Essay T S Eliot

HSC Advanced English
Module B: Critical Study of Texts

Sample response: Poetry
2015 HSC examination question:
7(a) T S Eliot: Selected Poems
Eliot’s poetry has been described as ‘a disturbing portrait of uncertainty amidst

the turmoil of modern life’.
To what extent does this perspective align with your understanding of Eliot’s
poetry?
In your response, make detailed reference to at least TWO of the poems set for
study.
Prescribed text: T S Eliot: Selected Poems, T S Eliot (poetry)

Response by: Kate Murphy
The opening An unsettling and often ominous portrayal of the disorder and
sentence uses insecurity inherent in modern life pervades T.S. Eliot’s poems.
synonyms to Exploring an atmosphere of trepidation and doubt, ‘Journey of the
demonstrate an Magi’ ponders individual alienation and despair within a changing
understanding of
world as its persona mourns for his own lost identity. Similarly, ‘The
the set question
Hollow Men’ juxtaposes images of purity with paradoxical depictions
of desolation and anguish. Whether the poet’s perspective is
The poems are disconcerting, upsetting or merely ambivalent and reflective is a
linked to the set matter for interpretation. The desolation of the surrounding
question and a environment is a prevalent feature of both poems, with social
thesis statement disorder and unease compromising the likelihood of liberation and
is developed enlightenment. However, it is arguable that Eliot ponders the
possibility of growth and wisdom within his poems, despite their
seemingly weary and disconsolate tone. Thus, the uncertainty that
pervades Eliot’s work and his preoccupation with death and
destruction should be considered alongside his subtle references to
faith and the prospect of human redemption.
The context of A dramatic monologue, Eliot’s ‘Journey of the Magi’ narrates a

the poem is painful journey towards faith through the voice of the Magus whose
explored to encounter with a divine mystery leads to loss and nostalgia as he
explain its searches for a sense of meaning. Inspired by the gospel account of
meaning the wise men and their journey to Palestine, Eliot’s persona initially
expresses nostalgia for the ‘summer palaces on slopes’ that symbolise
the hedonistic materialism of his former life. Recounting a hazardous
journey through malevolent ‘cities hostile … towns unfriendly …
villages dirty’, the emotive adjectives he uses to summarise the places
he sees portray a scarred and intimidating landscape. As the birth of
Christ represents the death of the paganism and astrology
traditionally practised by the Magi, the persona (who may be
considered as loosely based on Eliot himself at the time of his
conversion to Anglo-Catholicism) adopts a disillusioned and weary
attitude. This is because he realises that the miraculous incarnation he
has witnessed will have negative implications for his own previously
The complex
cherished beliefs and ultimately render him ‘no longer at ease’ in his
nature of Eliot’s
tone is examined
own society. While a tone of trepidation reflects the turmoil of the
with reference to experience as the persona is tormented by ‘voices in our ears, saying/
poetic techniques That this was all folly’, this distressing image is immediately
juxtaposed with one of an arrival to ‘a temperate valley’ which ‘smells
of vegetation’. This image of fertility despite the rigours of ‘the
melting snow’ of winter portrays the journey as one of fulfilment, and
the ‘running stream’ of water acquires an almost spiritual significance.
Despite the persona’s curt appraisal of his destination as being merely
‘satisfactory’, the ultimate climax of the poem lies in the statement
that they ‘had evidence and no doubt’ of the birth of Christ. While
the poem has an anticlimactic mood and laments the passing of a
culture, the ‘hard and bitter agony’ of witnessing change reflects the
Magi’s certainty of the mystery and significance of the events they
have witnessed.
Deliberately elusive in its portrait of symbolically ‘sightless’ and

