In this last kingdom, they have no
indication of any goal or achievement. In this miserable condition, the hollow men assemble
on the banks of the river in the underworld, waiting for Charon the Ferry man, to take them
across to death's other world. They are full of despair because they have no vision of faith in
God. Faintly they hope that just as the eyes of Beatrice guided Dante to Paradise, in the
same way, the eyes of Virgin Mary - the Multifoliate rose-would appear to them and guide
them to death's other kingdom. This is their only hope. Pearce thinks that the word only the
capacity of two meanings. It may mean that the rose is only the hope and nothing more of
her hollow men, or it may mean that it is the only hope of the hollow men. This ambiguity
can work both way, pointing either to their pessimistic or optimistic future. The reference to
the Beatrice and Dante episode cannot be taken seriously, until and unless the hollow men,
put in the required effort and take the necessary action in the direction of penitence and
self-purification. They cannot be regarded worthy of divine grace symbolized by the
perpetual star or the Multifoliate rose. It is essential that the person to be saved should be
worthy of saving. Merely a pious hope of the hollow men that they can be saved is no
guarantee of their being actually saved.
 Section V - Shadow of Fear: The hollow men like the nursery children follow a life of
routine and meaningless singing. Instead of going around the mulberry tree-a fruitful act,
they go round the prickly pear which can offer nothing but thorns to them. Secondly, they
are shadowed by fear and doubt. Their intentions may be good but their actual performance
is nil. This is because their spirit is weak; they are unable to make up their minds and
therefore postpone decisions and commitment. This failure on their part to act and to move
forward is the greatest hurdle in their march onward; unless they replace doubt by faith,
hesitation by commitment and pray positively for divine grace, they cannot be saved. The
nursery rhyme about the end of the world which Guy Fawkes intended, but which actually
led to his own execution and subsequently to the burning of his effigy shows that the hollow
men will leave the world whispering about their failure and frustration. The hollow men
cannot be saved because they are not worth saving. They cannot even mumble they prayer
for the Lord's grace. They die with a sense of defeat. Their life has been a kind of whimper,
indicating fear and damnation.

Style: The Hollow Men is a personal poem. It presents the poet's views on contemporary
life. It is a cry of despair unrelieved by hope. Modern civilization, which is the pride of many
nations has been shown as negative and lacking all the values of life. The peculiarity of the
poem is that it is an inner drama with the utmost economy of words. As a critic puts it:
"There is little mythical variety. The effect is of a monotone, a chant without variation. There
is a good deal of repetition of parallel clauses and expressions. There are suggestions of
poetic diction, as also by some lines referring to Dante's Divine Comedy- "Gathered on the
beach of this tumid river". The recurrent images and the fragments of Lord's prayer are
introduced to represent the poet's faith and divine grace. The images echo the deadness of
sensibility and the emptiness of hollow men who, like the effigies, are fit only for burning.

Symbols: The eye-symbol is exploited by the poet. The poet plays on the various
meanings of eyes:

"The eyes are not here

There are no eyes here"

Then the poet mentions direct eyes which refer to the eyes of men of action with a
purpose, though rough and violent, like Mistah Kurtz and Guy Fawkes. Secondly, there are
the eyes of the Lord.
 The eyes of hollow men will be full of shame and remorse when they, thus, will be
presented to render their account to God. There is also the symbol of light in various shades
-

"Sun-light on a broken column:

Than a fading star..

In the twilight kingdom..

In this valley of dying star.."

The groping together on the beach of the river, the light of the Perpetual Star and finally
the shadow which has a very deep meaning though the diction is compact and bare. The
images and symbols constitute the strong point of the poem.

Title: Eliot explains that The Hollow Men is a combination of the title of two poems
namely, William Morris's poem The Hollow Land and Rudyard Kipling's The Broken Man.
There is a mention of 'hollow man' in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In the play, this phrase
was used by Brutus when he learns that his former friend and fellow conspirator Cassius is
behaving in a less friendly way towards him. Brutus feels that hollow men are like
inexperienced horses who fail in the trials of racing competition. In the poem, the hollow
men refer to the unfeeling, inactive and lifeless men of the modern world.

