Modernism In The Hollow Men
ART VERSUS RACISM: T.S ELIOT’S THE HOLLOW MEN AND BLACK IDENTITY BY S.A OGUNPITAN, PHD DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY, LAGOS, NIGERIA BIODATA Dr. Stephen Adebayo OGUNPITAN is a senior lecturer in English at the Lagos State University, Ojo. He is the immediate past Head of the department of English and the current Director of the Lagos State University External System (LASUES). Phone no 08033250088 Email address: ogunpitansteve@yahoo.com, Stephen.ogunpitan@lasu.edu.ng, ABSTRACT The Anglo-American poet T. S. Eliot refers to Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness, among other literary and historical sources in his well-known poem entitled The Hollow Men. The link of this poem to his earlier works in the neo-Metaphysical …show more content…
S. Eliot has employed modernism in The Hollow Men to dazzle every generation of English readers, who totally fail to appreciate the depth of his language and meaning. Compared with his earlier masterpiece, The Waste Land, this poem is a highly successful "drama of modern life" centred on more or less the same "furnished flat sort of people" who always recur throughout his writing (Bush 1985, 81). But nobody has yet explained whose portraits are exactly suggested by the characters on this occasion, or why no appropriate names are given to them as modern life 's special representatives good enough to justify any separate treatment for us. The truth is that the blacks in North America who come up for scrutiny really have no serious appeal to T. S. Eliot and his prospective readers as Anglo-Catholics, Tories, and Classicists with whom he shares a lasting political and socio-cultural sympathy. Intellectually, of course, the poet is alienated from his contemporaries to such an extent that he can tease them at all levels and get away with his ingenious method. As in John Dryden 's and Pope 's poetry, the use of form and style in The Hollow Men triumphs over moral nonsense or “dullness: which is the work’s authentic but disguised theme (Bush
Blackness And White Aesthetic Essay
1387 Words | 6 PagesThroughout history Whiteness and the White Aesthetic has defined Blackness and the Black Aesthetic. The White Aesthetic defines blackness as a negative, though the Black Aesthetic is the assimilation of the White Aesthetic. The White Aesthetic is viewed as superior to the Black Aesthetic. This ideology has been shown in society and literature. The ideology is analyzed in literature by Addison Gayle Jr. in “Cultural Strangulation”.
Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Literary Devices
721 Words | 3 PagesLiterary Devices and How They Affect the Reader “Black Men and Public Space” is an essay written by Brent Staples in which he describes his struggles in the public as a black male. Throughout this work, he uses many literary devices to make the reader sympathize with his experiences. For some, they may empathize and feel themselves in his shoes. In “Black Men and Public Space”, Staples is very descriptive and remains on subject with the issue at hand throughout the essay.
Examples Of Identity In Their Eyes Were Watching God
1319 Words | 6 PagesHL Paper 1 - Identity in Literature On October 5, 1937, author Richard Wright condemned Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as an exploitation of African Americans. To Wright, the black community’s old-fashioned lifestyle, dialects, and struggles portrayed in the novel satisfied the derogatory assumptions of White America: affirmed with the introduction of the Jim Crow laws in the South. restricted education for black people, creating the stereotype of their lack of intelligence; and the mistreatment of black people before slavery’s abolishment made the stereotype that they’re fit for labor, which is why the military didn’t put them in military combat (Clark).
Jamaica Kincaid's Blackness Essay
479 Words | 2 PagesIn the short story “Blackness” by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator’s consciousness develops through a process of realization that she does not have to choose between the culture imposed on her and her authentic heritage. First, the narrator explains the metaphor “blackness” for the colonization her country that fills her own being and eventually becomes one with it. Unaware of her own nature, in isolation she is “all purpose and industry… as if [she] were the single survivor of a species” (472). Describing the annihilation of her culture, the narrator shows how “blackness” replaced her own culture with the ideology of the colonizers.
Research Paper On Natasha Trethewey
1395 Words | 6 PagesBoth Walt Whitman and Seamus Heaney have had a strong influence on Trethewey’s compositions (Davis). In the poem, “South” by Trethewey, she explains America as a ‘white space,’ similarly to the Walt Whitman’s views stance on the south. The use of this expression demonstrates the social hierarchy built within the south as a white supremacy era (Ibid). Not only has she been influenced by Whitman, but also by Heaney when writing this poem. After reading Holland’s “North,” she gained the idea of her poem “South” (Ibid).
The Great Gatsby Mood Essay
270 Words | 2 PagesHe states,”… I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others,” (Fitzgerald 56). Within lines 1-3 of the poem, Eliot describes the hollow men “leaning together,” yet they are still alone. This image stuck out as
The Hollow Men By Ernest Hemingway Analysis
754 Words | 4 PagesIt is presented in both works as a looming threat hanging over the protagonists. It is presented in both works as a looming threat hanging over the protagonists. This is shown, for example, by a passage from paragraph 2 of “The Hollow Men”, “We whisper together. Are quiet and meaningless.” This suggests how the hollow men collectively feel disregarded because they see that their words have no impact and are essentially meaningless.
