ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eliot is considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th

century.
Eliot's poetry is known for its innovative use of language, form,
and imagery.
"The Waste Land" is often cited as his most famous work,
reflecting disillusionment and fragmentation in post-World War I
society. His essays, such as "Tradition and the Individual Talent,"
shaped discussions on literary theory and criticism, emphasizing
the importance of tradition and continuity in artistic creation.
Themes in his works often include existentialism, alienation,
spiritual crisis, and the search for identity
T.S. Eliot received numerous awards during his lifetime, including
the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

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MISTAH KURTZ-HE DEAD
A PENNY FOR THE OLD GUY

The first refers Mr. Kurtz is a

character in the book "Heart of
Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, written
in 1899. Kurtz is a European man
who trades ivory in Africa. He becomes very powerful and
thinks of himself as a god. He dies on a boat on the Congo
River, and Charles Marlow, who tells the story, sees him
die. Kurtz's last words are "The horror! The horror!"
These words show that he realizes how bad his actions
were and how terrible European rule in Africa was. After
Kurtz dies, a boy who works for the manager comes in and
says rudely, "Mr. Kurtz—he's dead."

The second quote, "A penny for the Old

Guy," is about Guy Fawkes, a man who
tried to blow up the British Parliament in

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1605 but failed. He wanted to replace the Protestant
king, James I, with a Catholic ruler. On
November 5, people in Britain celebrate his
failure by burning dolls that look like him
and setting off fireworks. The quote "A
penny for the Old Guy" is something a
child might say, asking for money to buy
fireworks while showing a doll of Guy
Fawkes to be burned.

Together, these epigraphs underscore the themes of

spiritual emptiness, moral decay, and the collapse of
meaningful action. The hollow men in Eliot's poem are
spiritually dead and morally corrupt, much like Kurtz, and
their actions are futile, much like the failed efforts of
Guy Fawkes. These references frame the poem's
exploration of existential despair and the hollow nature of
modern humanity.

PART 1
LINES
WE ARE THE HOLLOW MEN

WE ARE THE STUFFED MEN

LEANING TOGETHER

HEADPIECE FILLED WITH STRAW. ALAS!

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OUR DRIED VOICES, WHEN

WE WHISPER TOGETHER

ARE QUIET AND MEANINGLESS

AS WIND IN DRY GRASS

OR RATS' FEET OVER BROKEN GLASS

IN OUR DRY CELLAR

The speaker says he belongs to a group of

empty people. These people are like
scarecrows, filled with straw, and they lean
on each other. "Oh well," the speaker says.
Their voices are so dry and quiet that you
can hardly hear them when they whisper.
What they say doesn't matter, just like
the sound of wind in dead grass or rats running over
broken glass in a dry basement.

LINES
SHAPE WITHOUT FORM, SHADE WITHOUT COLOUR,

PARALYSED FORCE, GESTURE WITHOUT MOTION;

THOSE WHO HAVE CROSSED

WITH DIRECT EYES, TO DEATH'S OTHER KINGDOM

REMEMBER US-IF AT ALL-NOT AS LOST

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VIOLENT SOULS, BUT ONLY

AS THE HOLLOW MEN

THE STUFFED MEN.

These men are like bodies without

shape, shadows without color,frozen
strength, and action without
movement.

The people who have died and gone to the other world
don't see these hollow men as lost or angry spirits. If
they remember them at all, they just think of them as
empty, like people filled with straw.

PART II
LINES
EYES I DARE NOT MEET IN DREAMS

IN DEATH'S DREAM KINGDOM

THESE DO NOT APPEAR:

THERE, THE EYES ARE

SUNLIGHT ON A BROKEN COLUMN

THERE, IS A TREE SWINGING

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AND VOICES ARE

IN THE WIND'S SINGING

MORE DISTANT AND MORE SOLEMN

THAN A FADING STAR.

The speaker has dreams where he sees eyes, but he is

afraid to look at them. In the kingdom of death (which
might mean Heaven), these eyes are not there. In this
place (probably the speaker's dream, although what "this
place" means is not clear), the eyes he sees shine like
sunlight on a broken column. In this place, a tree moves
gently in the breeze, and you can hear voices singing in
the wind. These voices are far away and sound more
serious and sad than a dying star.

LINES
LET ME BE NO NEARER

IN DEATH'S DREAM KINGDOM

LET ME ALSO WEAR

SUCH DELIBERATE DISGUISES

RAT'S COAT, CROWSKIN, CROSSED STAVES

IN A FIELD

BEHAVING AS THE WIND BEHAVES

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NO NEARER-

NOT THAT FINAL MEETING

IN THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM

The speaker doesn’t want to get

closer to the eyes he sees in his
dreams, especially in the kingdom of
death. He feels the need to hide
himself and thinks about wearing
fancy disguises, like the skin of a rat
or a crow. He imagines looking like sticks crossed in a
field, moving like the wind. The speaker wants to stay far
away, even when facing that final meeting in the dark
world of death. He avoids connection and wants to remain
hidden and separate.

PART III
LINES
THIS IS THE DEAD LAND

THIS IS CACTUS LAND

HERE THE STONE IMAGES

ARE RAISED, HERE THEY RECEIVE

THE SUPPLICATION OF A DEAD MAN'S HAND

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UNDER THE TWINKLE OF A FADING STAR.