Epigraph: There are two epigraphs which throw light on the theme of the poem The first
epigraph Mistah Kurtz- he dead is taken, from Conrad's novel The Heart of Darkness. These
words were spoken by Marlowe who reports the death of Kurtz. Mistah Kurte was the agent
of a colonial compliance, living in the interior of Africa. He was very harsh and violent. He
died in Africa. According to Eliot, it is better to be violent and evil than to be inactive and
dead like the hollow men of today.

The second epigraph A penny for the old Guy is a line of a song sung by children who
celebrate Guy Fawkes day. The children beg for money to buy fire works for the celebration
of the day. They carry the effigy of Guy made of old clothes, stuffed with straw and paper. In
the evening, the effigy is burnt on the top of a bonfire in the midst of the deafening sounds
of the fire-works fixed around the effigy. Guy Fawkes was a notorious Catholic who plotted
to blow up the parliament house and thereby kill the King and minister on 5th November,
1605. He was arrested and hanged. In his memory, Guy Fawkes day is observed in England
on 5th November every year. Eliot suggests that the hollow men of today are like the effigy
of Guy Fawkes which is suffed with straW, and burnt by the children.
LINE-BY-LINE EXPLANATION

Section I.

L. 1. Hollow men: lifeless, inactive, idle and unfeeling men of the modern world. This line is
the song of the hollow men.

L. 2. Stuffed men: like the effigies, the modern men are stuffed with rags and straws. They
have no life in them.

L. 3. Leaning together: the hollow men have no strength of their own. They lean against one
another for mutual support.

L. 4. Headpiece: brain.

L. 5. Dried voice: voices without any feeling.

L. 6. Whisper togeher: their speech or their words are mere whispers. They cannot be
understood.

L. 7. Quiet: without any feeling.

L. 8. As wind in dry grass: like the blowing of the wind without any purpose, dry grass: dead
grass.

L. 9. Or rats, feet over broken glass: their voices are like the sounds made by the rats, feet,
moving over the broken glass.
L. 10. Cellar: an underground or basement room where generally rats are found. When rats
move over broken glass they move gently but painfully on account of bruises received from
the sharp edge of glasses. The voices of hollow men are faint, unemotional and painful like
the sounds produced by the rats.

L. 11-12. Shape without....without motion: The hollow men have a dim shape without any
symmetry or design; they have a dull appearance of men but without any color or vitality.
They have little energy and their bodies are paralyzed. They have no energy for action or
movement. They make only signs. These hollow men are men only in appearance but they
have no. intellect, no feeling, and no energy for action. They are like stuffed dummies.

L, 13-14. Those who....other kingdom. Those strong and violent men, men with a goal and
purpose, and who have direct eyes, i.e. eyes of direction and decision; this refers to men of
action like Mistah Kurtz and Guy Fawkes and also men like Dante-all men of action-who are
now” gone to the other world after their death. Such men were quite different from the
hollow men. The hollow men sing that men of action remember them not as criminal people
but as hollow and stuffed men. It has a reference to Dante's Divine Comedy where different
types of men enter different regions after death. The good men go to Heaven. The bad men
go to Hell. The men with good and bad qualities go to Purgatory. There is a fourth category
of men who on account their purposeless and drifting lives have gone to a sort of no man's
land called Limbo which is situated on the outskirts of Hell. Such men are excluded from the
scheme of God's providence. Such men are even worse then those condemned to Hell.
Having been rejected by Hell and Heaven, they stay permanently on the bank of the river
Acheron.

Section II.

L. 19-21. Eyes I dare....do not appear. The protagonist of the hollow men speaks for his group
in the first person. He does not have the courage to face the eyes of Charon-the ferry-man-
who transports souls of the dead to the other world. The hollow men, therefore, cannot
cross the river and reach death's other kingdom. Possibly, it may also mean that the hollow’
men cannot face the eyes of those in the other world who, when they lived in this world
were men of action. This has also a reference to the story of Dante who could not face the
reproachful eyes of Beatrice, on account of his sins committed while he lived in this world.

