Death and Creation in The Hollow Men :: Hollow Men Essays

Throughout the semester, we have read many poems by many well-known authors.   All of these poems were worthy of the literary merit they received, but I would like to write this paper on a poem that is equally as wonderful.   I will be writing this paper on T.S. Eliot’s â€Å"The Hollow Men.†Ã‚   This is an incredibly poetic work that is just simply brilliant.   I will be discussing how Eliot constantly uses death and creation images to strengthen the theme of the poem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout this entire poem, there is an ever-present theme of death.   There is not a single stanza where there is not something that is â€Å"dead.†Ã‚   The beauty of his verse makes even darkness and death sound appealing. â€Å"Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion.†Ã‚   This verse alone gives a beautifully haunting image of darkness and death.   This is a descriptive adjective for the kingdom of death in which the hollow men reside.   â€Å"Death’s kingdom†, â€Å"the dead land†, â€Å"dying stars†, and â€Å"fading stars† are all images of death that Eliot uses to stress the ever-present theme of death in this poem.   The way that he links it all together almost makes the reader want to become one of the â€Å"hollow men.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the things about this poem that makes it so interesting, is the fact that despite the ever-present theme of death, Eliot throws in a few images of creation to counteract it.   In stanza four, the lines â€Å"Sightless, unless The eyes reappear As the perpetual star, Multifoliate rose Of death’s twilight kingdom.   The hope only Of empty men† creates the image of re-creation as a possibility of these â€Å"hollow men†.   This is their only hope, and in a way, is like the creation of the world for them.   The reappearing eyes almost serve as their saviour.   â€Å"Between the conception And the creation, Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow† is also an image of creation.   It is a subtle implication of life and death falls in to existence after creation.   Eliot’s poetic style here is simply outstanding.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is also a religious undertone tied in with all of Eliot’s images of death and creation.   It seems that every mention of death gives a religious image as well.   The poem always speaks of â€Å"death’s kingdom†, and is not death’s kingdom part of the kingdom of God?   I definitely get a religious image in my mind, as do, I suspect, most readers, when I see the line â€Å"For Thine is the Kingdom† repeated on more than one occasion.