Nihilism and Yearning for Spiritual Connection

Question 1

“Eyes I dare…

Answer 1

“Eyes I dare not meet in dreams in death’s dream kingdom these do not appear” - Hollow Men

• Allusion to Dante’s Purgatorio where the narrator cannot meet the eyes because he is ‘hollow’ and unworthy, revealing a fear of both divine and moral judgement
• “Eyes I dare not meet” represents the lack of spiritual existence in Eliot’s decaying, miserable society

Question 2

“The eyes are not…

Answer 2

“The eyes are not here/ There are no eyes here / In this valley of dying stars”

• Continued motif of absence of eyes highlights Eliot’s society as bereft (lacking) spiritual hope of divine salvation.

Question 3

“This land is…

Answer 3

“This land is the dead land: this is cactus land” - The Hollow Men
- Enforces Eliot’s belief that the industrialised geographical landscape dismantled the ability for people to live together and connect on an emotional level.

Question 4

“Not with a…

Answer 4

“Not with a bang but with a whimper”

• Poem returns to parody of ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush’ but substitutes a bleak version of a disappointing end to a futile and meaningless life, contrasted with the jauntiness tone of the parody.
• Subverts notion of banging with “whimper” just as the star is “fading” suggests the world is coming to an end gradually rather than exploding and with a bang.

Question 5

“For Thine is…

Answer 5

“For Thine is/ Life is/ For Thine is the…”

• Intertextuality of the Lord’s prayer suggests a glimmer of hope for salvation for the Hollow Men and reflects the cubist movement.