Hollow Man Essay

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The Hollow Men ------------------------------------------------- The sense of stasis is the most important concept within “The Hollow Men”. Discuss this in reference to language, form and structure. “The Hollow Men” by T.S Eliot is a dark and very meaningful poem, written just after the war and when Eliot was going through a difficult marital stage. Within the poem Eliot seems to write a lot about the hollow men’s sense of stasis, which seems to reflect the stasis in his marriage at the time and almost reflect how he felt at this period in his life. In Section 1, Eliot immediately points out the sense of stasis the hollow men feel by calling them the “Stuffed men”. This immediately implies they cannot move and gives us connotations of scarecrows, which are stuck in one spot. Other language he uses in the first section to describe the stasis is “paralysed force, gesture without motion”, and “lost, violent souls”. This again shows the stasis the hollow men feel and “lost, violent souls” gives us connotations of purgatory. The structure Eliot uses in this first section has no obvious rhyme scheme and seems very irregular, which shows us that the hollow men are lost, and cannot escape, yet again showing stasis and the oddness of the “purgatory” they are in. He also uses caesura and enjambment with “Alas!” and “have crossed. With”. His use of these techniques gives the first section a slow and awkward mood and portrays the sadness of the “hollow men” who are stuck in this stasis. The form of section 1 seems to be very disjointed and especially Eliot’s lack of information on where the “hollow men” are. He says very little about their location and this helps us to portray them as stuck in nothingness, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. In Section 2, the language Eliot uses again gives us a sense of stasis of the “hollow men”. His use of biblical imagery with
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