One Hundred Years Since The Publication of T S Eliot’s Poem ‘The Hollow Men’
On the 23rd November 1925, one hundred years ago today; T S Eliot published ‘The Hollow Men. Another of his poems; ‘The Waste Land’ from 1922, three years earlier, went on to be acknowledged by many, as the greatest poem of the twentieth century. Paradoxically; his later collected work ‘The Four Quartets’ put together as one: is championed by many lovers of Eliot’s work as his magnum opus, and to add another dimension to the quandary of quality; there are Eliot aficionados who consider ‘The Hollow Men’ to not only be cliff notes of ‘The Waste Land,’ but also, to be his greatest achievement in poetry; his most perfect poem.
So perhaps it’s as well to leave the lovers, the academics, and the aficionados to argue amongst themselves, while the rest of us ponder on the words of W B Yeates; “We make out of the quarrel with others rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves poetry.”
The quarrel with ones self is what gives ‘The Hollow Men’ its edge. As with much of the poetry of T S Eliot; ‘The Hollow Men’ is not an easy work of art to follow, but never the less; if the time and effort are taken to attempt to come to some understanding of it, the rewards are there for the taking. There are many critiques available on the poetry of T S Eliot, so we won’t add to the analytic saturation, we’ll simply try to celebrate his achievements by way of connection, coincidence and clock; three c’s. The Lol Cooper Band are at home with connections, coincidence and clock; which resonate with the work of T S Eliot. The three c’s are as the law of three; each can affirm, deny, or reconcile: there can also be something extant from the three, taking us to the magic number four; this fourth c is creativity, or to be more precise, artistic creativity; which is said to be the signature of man.
The power in the poem ‘The Hollow Men’ comes from what W B Yeates articulated; in that two voices are heard through out which are in conflict; one of romantic sensibility; an emotional argument, and one of reason; derived from materialistic naturalism, an intellectual contention; which has not gone away in contemporary times; in fact today, some characters from the poem abound. The first four lines say:
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw, Alas!
From the off we are faced with lines that challenge our understanding; how can one be stuffed and hollow at the same time? A paradox! At the end of the poem there are four more lines, as the voice of naturalism seems to overcome the voice of romance; a voice asking for more than their perceived apparent reality, which seems crushed under the weight of naturalistic over thinking and assumed reason; which is just as likely to be risible; given time. The last lines go.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper
The naturalistic voice mocking romantic sensibility, which it suggests is simply whimpering for something that isn’t there, as in a line from part three of the poem which talks of “the supplication of a dead man’s hand.” Later the power of the poem would re-direct T S Eliot’s life as he apparently evolved spiritually and artistically; in that it was easy enough for his naturalistic leanings to be written down to sign off the argument on paper, like some lop sided contract; but emotion played out as a medium of exchange, claimed quantum meruit; bringing to mind a phrase coined by William Faulkner, in his Nobel prize acceptance speech; “The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” This all seems to have gone on in the Eliot emotional function, reaching out to his thinking through sensibility, which would not lie down at the behest of an intellectual line from his pen. When this became apparent to Eliot’s side kick Ezra Pound; a man credited as being midwife to The Waste Land: he sent a message to Eliot using the sobriquet Posom, saying; “tell Posom with a bang not a whimper;” he thought Eliot was whimpering by way of searching for more than was immediately apparent in a merely naturalistic and materialistic world view. T S Eliot went on to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1948, the year before William Faulkner in 1949: by this time Ezra Pound had been in an asylum for three years, and would not be released until May 1958.
It seems that as time passed, T S Eliot could see a dilemma; stuffed or hollow, neither of which could consistently arrive at an equanimity, leading people nowhere. It appeared that he was remorseful for his naturalistic pen leading people into The Waste Land; like the rat catcher of Hamelin heading a procession of the spellbound..
