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Poet: T.S. Eliot (T.S. Eliot Art)
Poem: The Hollow Men
Volume: The Hollow Men
Year: Published/Written in 1925
Comment 45 of 45, added on October 17th, 2009 at 10:12 AM.
At mid life I view this poem more allegorically. I think the poem is a message, a reply to all the high hopes we held, the idealism, the things we thought to be important and in the end we stare at the end that comes to us all. Death.
If you were going to die tomorrrow how would you live life today. Are we hollow men?
In the context of war, WWI was to be labeled the war to end all wars. And of course it wasnt. Maybe that was an important reflection or not. Regardless of what age we live in, we all have a moment which defines us and the regrets of the choices we made or the victories we had or lives lost.
As for Apocaylpse Now, I viewed the whole movie like the book Heart of Darkness, not as a literal movie although you could watch it that way but a battle within the soul of a man. Kurtz represented the personifcation of a Kings wisdom gone dark, a shadow king. Willard is our hero. As for the end? I will leave that to the mystery of our own interpretations.
Many many layers to the poem, Wonderful. Also see info on the book The Golden Bough which was seen in the movie laying around on Kurtz's table. A visual clue as to more movie context.
Wes Savage
Comment 44 of 45, added on March 7th, 2009 at 12:22 AM.
Hello, Anonymous, awake at almost 3 am to write comments on poems; I, too, am one who loves the night.
I always thought this poem very pretentious and contrived in its obscurity, but never thought of it in relation to Conrad. That makes it clear why I never liked it; I also thought Conrad was pretentious, contrived, and obscure. But the last quatrain makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it?
Anonymous, also from United States
Comment 43 of 45, added on February 4th, 2009 at 2:43 AM.
Hear, hear... I think whoever considers "The Hollow Men" to involve war may be confusing it with the 70's war film "Apocalypse Now - " a spinoff from Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," a novel that Eliot is basing his poem on.
(So many quotation marks... this form doesn't allow italics or underlines...)
Anonymous from United States
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At mid life I view this poem more allegorically. I think the poem is a message, a reply to all the high hopes we held, the idealism, the things we thought to be important and in the end we stare at the end that comes to us all. Death.
If you were going to die tomorrrow how would you live life today. Are we hollow men?
In the context of war, WWI was to be labeled the war to end all wars. And of course it wasnt. Maybe that was an important reflection or not. Regardless of what age we live in, we all have a moment which defines us and the regrets of the choices we made or the victories we had or lives lost.
As for Apocaylpse Now, I viewed the whole movie like the book Heart of Darkness, not as a literal movie although you could watch it that way but a battle within the soul of a man. Kurtz represented the personifcation of a Kings wisdom gone dark, a shadow king. Willard is our hero. As for the end? I will leave that to the mystery of our own interpretations.
Many many layers to the poem, Wonderful. Also see info on the book The Golden Bough which was seen in the movie laying around on Kurtz's table. A visual clue as to more movie context.
Wes Savage