Hollow Men questions

Worksheet by:
Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com

1. Eliot is renowned for quoting from other sources, although it is highly unlikely you would need to
know this unless you are a university student. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to speculate
on the significance of the two quotes at the start of this poem.
• Can you perhaps speculate about the significance of the first quote: "Mistah Kurtz -- he
dead" which is taken from Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness? (4)
• And what about "A penny for the Old Guy"? (4)

2. "Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion."
• What does one call words of opposite meaning which are paired with each other? (1)
• Can you perhaps explain the way in which the poet uses oxymorons in these two lines? (4)

3. "Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men."
• The poet speaks of "death’s other Kingdom". W hat would he mean by this? (4)
• Why would the "hollow men" be remembered "not as lost violent souls"? (4)
• What does the poet mean when he asks those with "direct eyes" to "remember us"? (2)

4. "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
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star."
• To whom do the "Eyes" belong, the "Eyes" which he dare not meet in dreams? (2)
• Why does the poet "dare not meet" these "Eyes"? (4)
• Contrast the futures of those "with direct eyes" and the "hollow men". (4)