L. 20. In death's dream kingdom: it refers to the other world where man goes after physical
death.
L. 22-28. There, the eyes fading star. Their eyes are full of dreams and shadows during
wakeful hours. They see the shadow of sunlight on a broken pillar or a tree swayed by the air
and echoing the sound of the wind. This vision is like the appearance of a dim star on the
horizon

L. 29-30. Let me be....dream kingdom: The hollow men do not wish to face the horror of
death They would like to cling to a life of inaction and indecision which may be called death-
in-life.

L. 31-36. Let me also....No nearer: The hollow men are afraid of facing the realities of life.
They want to escape from the struggles of this world by putting deliberate disguises, by
turning into scare-crows erected in the fields, moving to and fro as the wind blows.

L. 37-38 Not that....kingdom: They are afraid of their meeting with death. The twilight
kingdom refers to the place between Purgatory and Paradise where Dante was to meet
Beatrice. The idea is that the hollow men are scared of death though their life is as good or
as bad as that of the dead.

Section III.

L. 39. This is the dead Land: Death has its kingdom on this earth also.

L. 40. cactus land: the land of the hollow men is like the desert.

L, 41-44. Here the stone...fading star: In the modern waste-land stone images are
worshipped by men who are spiritually dead. These idols refer to worldly things... which are
of the flesh. The hollow men have no spiritual guidance like the light of the sun. They are
guided by a fading light like that of a dim star.

L. 45-51. Is it like... broken stone. The hollow men want to know the difference between the
condition of the men in the wasteland and the spirits who live in death's other kingdom (the
next world after death). Is their life (of the dead spirits) like our life in the wasteland? They
wake up alone at a time when they are fired by passionate desire kiss a woman or offer a
prayer to a broken image. The hollow men want to know in what way the life of the spirits in
other world is different from their life, when they have the friends to enjoy love and material
joys at their will. They can offer prayer only to a broken idol.
Section IV

L. 55. This hollow valley: refers to a place in death's dream kingdom, a place of despair
where the lost souls sit together in silence and dejection. L. 56. This broken... Kingdoms: This
life is a kind of severed human limb cut off from the whole human body.

L. 52-56. The eyes are... kingdoms: The eyes of faith are not to be found in this world. There
is no hope of light or grace in this dark world. Life is like desolate valley where the stars are
fading. This life is isolated and incomplete like a single piece or bone from the entire human
body.

L. 57-60. In this last... tumid river. While crowded together in the hollow valley of despair,
the hollow men grope in darkness. They are dejected and silent. They face the swollen river
of Limbo. They are waiting for Charon the ferry-man, with sharp eyes who is to carry them to
the next world. It has a reference to Dante waiting near Purgatory for Beatrice to guide him
to Paradise.

L. 61. Sightless: blind.

L. 62. The eyes reappear: the eyes of Charon, the ferry-man, or the eyes of Beatrice.

L. 63. As the perpetual star: the everlasting and shining star. Dante finds in the eyes of
Beatrice the light of the perpetual star i.e. the vision of Beatrice melts into the vision of
Virgin Mary and the vision of the saints who live in heaven.

L. 64. Multifoliate rose: A rose of many petals. It refers to the bands of angels which
surrounded Beatrice or Virgin Mary.

L. 66-67. The hope... men: The hollow men can only hope to be guided by the eyes of
Charon, the ferry-man, or the blessings of Virgin Mary. This can only be done through self-
purification, so that a hope can turn into a reality.

Section V.
L. 68. prickly pear: a thorny plant.

L. 68-71. Here we go....the morning: This is a nursery rhyme. The hollow men are moving
around the prickly pear tree instead of the mulberry bush. It indicates that their life is full of
useless motion and frustration.

L. 72-76. Between the idea....falls the Shadow. These lines have a reference to the conflict in
the mind of Brutus regarding his conspiracy to murder Julius Ceaser. The soul of man yearns
for the vision of God but on account of the weakness of his body, his resolution for the
spiritual progress does not take the form of action. There is a gap between the idea and its
execution, because the resolution is not backed by a strong action and that is why it is not
executed. The shadow refers to the shadow of fear or the anxiety of death which leads to
frustration, or to the inability of man to translate his ideas into action.

L. 77. For Thine is the Kingdom: In this state of frustration, in this stage of fear, the only
recourse is to pray to God for strength and guidance. If man surrenders to God crying
helplessly for his aid, He may help him.