Duality In David Mitchell's Black Swan Green
247 Words | 1 PagesTheme: David Mitchell’s, Black Swan Green, reveals the difficulties that one faces when conforming tor acceptance and the freedom that comes with being true to yourself. Evidence: Point of View • Mitchell’s, Black Swan Green, is narrated in immediate first person by the main character, Jason Taylor. By entering into the mind of one person the author both narrows the focalization and allows for a more engaged examination of our protagonist’s dual relationship with his true self, the poet and his fabricated self, the ruffian pleaser. Jason has a limited point of view, although he can communicate his innermost thoughts and emotional state to an imaginary audience he is withheld from a position of higher knowledge and remains ignorant of what
Symbolism In Robert Frost's Acquainted With The Night
816 Words | 4 PagesIn “Acquainted with the Night”, poet Robert Frost examines the inner workings of a lonely, depressed mentality. Through his extensive use of symbolism, Frost demonstrates exactly how confined and flustered someone in that conditions feels. There are two specific symbols that, if analyzed, unravel the meaning behind the poem: the symbol of darkness, the symbol of walking, and the symbol of large distances. Darkness is a perpetually popular symbol, and in this poem, it is certainly prominent/ Historically, darkness has been used to symbolize malice, evil, sadness — generally, anything adverse.
The Lovesong Of J Alfred Prufrock Diction Analysis
558 Words | 3 PagesIn T.S. Eliot’s work “The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, he uses diction to give an underlying meaning and tone to his poem in order to express the downfall of a man. The author uses his diction to give this poem Its tone as if he regrets what he did in life. He also shows great tone changes in this work, giving this poem a dramatic, almost tragic outlook. Many of his word choices also give his work an underlying meaning and adds to his theme and messages. A large part of his poem is also using metaphors to add to this underlying meaning and give more force to this tone he is trying to create.
Theme Of Ignorance In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
1186 Words | 5 Pagesa voice! ... to hide in the magnificent folds of eloquence the barren darkness of his heart.” (68) T.S Eliot furthers this idea in The Hollow Men, indicating how Kurtz’s voice is the only part of him that is not empty. Kurtz’s voice attempts to hide his emptiness and darkness that he acquired from his actions in the Congo. Unlike the accountant who remains pristine, Kurtz suffers and dies with his surroundings.
T. S. Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock And The Waste Land
1244 Words | 5 PagesAlfred Prufrock” was and still is a popular poem of T.S. Eliot’s, his most well known work is The Waste Land, which epitomizes the modern era. He uses the poetic elements of fragmentation and allusions to depict an image of the modern world through perspective of a man finding himself hopeless and confused about the condition of the society (Rhee 4). This poem also does not continue in a linear direction; although it may seem disjointed, these elements coherently communicate what modern society ultimately believes. This pattern is easily found in every aspect of the poem. The Waste Land itself is divided into four sections, so by glancing over the poem, a reader sees that the whole is already broken into smaller pieces.
Greed In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
1366 Words | 6 PagesTryston Strickland Dr. Norwood Honors English IV March 8, 2018 The Flaw: Human Nature In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad shows human nature’s tendency toward callousness through the use of greed, imperialism, and darkness. Throughout the book the topics of greed, imperialism, and heartlessness give examples of the flaw that humans cannot fix. Humans tend to help others when there is a benefit for them to gain.
Literary Devices Used In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
785 Words | 4 PagesBRIEF ANALYSIS The use of various literary devices in Joseph Conrad’s novel helps to bring his story to life, which ultimately is to his advantage. Conrad brings the reader into the darkness, displayed the corruptibility of humankind and left them pondering the absurdity of evil and imperialism. One of the strongest literary devices that Conrad uses to engage the reader in his novella is the use of imagery. However other important literary devices that are used throughout the novel as well as in the extract above is: similes, metaphors, personification, foreshadowing, and symbolism and narrative techniques.
Nietzsche Christianity Analysis
1661 Words | 7 PagesJoseph Conrad Heart of Darkness and Nietzsche The God that Nietzsche imagined, in the end, was not far from the God that such an artist as Joseph Conrad imagines--a supreme craftsman, ever experimenting, ever coming closer to an ideal balancing of lines and forces, and yet always failing to work out the final harmony. As put by Mencken, this is the theme of the imperfectibility of God, that appeared em as Memórias de um doente dos nervos, de Daniel Paul
More about Modernism In The Hollow Men
Blackness And White Aesthetic Essay
1387 Words | 6 PagesBlack Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Literary Devices
721 Words | 3 PagesExamples Of Identity In Their Eyes Were Watching God
1319 Words | 6 PagesJamaica Kincaid's Blackness Essay
479 Words | 2 PagesResearch Paper On Natasha Trethewey
1395 Words | 6 PagesThe Great Gatsby Mood Essay
270 Words | 2 PagesThe Hollow Men By Ernest Hemingway Analysis
754 Words | 4 PagesDuality In David Mitchell's Black Swan Green
247 Words | 1 PagesSymbolism In Robert Frost's Acquainted With The Night
816 Words | 4 PagesThe Lovesong Of J Alfred Prufrock Diction Analysis
558 Words | 3 PagesTheme Of Ignorance In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
1186 Words | 5 PagesT. S. Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock And The Waste Land
1244 Words | 5 PagesGreed In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
1366 Words | 6 PagesLiterary Devices Used In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
785 Words | 4 PagesNietzsche Christianity Analysis
1661 Words | 7 Pages