Hollow Man

A detailed Summary of Hollow Man


Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Or rats' feet over broken glass

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom

Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost

Rat's coat, crows kin, crossed staves


In the next short stanzas Eliot spells out the true meaning of responsibility and accountability. When he depicts a "Shadow" falling between the intention and the outcome, he is stating that having some kind of abstract good intentions does not excuse anyone from being held accountable from a bad outcome. The bits of the Lord's Prayer which creep in serve here as a reminder to Christians that their God will not accept any excuses for sin. The phrase "Life is very long" when used as a counterpoint to the Prayer seems to be the voice of mankind, the hollow men, trying to make some excuse along the lines of "but it's so hard to be good all the time." This reinforces the idea of the shadow falling between intentions and outcome, revealing that a large amount of time passing can obscure the intentions of men.

Gathered on this beach of the tumid river



Some common words found in the essay are:
IV Eliot, TS Eliot's, Christians God, II Eyes, Waking Trembling, Leaning Headpiece, Kingdom Remember, Shadow Life, Life Thine, Thine Kingdom, prickly pear, death's kingdom, falls shadow, pear prickly pear, eyes dare meet, depicted ts, direct eyes, perpetual star, imagery depicted, round prickly pear, world world, dare meet dreams, wind behaves, death's dream kingdom, shadow falling,

Approximate Word count = 1909
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

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