L. 78. Conception: creating an idea.

L. 79. Creation: execution, follow-up, giving a concrete shape to the idea.

L. 80. emotion: feeling.

L. 81. response: action or giving a concrete shape to feelings.

L. 82. Falls the Shadow: Shadow of fear, of doubt, of hesitation.

L. 83. Life is very long: The only excuse for indecision or inaction is a hope that life is very
long and one may defer action from time to time. Infact, life is not long; life is uncertain and
therefore there should be no indecision or inaction.
L. 85. spasm: throbbing, breathing; here it means action

L. 86. potency: the potentiality or capability.

L. 87 existence: achievement.

L. 88. essence: inner power or the seed.

L. 89. descent: fruittion or achievement.

L. 90. Shadow: uncertainty, doubt, paralysis of will.

L. 91. see the meaning of line 77.

L. 92-94. For thine is... Thine is the: The hollow men do not have even the strength and the
capacity to pray. They only mumble a few words from the Lord's prayer. lt shows that they
cannot pray properly or adequately. They die with a feeling of exhaustion and frustration.

L. 95-97. This is the way....world ends. This is a parody of the nursery song about Gun-
powder Plot. Guy Fawkes wanted to end the world through a deafening explosion. But the
burning of his effigy shows that the world did not end. On the contrary, his effigy burnt away
quietly.

L. 98. whimper: it has a reference to a poem Denny Deeverby Rudyard Kipling. Deever, a
British soldier is executed for killing another comrade. As his soul comes out of the body it
whimpers. It may also have a reference to Dante's Purgatory. It suggests the cry of the baby.
Dante stands before Beatrice, repentant and silent like a child before a strong mother.

L. 98. Not with a bang but a whimper: The world of the hollow men is affected by the
shadow, by frustration and despair. There is no bang or shouting. It can only echo the low
broken laments of soul dying, but unable to die in peace. The poem ends on a note of
despair and frustration.
 Conclusion: The Hollow Man contain posts reflection on the subject of human nature in
this world, and the relationship to another world of death and eternity. The poem is a kind
of elegy on some of the characters mentioned in Eliot's early poems like Prufrock, Gerontion
and Sweeney who are presentation of modern civilization but lack in moral value and all that
which makes life worthwhile. This tragic chant sums up the view of Eliot on the barrenness
and decadence of modern society.

OR OR OR OR OR

studysmarter.co.uk
The Hollow Men: Poem, Summary & Theme
Six Characters in Search of an Author
15–20 minutes

‘The Hollow Men’ (1925) is a poem by T.S. Eliot that explores themes of religious confusion,
despair, and the state of the world in disarray following the First World War. These are
common themes in Eliot’s other works, including ‘The Waste Land’ (1922). With ‘The Hollow
Men,’ Eliot wrote some of the most quoted lines in poetry: ‘This is the way the world
ends/Not with a bang but a whimper’ (97-98).
‘The Hollow Men’: Summary

Shorter than some of Eliot’s other poems like ‘The Waste Land’ and ‘The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock,’ ‘The Hollow Men’ is still quite long at 98 lines. The poem is divided into five
separate, unnamed sections.
The Hollow Men: Part I

In this first section, the speaker describes the plight of the titular ‘hollow men.’ He speaks for
this group of people who are empty, lacking substance, and spiritless. He describes them as
"the stuffed men" (18), likening them to scarecrows, filled with straw. This is a seeming
contradiction with the idea that the men of the poem are both 'hollow' and 'stuffed,' Eliot
begins the allusion to the spiritual decay of these men, stuffed with meaningless straw. The
men try to speak but even what they say is dry and meaningless.

Fig. 1 - The speaker likens hollow men to scarecrows.

