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The poems, ‘Journey of the Magi’ (1927) and ‘The Hollow Men’ (1925), written by T. S. Eliot, are reflective of the enduring power of the poetic form, due to their use of intellectual and artistic qualities, which create the ideas of the destruction of religion and morals in society. The poetry of T. S. Eliot is poignant in its comment on society, through utilising universal themes and critical engagement to create a high level of textual integrity. This enables these works to be relevant today, nearly 100 years later. Specifically, the two designated poems effectively use both intellectual and artistic qualities effectively, which heightens their enduring nature. The poem, ‘Journey of the Magi’ uses intellectual qualities to create the theme of destruction of religion, and this increases the enduring nature of the work. Religion is a main theme of the poem. Christianity, in particular, has endured millennia. Eliot includes allusions to biblical stories, as these can be readily understood by audiences, they increase the enduring nature of the poem. However, within the context of this poem, the loss of religious values becomes apparent. Eliot wrote this poem in 1927, following WWI, where spirituality was overlooked by the barbarity of war. Thus, Eliot demonstrates despair for the state of religion in society, and a yearning to regain connection to it. The poem itself alludes to the biblical story of the Three Wise Men. The first five lines of the poem are an allusion to the ‘Nativity Sermon’ by Lancelot Andrews, from 1602. The last line of this allusion is “The very dead of Winter”. The intellectual choice to include this specific allusion contributes to the overall despairing tone for society, due to the high modality and negative connotations of ‘dead of Winter’. The line, “And three trees on the low sky” is an anachronistic allusion that symbolises Jesus on the cross. The effect of these allusions is to demonstrate the strong spiritual connection that was once evident in society, and eliot’s desire to regain this. This idea is enduring today, as we can see in our increasingly secular society. Thus, intellectual qualities create themes of the downfall of religious values in the poem and increase the enduring nature of the poem, which is reflected similarly in ‘The Hollow Men’. The Hollow Men demonstrates effective use of intellectual qualities to infer a sense of darkness related to religion, which contribute to the poem’s enduring power. The Hollow Men includes references to Christianity, utilising a post-World War I perspective, which influences the piece’s view on the decrepit state of society. Eliot viewed society as becoming barbaric and stripped of morals, after the violence of the war. Thus, he reflects the subject of the poem (the hollow men) as faithless and lacking values. The Hollow Men, who are situated in purgatory within the poem, are allegorical for the state of society. This is achieved through allusion to both Christianity and ‘Heart of Darkness’ (HoD) (the 1899 novella by Joseph Conrad) which interlink to create meaning. The poem can be seen as an epilogue to the novel. It alludes to Kurtz, who, in the novella, made himself into a god-like figure. “Mistah Kurtz – He dead” uses vernacular language as an allusion. The inclusion of Kurtz being dead thus symbolises god being dead in wider society. Additionally, HoD describes Africa as the “kingdom of death”. Eliot uses this same line as a motif in his poem, as well as “Death’s dream kingdom”, to symbolise heaven. The strong intertextuality increases the enduring power of Eliot’s work, as it builds on other texts to add to the modernist literary cannon. Journey of the Magi (JOTM) uses artistic qualities to imply the destruction of society’s values, which is a timeless concept. JOTM demonstrates the vices that Eliot believes have taken prevalence over religious values. This is conducive to the work’s enduring power, as the vices demonstrated can be recognised in modern society. The anaphora of the line “and the lack of shelters, / And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly / And the villages dirty and charging high prices” creates an accumulative and overwhelming effect. These images can be applied to our modern society. The line, “An old white horse galloped away in the meadow” is an allusion to both God and the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which uses objective correlative to infer a symbol of God. The absence of God, specifically, is highlighted here. This diminishes any hope left for the state of society, due to corruption of religion. Finally, the line, “With the voices singing in our ears, saying / That this was all folly” symbolises angelic voices, and the sibilance of the first line, creating a soft and gentle effect, with the subject matter of angels, contrasts with the second line where hope is diminished by them. Thus, the existential nature of Eliot’s work considers a negative side of society that can be universally recognised, even many years later, due to its universal nature. Eliot expresses these through effective use of artistic qualities, and makes these choices in ‘The Hollow Men’ similarly. ‘The Hollow Men’ (THM) expresses despair for the state of society through elaborate use of artistic qualities, which increase the work’s enduring power. Eliot’s inclusion in the Modernist movement influenced his choices to create an existential and nihilistic perspective. Modernism was characterised by extreme nihilism and Eliot was reacting against this constant existentialist depression when writing ‘The Hollow Men’, and he longed to find faith to follow. However, when composing this poem, Eliot faced struggles in his life that led him to crave a connection to a higher power. He believed that modern people had lost faith, and thus lost meaning to their lives, and this would lead to society’s downfall. An example of this perspective is the line, “In this valley of dying stars / In this hollow valley / This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms”, which uses repetition, truncated sentences and metaphor to create a negative, despairing image. The phrase, “the hollow men” is a motif repeated throughout the poem as a metaphor for loss of spiritual connection, which creates meaningless people. Additionally, the last stanza uses repetition and antithesis in the lines, “this is the way the world ends (x4) / Not with a bang but with a whimper” to end the poem on a negative note. Eliot believes that the loss of faith and meaning to modern life will cause its demise. In modern society, Eliot’s sentiment endures, because society has become increasingly more focused on consumerism than faith. Therefore, the use of artistic qualities to demonstrate a despair for the state of society has enabled Eliot’s work to transcend decades. Journey of the Magi and the Hollow Men both utilise intellectual and artistic qualities effectively to demonstrate society’s corruption of religion and the downfall of morals within it. These ideas have transcended decades in their relevance and thus, we can appreciate the universal nature of Eliot’s work. Ultimately, Eliot’s work presents an existential perspective which invites readers of any context to consider the state of their world, and offers insights into society and its values, and therefore is a prime example of the enduring nature of the poetic form. .

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