{"id":1011,"date":"2026-02-14T11:23:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/?p=1011"},"modified":"2026-02-14T11:23:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T10:23:50","slug":"the-hollow-men-t-s-eliot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/?p=1011","title":{"rendered":"The Hollow Men ~ T. S. Eliot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A penny for the Old Guy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are the hollow men\u00a0
We are the stuffed men\u00a0
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when\u00a0
We whisper together\u00a0
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass\u00a0
Or rats\u2019 feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shape without form, shade without colour. 
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death\u2019s other Kingdom
Remember us – if at all – not as lost\u00a0
Violent souls, but only\u00a0
As the hollow men\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              II<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams 
In death\u2019s 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\u2019s singing 
More distant and more solemn 
Than a fading star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me be no nearer\u00a0
In death\u2019s dream kingdom\u00a0
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat\u2019s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves\u00a0
No nearer –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that final meeting 
In the twilight kingdom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              III<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man\u2019s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it like this
In death\u2019s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are 
Trembling with tenderness 
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              IV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this last of meeting places 
We grope together 
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sightless, unless 
The eyes reappear 
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose 
Of death\u2019s twilight kingdom 
The hope only 
Of empty men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              V<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we go round the prickly pear <\/em>
Prickly pear prickly pear <\/em>
Here we go round the prickly pear <\/em>
At five o\u2019clock in the morning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the idea 
And the reality 
Between the motion 
And the act 
Falls the Shadow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                  For Thine is the Kingdom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the conception 
And the creation
Between the emotion 
And the response 
Falls the Shadow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                  Life is very long<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the desire 
And the spasm 
Between the potency 
And the existence 
Between the essence 
And the descent 
Falls the Shadow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                  For Thine is the Kingdom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Thine is 
Life is
For Thine is the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the way the world ends <\/em>
This is the way the world ends <\/em>
This is the way the world ends <\/em>
Not with a bang but a whimper.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A penny for the Old Guy We are the hollow men\u00a0We are the stuffed men\u00a0Leaning togetherHeadpiece filled with straw. Alas!Our dried voices, when\u00a0We whisper together\u00a0Are quiet and meaninglessAs wind in dry grass\u00a0Or rats\u2019 feet over broken glassIn our dry cellar Shape without form, shade without colour. Paralysed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossedWith direct…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1012,"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions\/1012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medusian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}