The Hollow Men: Part II

Here, the speaker extrapolates upon the fears of the hollow men. He dreams of eyes but
cannot meet them with his own, and in ‘death’s dream kingdom’ (20), a reference to heaven,
the eyes shine upon a broken column. The speaker does not want to get any closer to
heaven and would disguise himself fully as a scarecrow to avoid that fate. The section ends
with the speaker reiterating his fear of “that final meeting/In the twilight kingdom” (37-38)
The Hollow Men: Part III

In the third section, the speaker describes the world he and his fellow hollow men inhabit.
He calls this land they inhabit “dead” (39) and implies that death is their ruler. He questions
if the conditions are the same “In death’s other kingdom” (46), if the people there are also
filled with love but unable to express it. Their only hope is to pray to broken stones.
The Hollow Men: Part IV

The speaker explains that this place was once a magnificent kingdom; now it is an empty, dry
valley. The speaker notes that the eyes do not exist here. The hollow men gather at the
shores of an overflowing river, unspeaking as there is nothing more to say. The hollow men
themselves are all blind, and their only hope for salvation is in the multi-petaled rose (a
reference to heaven as portrayed in Dante’s Paradiso).

Fig. 2 - The prosperous kingdom has given way to a dry, lifeless valley.
The Hollow Men: Part V

The final section has a slightly different poetic form; it follows the structures of a song. The
hollow men sing a version of Here we go ‘round the Mulberry bush, a nursery rhyme. Rather
than Mulberry bush, the hollow men go around the prickly pear, a type of cactus. The
speaker goes on to say that the hollow men have tried to take action, but they are blocked
from turning ideas into actions because of the Shadow. He then quotes the Lord’s prayer.
The speaker continues in the next two stanzas describing how the Shadow stops things from
being created and desires from being fulfilled.

The penultimate stanza is three incomplete lines, fragmentary sentences that echo the
previous stanzas. The speaker then ends with four lines that have become some of the most
famous lines in poetic history. “This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a
whimper” (97-98). This recalls the rhythm and the structure of the earlier nursery rhyme.
Eliot posits a bleak, anticlimactic end to the world—we won’t go out with a blaze of glory,
but with a dull, pathetic whimper.

When you read those final lines, what does it make you think of? Do you agree with Eliot's
view of the end of the world?
Themes in ‘The Hollow Men’

Eliot expounds upon what he sees as the moral decay of society and the fragmentation of
the world throughout ‘The Hollow Men’ through themes of faithlessness and societal
emptiness.
The Hollow Men: Faithlessness

‘The Hollow Men’ was written two years prior to Eliot’s conversion to Anglicanism. It is clear
throughout the poem that Eliot perceived an overall lack of faith in society. The hollow men
of Eliot’s poem have lost their faith, and pray blindly to broken stones. These broken stones
represent false gods. By praying to something false and untrue rather than practicing a
proper faith, the hollow men aid their own decline. They strayed from the true faith and as a
result, found themselves in this never-ending wasteland, shadows of their former selves. The
“Multifoliate rose” (64) is an allusion to heaven as portrayed in Dante’s Paradiso. The hollow
men cannot save themselves and must wait on salvation from heavenly creatures, which
does not appear to be coming.

In the final section of the poem, Eliot pens multiple allusions to prayer and the Bible. “For
Thine is the Kingdom” (77) is a fragment of a speech given by Christ in the Bible and is also
part of the Lord’s Prayer. In the penultimate three-line stanza, the speaker attempts to
repeat the phrase again, but cannot say it completely. There is something blocking the
speaker from speaking these holy words. Perhaps it is the Shadow, mentioned throughout
this section, that similarly blocks the speaker from speaking words of prayer. As a result, the
speaker laments that the world ends with a whimper, not a bang. The hollow men long for
the restoration of their faith but it seems impossible; they stop trying, and the world ends in
a pathetic, dissatisfying fashion. Their society decayed to the point where they became
faithless, they worshipped false gods and put the material over the holy. The broken stones
and the fading stars are representative of the lowly place to which the hollow men's society
has sunk.

Fig. 3 - The poem is largely concerned with a lack of faith and society's turning away from
God.
Another religious tradition is referenced in the poem as well. Toward the end of the poem,
the hollow men stand on the banks of the "tumid river" (60), tumid meaning overflowing.
They stand at the banks but are unable to cross "unless/the eyes reappear" (61-62). The
river is a reference to the River Styx in Greek mythology. It was the place that separates the
realm of the living from the dead. In Greek tradition, people must trade a penny to get
across the river and pass peacefully into the underworld. In the epigraph, the "penny for the
Old Guy" is a reference as well to this transaction, wherein the penny refers to the sum of a
person's soul and spiritual character. The hollow men cannot cross the river because they do
not have any pennies, their spiritual selves are so decayed that there is nothing that they can
use to cross into the afterlife.

