https://allpoetry.com/The-Hollow-Men
V
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
The light and dark
ReplyDeletethe this and that
scenarios. Good and evil? Similar to Part 3.
The hope is balance, not necessarily good.
Sadness- "this is the way the world ends not with a bang but a whimper"...
If, following all parts of the poem, war leads to this hopelessness and questions on god and the end, then the conclusion remains a little hopeless. The hollow man, our hallow man, may be speaking as god himself as the narrator? The "holy man"...the narrator playing god- a war between good and evil...or as one of my favorite songs goes "we are caught up in the crossfire of heaven and hell".
This series was fun to read...going to check out some of the official reviews for more clarity.
A few different reviews (would make sense to read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" in regards to interpretation...):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/hollow.htm
http://www.shmoop.com/hollow-men/summary.html
I look at shmoop. The children's rhyme makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteThe poor hollow men. Not good enough for heaven or hell. Stuck in between, just waiting. Is that how society is? Most not good or bad enough, just stuck