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The poem The Hollow Men written by T. S. Eliot is a dramatic telling of the downfall of a culture in which beliefs and ideas are shallow or perhaps even nonexistent. Consequently, the inspiration of T. S. Eliot in writing this poem can be drawn from time of the “Roaring 20s” or also referred to as “The Jazz Age” as he felt such a literary work would be an appropriate medium to express his ideas. Various other literary works, specifically Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness were highly influential to this poem. Furthermore, T. S. Eliot uses literary devices to portray a message, more of a warning than a lesson, to the audience expressing his concern for those who are practically hollow. In the early 20s, individualism ran a mock as many were propelled by materialism and its delusions (Blum 664). The society of this era greatly reflected the “get rich quick” schemes of its time as though it may have appeared quite promising, in actuality it was all an illusion (663). Thus the youth of this era, between the World War I and the futility they saw in the future, “chose to seek out the pleasures of the present to live for their private selves and for immediate self-expression” (664). Therefore a great moral reform began as old social barriers bounded by etiquette and ethical standards were broken (665). Eliot saw that this movement held its own futility as well as being extremely destructive to the society as a whole. He saw in his culture a stead decline in value as people rushed to follow the new craze or rebel against a new repression. He saw the faults in the youth who are nonchalant about what future they are weaving. Eliot believes there will be no positive consequence on this road (Smint 30). Eliot used poetry as a means to convey his message. In his “Essay of Dramatic Poesie”, he stated that “you cannot draw a line between [social] criticism and metaphyics” (Kojecky, 71). That is to say that Eliot felt no binds in expressing his work through such artistic means. This idea is not new as it can be seen in other literary works that Eliot used perpetual guides in writing this poem.
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