In 2022 The Lol Cooper Band released a poem called ‘A Scapeshifter’ using sound and imagery from their album ‘Soul to Sun.’ to draw attention to the genius of T S Eliot and his poem ‘The Waste Land’ and how it is as relevant today as it was then, perhaps more so.‘The Hollow Men;’ said to be cliff notes of ‘The Waste Land’ has prompted The Lol Cooper Band to put up another poem, connecting with, and drawing attention to the centenary of ‘The Hollow Men’ with a poem by John Bradshaw called ‘Beauty Things,’ deriving its name from a book which was co-authored by a favourite writer Alan Garner, T S Eliot also seemed to derive the name of a 1915 poem from a book title on his way to The Waste Land; ‘Portrait of a Lady, from the name of a book by the writer Henry James, whose brother William James was a professor at Harvard when Eliot was a student there. The poem ‘Beauty Things’ distils some practical tools for finding a way out of ‘The Waste Land’ by way of a systematic methodology called the ‘Work’ brought to the western world by a man who worked for the harmonious development of man, and was named in a book known as ‘The Fragments’ as G. G’s life in the body ended on the 29th October 1949 sixty eight years to the day after the publication of Henry James book ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ and the narrator of the poem ‘Beauty Things’ delivered his first theatrical performance of a Lol Cooper Band poem before the song ‘First time,’ from a box in an art theatre on the 29th October 2017; sixty eight years to the day after the 29th October 1949. So here we have connection; the poems derived from book names, coincidence in years either side of 1949, and the clock of criticism which we’ll come to now. In a 1919 essay on criticism; Eliot posited his idea of a perception of a past that is not dead but has a living presence in the present and that this is more than memory. It is being aware of Europe and ones own country, from Homer and the Iliad to the present day. There is in Eliot’s view, an existing order of works of art which is already complete, until a new work of art is introduced, and then the whole order is altered, if ever so slightly; a reciprocal exchange of connections where the past has helped shape the future, but the present also alters the past. This way of art is not a given, but requires great effort and work. The new poem Beauty Things from the Lol Cooper Band is a work that is cliff notes of the previous poem ‘A Scapeshifter’ which used music from the album ‘Soul to Sun’ to accompany a video for the poem. The new poem ‘ Beauty Things’ is the result of a past work, but also a prelude to the Lol Cooper Bands opening track ‘Time Flies’ from their forth coming album ‘King of Hearts’ which will be close on the heals of ‘Beauty Things’ and available to watch on video as part of The Lol Cooper Bands New Musical Experience in the genre of poetry rock. ‘The Lol Cooper Band’ work as performing recording artists, building off a musical foundation of a past anchored in Stockports Cavalier Studios founded by Lol Cooper back in the early 1980’s, and true to the work ethic of Eliot ‘Time Flies’ song and video will follow on from Beauty Things. This evolving song is certainly not a given, but the result of great creative work and effort, with the pathway out of ‘The Waste Land’ through the ‘King of Hearts’ gate way to Higher Emotional Centres.
In an age when conventional teaching establishments are abandoning the humanities and leaving artists no place to go, as they push on with the banality of money makes the world go round, its of great importance that artists still try to operate within the parameters to which Eliot’s views on criticism and connection aspired. Things are not necessarily set in stone and as the ending lines in the song ‘Time Flies’ state; “everything flows’ and this ending section to the song is built off the footing of the beginning; “you can’t change and remain the same.”
To end we can also mention a contemporary of T S Eliot which was C S Lewis, and though in their early years Lewis disliked the poetry of Eliot. And in his turn Eliot disliked the poetry of Milton, who C S Lewis revered, both men grew closer through their work and understanding with the passing of years, in accordance with the essay of Eliot; Lewis himself did an interesting essay which talked about the acquisition of the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds by way of the reading of old works of art (books) to tap into timeless teachings which can protect us from the potentially dangerous ephemeral assumptions of our time. Lewis paid Eliot a great compliment when he talked of Milton; by likening Milton’s work to a great wall around an area for protection, and that inside the boundary of the wall was civilisation, and outside was not; except for those like T S Eliot who had gone out into the wilderness to fast and pray.
As an ending to this write up: mention must be made of the co author of The Beauty Things Alan Garner who’s last book ‘Powsels and Thrums’ makes mention of poets including T S Eliot and Dylan Thomas. The epigraph to the poem ‘Beauty Things’ begins with a line from an Evelyn Waugh book and says “Comparisons are odious” and as an interesting exercise; the proof of this can be found in comments about the Alan Garner book on a well known internet delivery site, where the first and last comments are as follows, the first a little obsequious, and last spat out in a fit of pique because the sensibilities of the aggrieved writer have been offended. Has he missed point and the irony? Or has he got a point? Who knows? Comparisons can be odious
By Malcolm Evans
Insight into the life of a creative author: The art of essay is not dead! This is a great miscellany of insights into the inspiration behind a very good author. He is rooted in his local Cheshire area; his family history and a sense of time passing in a timeless environment. The book has a genuine spiritual sensitivity and a keen archaeological perspective.
Five stars: now compare that first review with this last one; three stars.
By Morgan
Most disappointing
The kindest thing I can think of to say is that this second memoir shows signs of the authors age. Its first third seems to consist of barely concealed boasting about his intelligence and talent as a child including a bizarre and obtuse attack on T S Eliot. It would seem that Alan Garner has a very high opinion of his place in literature and while it is true that some of his work was new and original a lot of his later work was confused and obscure without actually repaying the effort to persevere. It’s also worth pointing out that there are a number of other very good writers contemporaneous with Garner who did just as well as he did without the ego.
To have the assumption that either of the above is correct would leave one open to opinionated indoctrination. It’s not even possible through comparison to meet in the middle; one must go to the source and verify for ones self which is where the work, time and effort come in. Back to Beauty Things. After the epigraph saying “comparisons are odious” there are five parts to the poem as with The Hollow Men but unlike ‘The Hollow Men’ the end of the poem ‘Beauty Things’ has an epilogue; which midway identifies another character from an Evelyn Waugh book; who inadvertently becomes a hollow man by way of not having an authentic aim.
In summary as G said; “don’t believe anything, verify for yourself,” good advice on the way out of your wasteland. Good advice perhaps for us stuffed and hollow men.
John Bradshaw