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Loss Of Religion In The Hollow Men By T. S. Eliot

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In his poem “The Hollow Men,” T. S. Eliot implies that with a loss of religion comes a loss of substance, purpose, and even humanity. Beginning the poem, Eliot compares the “hollow men” to scarecrows in order to characterize the men, as is in their name, as hollow and void of substance. Most apparent is when the speaker describes, “We are the stuffed men/ Leaning together/ Headpiece filled with straw” (4-6). Scarecrows are a symbol synonymous with emptiness, with their straw insides. Eliot’s symbol aptly fits the “hollow men” as their lack of religion has left them similarly barren inside. Again in stanza 5, the speaker again makes scarecrow references: “Let me also wear/ Such deliberate disguises/ Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves” (33-35). …show more content…

The speaker first references the eyes with, “Those who have crossed/ With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom/ Remember us- if at all” (15-17). Considering that the hollow men are stuck in a purgatory state, or a “broken jaw of our lost kingdoms,” death’s “other Kingdom” is the afterlife that everyone, but the hollow men, have crossed into (55). The capitalization of “Kingdom” signifies that it is a heaven-like realm, as the capital “K” implies that this kingdom is important to the hollow men. The speaker specifically states that “those who have crossed” into the other Kingdom remember the hollow men, leaving to wonder why the hollow men did not also enter the Kingdom. Within the next stanza, the speaker states that “There, the eyes are/ Sunlight on a broken column” (24-25). Eliot’s metaphor suggests that these “eyes” are not only a form of judgment looking back upon the hollow men from the afterlife, but also a hope or “sunlight” for the hollow men. Thus, within the metaphor, the hollow men would be the “broken column,” reflecting their lost and hopeless …show more content…

Thus the eyes are only within the other kingdom, and not with the hollow men. Here, Eliot indicates that only those who were able to pass on into the after life have these “eyes” for which to judge and supply hope to the hollow men. The final mention of the eyes by the speaker most clearly relates the relationship of the eyes to the hollow men: “Sightless, unless/ The eyes reappear/ As the perpetual star” (63-65). The first line “Sightless, unless” indicates that although the hollow men are now sightless, they have a chance to also gain the sight of those in the afterlife. However only if the eyes return to the men may they pass on to the kingdom. To piece together the puzzle, Eliot creates the symbol of eyes to represent both judgment and hope originated from the kingdom of the afterlife. Only those “who have crossed” have the eyes. Since the eyes are also the hope the hollow men have, and being in purgatory wish to enter the afterlife, they eyes are a symbol of the religion that the hollow men formerly rejected. It is a universal standard amongst any religion that you must be a believer of whichever religion in order to enter the afterlife that it offers. This exclusivity is clearly reflected through the fact that those who are in the kingdom have the eyes but the hollow men stuck in purgatory do not. Similarly, those who do have the religion

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