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Listen to this extremely emotional reading (one of my favorites) to get the full grasp of how sound is used, particularly in this opening fragment. The rest of the section outlines the brevity of life with the shrugging parenthetical “if at all,” expressing doubt that these efforts will even be remembered.Īpart from the word choice itself, the sound devices employed here do a lot of the heavy lifting in creating the stark, lifeless, empty feeling the poem is attempting to capture. These two lines containing immediate contradictions exemplify the Modernist approach to imagery, as Eliot intentionally creates a confusing picture of motionless movements for the reader. This section is followed by an unquestionable evaluation of the meaninglessness of life in the oxymoronic line discussing shape, which cannot exist in reality without form. Even the movement we are given – wind in dry grass, rats’ feet over broken glass – is indicative of stillness and decay. Most of this section is especially still. Many of the words in this fragment are evocative of lifelessness: “hollow,” “stuffed,” “leaning,” “straw,” “dried,” “quiet,” and so forth. The first thing that ought to be discussed in this section is the diction, or words used throughout. With direct eyes, to death’s other kingdom Shape without form, shade without colour, I will go through each section individually and discuss how this poem is an excellent example of Modernist themes and tropes. They are disjointed and separate, meant to disorient the reader with detached images of death. Eliot is a textbook example of one such Modernist writer, as is evidenced most particularly in his poem “The Hollow Men.” The poem is split up into five sections, which, in this context, are better referred to as fragments. You can find more about the Modernist movement by clicking here. Obscure allusions, disjointed imagery, and convoluted language required readers to read meticulously and become enveloped in the texts, the confusion inherent to the experience intentionally becoming as overwhelming as the untrustworthy world in which Modernists found themselves. Modernist writers expected their readers to experience their texts in a much more close and involved way similar to the new patterns of this strange new world, meaning might not be grasped instantly with the first reading. These factors pitched Modernist writers towards a vein of fragmentation and disillusionment, creating art that reflected the hopelessness and sterility that World War I and new technologies ushered in. Writers of the Modernist time period were inspired by the vast and rapid changes brought about brought about by industrialization, urbanization, and the brutalities of war.
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