The speaker describes a place he calls

the dead country, where the land is
covered with cactus plants. In this place,
there are statues made of stone that
people who have died worship by bowing
down to them. This happens under the
light of a star that is about to go out,
making everything seem dim and fading.
It's a bleak and solemn place where death is honored, and
the environment is harsh with desert-like vegetation.

LINES
IS IT LIKE THIS

IN DEATH'S OTHER KINGDOM

WAKING ALONE

AT THE HOUR WHEN WE ARE

TREMBLING WITH TENDERNESS

LIPS THAT WOULD KISS

FORM PRAYERS TO BROKEN STONE

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 The speaker wonders if other places where death rules,
like Heaven or Hell, are similar to the dead country he
described earlier. He imagines
the hollow men walking alone and
feeling love, but instead of kissing
someone, they pray to broken
stone statues. This suggests that
in these places, expressions of
love and connection are replaced
by solemn rituals and reverence
for symbols of the past. The speaker contrasts the
emptiness of these actions with the warmth and intimacy
of kissing, highlighting a sense of spiritual desolation and
longing for deeper human connection.

PART IV
LINES
THE EYES ARE NOT HERE

THERE ARE NO EYES HERE

IN THIS VALLEY OF DYING STARS

IN THIS HOLLOW VALLEY

THIS BROKEN JAW OF OUR LOST KINGDOMS

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 In this place, there are no
eyes. This is a place where stars
die, and it's an empty valley. It
feels like a broken jawbone from
what used to be a great kingdom.
The absence of eyes means there
is no life or soul here, making it
a desolate and ruined place that was once magnificent.

LINES
IN THIS LAST OF MEETING PLACES

WE GROPE TOGETHER

AND AVOID SPEECH

GATHERED ON THIS BEACH OF THE TUMID RIVER

This is where the hollow men meet

for the last time. They walk
together without seeing and
without making any noise. They all
come together by the edge of a
river that is very full and overflowing.

LINES
SIGHTLESS, UNLESS

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 THE EYES REAPPEAR

AS THE PERPETUAL STAR

MULTIFOLIATE ROSE

OF DEATH'S TWILIGHT KINGDOM

THE HOPE ONLY

OF EMPTY MEN

The hollow men cannot see,

unless they suddenly get their
sight back. This sight would be
like a star that never dies or a
rose with many petals. This rose
exists in the dark world of death.
For the hollow men, this rose is
their only hope.

PART V
LINES
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.

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The hollow men are dancing around a
cactus. The speaker emphasizes the
cactus by mentioning it three times. He
repeats that they are dancing around
the cactus at 5 a.m.

LINES
BETWEEN THE IDEA

AND THE REALITY

BETWEEN THE MOTION

AND THE ACT

FALLS THE SHADOW

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM

The speaker says that between having an idea and making

it real, and between wanting something and getting it,
there is a shadow. This shadow represents something that
prevents things from happening as they should. The
speaker also mentions that the kingdom belongs to You,
quoting the Bible, possibly referring to a higher power or a
new, unknown entity.

LINES

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 BETWEEN THE CONCEPTION

AND THE CREATION

BETWEEN THE EMOTION

AND THE RESPONSE

FALLS THE SHADOW

LIFE IS VERY LONG

The speaker says that there is a shadow between having

an idea and turning it into reality, and between feeling
something and actually doing something about it. This
shadow represents obstacles or difficulties. The speaker
also notes that life feels very long, emphasizing the
struggles and delays people face in their existence.

LINES
BETWEEN THE DESIRE

AND THE SPASM

BETWEEN THE POTENCY

AND THE EXISTENCE

BETWEEN THE ESSENCE

AND THE DESCENT

FALLS THE SHADOW

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FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM

Between wanting something and

getting pleasure from it, between
the ability to create and the
actual creation, and between an
ideal situation and the
disappointing reality, there is a
shadow. This shadow represents
the challenges and gaps in these experiences. A voice,
which may or may not be the speaker's, reminds that the
kingdom belongs to you.

LINES
FOR THINE IS

LIFE IS

FOR THINE IS THE

The speaker starts to repeat a phrase but

gets stuck and cannot finish it. They say,
"Because yours is..." and then struggle with
the words, trailing off and not completing
the thought.

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LINES
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 speaker repeats three times

that this is how the world ends.
It doesn’t end with a loud
explosion, but instead with a soft,
quiet whimper.

1. SPIRITUAL DESOLATION:
Theme: The poem deals with the emptiness and lack of
purpose in modern life, symbolized by the "hollow men" who
are spiritually barren.

Example: The lines "We are the hollow men / We are the
stuffed men" illustrate the idea of people who are empty
and devoid of spiritual fulfillment, filled only with
meaningless, superficial things.

2. DEATH AND DECAY:

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Theme: The poem reflects on death and the decay of the
human spirit, suggesting a sense of inevitable decline.

Example: "This is the way the world ends / Not with a

bang but a whimper" implies a gradual, anticlimactic end to
life and the world, emphasizing decay and the
insignificance of human actions

3. THE COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION:

Theme: Eliot reflects on the collapse of Western
civilization, with its loss of cultural and spiritual values.

Example: The final lines, "This is the way the world ends /
Not with a bang but a whimper," suggest a quiet,
undignified end to civilization, emphasizing its gradual
decline rather than a dramatic collapse

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