In section V of the poem, Eliot makes use of direct quotations from the Bible. They appear in
a different format than the regular lines of the poem. Italicized and shifted to the right, "Life
is very long" (83) and "For Thine is the Kingdom" (91) come directly from the Bible. They
read like a second speaker has entered the poem, saying these lines to the original speaker.
They are fragments of full Bible verses, mimicking the fragmentation of society and the
thoughts of the hollow men as they lose their sanity in the wasteland. The following lines
show the hollow men trying to repeat the Bible verses, but they cannot repeat the lines in
full— "For Thine is/Life is/For Thine is the" (92-94). The second speaker tells the hollow men
that this purgatorial wasteland into which they have brought themselves is now their
kingdom to rule.

As explored further in the symbolism section, the hollow men are unable to gaze directly
into another's eyes. They keep their gazes averted, out of shame as it is their own actions
that have led them to this hollow wasteland. They forsook their faith, and though they are
aware of the heavenly afterlife—the presence of "sunlight" (23), the "tree swinging" (24),
and the "voices../..singing" (25-26)—they refuse to meet one another's eyes and
acknowledge the sins they've committed.

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The Hollow Men: Societal emptiness

Eliot establishes from the beginning of the poem the central metaphor of the hollow men
themselves. While not physically hollow, the hollow men are a stand-in for the spiritual
emptiness and overall decay of modern European society. Published a few years after the
First World War, 'The Hollow Men' explores Eliot's disillusionment with a society capable of
extreme brutality and violence that immediately tries to go back to normal life. Eliot was in
Europe during the War and was deeply affected. In the aftermath of World War I, he
perceived Western society as hollow following the atrocities of the war.

The hollow men of his poem live in a desolate environment as dry and barren as they are.
Like the actual terrain of Europe that was destroyed by the war, the environment of the
hollow men is desolate and destroyed. Covered in "dry glass" (8) and "broken glass," (9) it is
a harsh terrain hostile to any life. The land is "dead" (39) the valley is "hollow" (55). The
barrenness and decay of this land is replicated in the mentalities and spirits of the people
who inhabit it, both the Europeans and the 'hollow men.'

The hollow men are empty and anything they manage to say is meaningless. Eliot likens this
to the emptiness of European society and people’s lack of agency. What can a person do in
the face of complete devastation and countless deaths? They were unable to stop it during
the war, just like the Shadow stops the hollow men from turning any ideas into action or
seeing any desires fulfilled.

The “broken column” (23) is a symbol of the cultural decline post-World War I, as columns
were symbols of high Greek culture and Western Civilization. The hollow men are unable to
engage with another or the world. Their actions are meaningless, as is anything they have to
say with their "dried voices" (5). All they can do is wander the desolate wasteland of their
making, unable to take action—positive or negative—against their fate.

Fig. 4 - The broken column symbolizes society's deterioration after the war.
At the beginning of the poem, Eliot oxymoronically describes how the hollow men are "the
stuffed men" (2) with heads full of straw. This seeming paradox points to them being both
spiritually hollow as well as stuffed with meaningless substance; rather than filled with vital
blood and organs they are filled with straw, a worthless material. Much like society, which
gilds itself with glamor and technologies to appear full and meaningful, at the end of the day
it is as hollow and spiritually empty as the hollow men of the poem.

Symbols in 'The Hollow Men'

Eliot utilizes many symbols throughout the poem to illustrate the strange world and
miserable plight of the hollow men.
The Hollow Men: Eyes

One symbol that appears throughout the poem is that of eyes. In the first section, Eliot
draws a distinction between those with “direct eyes” (14) and the hollow men. Those who
had “direct eyes” were able to pass into “death’s other Kingdom” (14), meaning heaven.
These were people who are cited as a contrast to the hollow men, like the speaker, who is
unable to meet others’ eyes, like in his dream.

