- Allusions to Greek Mythology
- Something about death and life
- I think it’s about the futility of life’s efforts, as we all eventually die
- Maybe about the futility of war and this notion of separate sides, as they are all reunited in death
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Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer-
- Represents Asphodel
- Asphodel is a part of Erebos, where most ordinary souls go to rest after their death
- They just stand around and stuff
- Maybe there is something comforting about not doing anything
- They all behave the same??
- In death, their beliefs/purpose does not matter anymore
- i.e. war erases their sense of self and purpose
Quote
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom
- Twilight represents time between day/night
- In many mythologies, it represents the merging of the dead and the living
- Final meeting provides a foreboding tone
- But it also could provide a bittersweet tone, as if re-uniting in death is desirable
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In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
- Lost kingdoms possibly referring to ancient civilisations
- Hollow valley, valley of dying stars, all used to represent the futility of human endeavours
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In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
- They cannot talk in death, as in Greek Mythology, a coin is placed beneath their tongues, so they can pay the toll to the underworld
- Tumid river refers to the River Styx, the final barrier between the living and Erebos
- Grope together
- Last of meeting places refers to the barrier between the living and Erebos
Quote
Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
- “death’s dream kingdom” referring to Elysium (Heaven)
- Referring to “Eyes I dare not meet in dreams”, perhaps referring to society’s judgement on people
- Maybe it is the soldiers from the other side of the war????
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Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
- Alludes to passages in the Bible where the Israelites stop worshipping God and instead start following false gods, which are often represented by “graven images.”
- When that happens in the Bible, God punishes the Israelites for failing to worship him properly.
- The allusion suggests that the “hollow men” are like the backsliding Israelites: they too have strayed from their religious commitments and fallen into idolatry.