soulless ‘hollow men’, Eliot’s fragmentary poem seeks to plunder
‘death’s dream kingdom’ and examine the reality of despair within a
harsh and inhospitable landscape. Reflecting modernist concerns with
the disillusionment of society following the First World War, the
The allusions in
poem describes seemingly soulless and ‘stuffed’ men, who are ‘filled
‘The Hollow with straw’ and without substance or convictions. Their voices are
Men’ are depicted as ‘quiet and meaningless/ As wind in dry grass’, a simile
examined as a that epitomises the barren wasteland inhabited by modern humanity.
way to explore Beginning with an allusion to Joseph Conrad’s ‘Mistah Kurtz’, a
the meaning of sinister imperialist, the truth that ‘he dead’ is conveyed through
the poem ellipsis in the Ebonics vernacular. The passing of this particular
character also signifies the passing of his colonialist values and the
lack of guiding principles for those who survive him. Juxtaposed with
another epigram, ‘a penny for the Guy’, Eliot’s allusion to the
Gunpowder Plot may refer to men with misguided beliefs, but also
suggests the possibility of certainty and of commitment to a cause.
While the empty ‘stuffed men’ lack either a soul or a real body, Eliot’s
reference to ‘the twilight Kingdom’ is not merely an allusion to
Dante’s hell, but also suggests that even hollow men may undergo a
spiritual journey. The ‘broken column’ and ‘fading star’ within the
devastated landscape of the poem heighten its apocalyptic
atmosphere as Eliot presents a surreal vision of the futility and
turmoil of modern society.
This integrated The turbulent nature of modernity frames Eliot’s work, and the
paragraph insecurity and distress examined within ‘Journey of the Magi’ and
compares the ‘The Hollow Men’ is somewhat negated by implicit and triumphant
two poems and references to heaven and the divine. The symbolism of a water mill
disagrees with ‘beating the darkness’ in ‘Journey of the Magi’ foreshadows the
the notion that
eventual victory of Christ, and it is significant that the persona ‘would
their perspective do it again’ and chooses to witness the painful decline of his own
is ‘disturbing’ beliefs in order to understand new truths. Another image of triumph
is apparent in Eliot’s reference to ‘an old white horse’, which acts as a
Biblical allusions biblical allusion to Christ’s return and revelations. Similarly, ‘The
from the poems
Hollow Men’ refers to promises of salvation in its repetition of ‘for
are used to argue
that Eliot’s
Thine is the Kingdom’, an intertextual reference to the Lord’s Prayer.
intention is to Even the promise of ‘that final meeting in the twilight Kingdom’
explore hope and suggests the possibility of a transcendent afterlife, and the motif of
human salvation stars within the poem is used to suggest hope. While an image of ‘the
twinkle of a fading star’ might seem ominous, it becomes apparent
that Eliot is referring to ‘a perpetual star’, and thus an eternal beacon
of light. ‘Death’s dream kingdom’ thus can be viewed as a promise
rather than a depressing eventuality, and thus ‘the hope only/ Of
empty me’. Likewise, although the Magus’ regret for the past
opulence and shallow materialism inherent in a reference to ‘silken
girls bringing sherbet’ reflects his grief for a dying world, the
connections Eliot draws between birth and death juxtapose grief with
optimism and faith.
The conclusion The atmosphere of apprehension that permeates Eliot’s poetry gives
discusses the it a tone that is simultaneously melancholic and disquieting. However,
mood of Eliot’s despite the uncertainty and doubt that shape ‘Journey of the Magi’
poem and and ‘The Hollow Men’, both poems manage to reflect Eliot’s qualms
summarises its
concerning the nature of society without retreating entirely into a
relevance to the
set question
mood of despondency. Rather than assessing T.S. Eliot’s work as
merely ‘a disturbing portrait’ of modernity, the responder should
consider the poet’s cautiously hopeful affirmation of faith and
salvation as potential antidotes to the despair and apathy of the
surrounding world.

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HSC Advanced English

Module B: Critical Study of Texts

7(a) T S Eliot: Selected Poems

Eliot’s poetry has been described as ‘a disturbing portrait of uncertainty amidst

Prescribed text: T S Eliot: Selected Poems, T S Eliot (poetry)

The context of A dramatic monologue, Eliot’s ‘Journey of the Magi’ narrates a

Deliberately elusive in its portrait of symbolically ‘sightless’ and

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