Furthermore, the hollow men are described as “sightless” (61). The eyes symbolize
judgment. If the hollow men were to look into the eyes of those in death’s other kingdom,
they would be judged for their actions in life—a prospect none of them is willing to undergo.
Conversely, those with “direct eyes” who entered the kingdom had no fear of what truth or
judgment the eyes would pass upon them.

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The Hollow Men: Stars

Stars are used throughout the poem to symbolize redemption. The speaker refers twice to
the “fading star” (28, 44) far away from the hollow men. This shows that there is little hope
for redemption left in their lives. Furthermore, in the fourth section, the idea of the
“perpetual star” (63) is presented in tandem with the “Multifoliate rose” (64) representative
of heaven. The only hope the hollow men have for redemption in their lives is in the
perpetual star that could restore their sight and fill their empty lives.
The Hollow Men: Crossed staves

Another symbol in the poem comes in line 33, of the "crossed staves" worn by the hollow
men. This references again, the two crossed pieces of wood that would prop up both a
scarecrow and an effigy such as a Guy Fawkes made of straw. Yet at the same time, there is
deliberate reference to the Crucifix Jesus hung upon. Eliot draws direct lines from Jesus's
sacrifice to the degradation of these men who have squandered his gift.
Metaphor in 'The Hollow Men'

The title of the poem refers to the central metaphor of the poem. The ‘hollow men’ refers to
the societal decay and moral emptiness of Europe post-World War I. While people are not
literally hollow on the inside, they are spiritually bereft and plagued by the trauma of the
War. Eliot further describes them as scarecrows with “Headpiece filled with straw” (4). The
hollow men of Eliot’s poem represent the people living amongst a barren landscape
following the devastation of the War with no end to their listless existence in sight and no
salvation in death.
Allusion in 'The Hollow Men'

Eliot makes multiple allusions to works by Dante throughout his poem. The aforementioned
“Multifoliate rose” (64) is an allusion to Dante’s representation of heaven in Paradiso as a
rose with multiple petals. The “tumid river” (60) upon the banks of which the hollow men
gather is generally believed to be the River Acheron from Dante’s Inferno, the river that
borders hell. It is also allusory to the River Styx, the river from Greek mythology that
separates the world of the living from the world of the dead.

The Hollow Men, Red rose with dew drops, StudySmarterFig. 5 - The multi-petaled rose is a
symbol of hope and redemption.

The epigraph of the poem also contains allusions; it reads as follows:

“Mistah Kurtz-he dead

A penny for the Old Guy” (i-ii)

The first line of the epigraph is a quotation from Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness
(1899). The main character of Heart of Darkness, a story of the ivory trade and colonization
of the Congo by Belgian traders, is named Kurtz and is described in the novel as ‘hollow to
the core.’ This could be a direct reference to the hollow men of the poem.

The second line of the epigraph refers to the British festivities of Guy Fawkes Night,
celebrated on the 5th of November. As part of the festivities remembering Guy Fawkes’
attempt to blow up the English parliament in 1605, children ask adults ‘a penny for the
Guy?’ in order to collect money to buy straw to create effigies that will, in turn, be lit on fire.
Eliot alludes to Guy Fawkes Night and the burning of straw men not just in the epigraph, but
throughout the poem. The hollow men are described as having heads full of straw and
likened to scarecrows.

An epigraph is a short quotation or inscription at the beginning of a piece of literature or

work of art that is intended to encapsulate the theme.
The Hollow Men - Key takeaways

‘The Hollow Men’ (1925) is a 98-line poem written by American poet T.S. Eliot (1888-
1965). Eliot was a poet, playwright and essayist.
He is one of the most influential poets of the 20th century thanks to his poems such as
‘The Hollow Men’ and ‘The Waste Land’ (1922).
Eliot was a Modernist poet; his poetry included fragmentary, disjointed narratives and an
emphasis on sight and visual qualities and the experience of the poet.
‘The Hollow Men’ is a five-part poem that reflects Eliot’s disillusionment with European
society post-World War I.
Eliot perceived society as in a state of decay and spiritual vacancy which he reflects
throughout the poem using symbolism, metaphor, and allusion.
The overall themes of the poem are lack of faith and the emptiness of society.
The central metaphor of the poem likens the people of post-World War I as hollow, they
are empty and listless in a barren world.