Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36

DEATH, DECAY AND DULLNESS IN THE SELECTED POEMS OF T. S. ELIOT

Tehzeeb Node Milind K. Solanki

Abstract: This paper aims to bring forth some of the recurrent themes in T. S. Eliot's selected poems such as The Hollow Men, Gerontion and Preludes. Themes such as Death, Decay and Dullness transpire in his poems. The Equation of Eliot with the Modern-World is well-evaluated in this paper, where his sense of desolation with the modern-day religion and the modern-day practices are shown. Also Eliot’s own perception over sin and virtue are also highlighted in the course of this paper.

Keywords: Death, Decay, Dullness, Religion, Sexuality, Limbo, Dante, Nine Circles of Hell,Robot-like Life, Monotony, Routines

Introduction:

T. S. Eliot is known for some of his themes that are if not dull then obviously chaotic and too realistic. His Anglican-Christianity religiousness saw a world from a different viewpoint which was pale, sullen and full of filth and sin. Almost all his poems are suggestive of such images. His poems are more than just poems; they are more like a collage of various filthy images of a world we live. Eliot's work has a lot of pictures of a messed up civilization that has no religion left and whatever has left of it has been compromised. He saw sexuality from a different point of view, not the postmodern view. He thought that the world was heading towards something dark that he disapproved of. His poems under the present study, i.e., The Hollow Men, Gerontion and Preludes are full of grave pictures of filth and dullness/monotony in society.

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 27 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36

1. The Hollow Men: The Hollow Men by Eliot is a poem that takes its matter from Dante's Nine Circles of Hell. To be precise, he talks about only the first circle, which is Limbo. Limbo is a place in Dante's Nine Circles of Hell, where the people who are neither evil nor virtuous go. It is just a dark place where people are groping over each other in the darkness. Eliot writes,

We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!" (Eliot 1-4)

The name 'Hollow' itself means that there is nothing in these men, no flesh and no soul. They are stuffed with nothing. Their existence means nothing. They are just there, leaning over each other because perhaps they do not even have the strength to stand straight, which is why they need support from each other to stand. Their heads filled with straw, which could even be grass. They do not have any mind of their own, just their meaningless and futile existence. 'Alas!' is a sigh of these hollow men themselves over their helpless state.

Eliot starts his poem by an Epigraph referring to Mistah Kurtz from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and the other reference is that of Guy Fawkes, from the Gunpowder plot in England. These two were also very evil. Eliot refers to these two because he wants to convey that if one is to live, he should either live like an evil person or a virtuous person. He should not live in a Limbo like existence where he does neither good nor evil. That is according to Eliot in itself a sin.

The dried voices of these men suggest that whatever they say or talk is meaningless. When they speak, it comes out as a whisper because perhaps they do not even have a voice of their own. All this helplessness only suggests the hopelessness of lives, “As wind in dry grass" (Eliot 8)

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 28 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36

This line suggests that whatever they do or speak, it is as meaningless as the wind in dry grass. Eliot also gives an example of Rat's feet on the broken glass, which suggests two things, one is meaninglessness, and the other is that rats are agents of destruction and these men too are the same. These 'rats', according to Eliot, live in a dry cellar; it suggests the dryness in the existence of the hollow men.

These Hollow Men are, as Eliot suggests, shape, but without a form, shade, but any colour,they are a paralyzed force and a gesture without motion. All this only suggests that whatever these hollow men do is devoid of any use. These men are so meaningless that even the 'lost violent souls' pass them with direct eyes, and they could not meet their eyes because of their uselessness.

Heaven here is described as 'death's dream kingdom', and hell is 'death's other kingdom'. The Hollow men are afraid of both these kingdoms and cannot even imagine meeting eyes of them both. They say that even if the eyes of 'death's dream kingdom' fall on them, it will only be like sunlight falling on a broken column. One should take note that almost all the images in Eliot's poems are full of broken images. The hollow men would rather wear desperate disguises like a rat's coat and crow skin rather than face the reality of the world. They would instead act like scarecrows than be anything meaningful.

The land that they live in is dead. It is a 'cactus land', and nothing meaningful ever grows here. All we are left to worship is that of stone. They worship stone images. Furthermore, all the light they have is of a fading star. Even the fading star resembles that of death. Moreover, the blindness of their lives is the dullness they have to ponder on.

Even the valley they live in after their death is a hollow valley that resembles their selves. It is like a 'broken jaw' as per Eliot. They are just sightless, and the only hope for them is that of the 'multifoliate rose' which suggests the Virgin Mary. They call them 'empty men' because all their lives they have done nothing, and even after their

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 29 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36 death, they do nothing. Neither do they go to heaven nor hell? It is their punishment for doing nothing.

When the lost violent souls are crossing the Tumid River- the river of forgetfulness, the hollow men could only see them because they could not cross this river. They stand there at the banks of the river, groping on each other, sightless and devoid of any speech.

Now, these men are just going round and round in circles. They have lost their innocence and are also without any God above them. They go around aimlessly. They even tried to pray but could not sing. This poem sounds like a chanting which suggests that these hollow men are not individualistic at all and whatever they do or sing is in chorus. Whatever they try to do, a shadow falls in between, and they are interrupted.

In the end, they say that they do not die with a bang but like lost violent souls but with a whimper.

2. Gerontion Gerontion, meaning 'an old man' in French is poetry about the dying civilization of Europe. Gerontion, the persona of the poem, is the embodiment of this dying civilization. Throughout the poem, this persona talks about how he has done nothing worthwhile all his life and now he sits here being red to by a boy. Usually, older people read or narrate stories of their young times to their grandchildren; here, the young boy is reading to him. This older man lives on a hill, in a filthy neighborhood. Here the older man is waiting for rain because rain referred to flood/abundance in Christianity and left for this persona who embodies the English civilization is drought and dryness. The older man had done nothing heroic in his entire life like being in the war of Thermopylae or being knee-deep in the salt marshes or even been bitten by a bee. All his life has been dull, and now he has no story to tell. His neighborhood is dirty and monotonous about it and writes, "Rocks, moss, stonecrop, iron, merds." (12)

The woman keeping the kitchen, making tea, sneezing in the evening and poking the gutter shows the dullness of life in the current civilization. The old man

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 30 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36 himself calls him a "dull head" in windy spaces which refers to his meaninglessness in the society. Other than the dying civilization, this poem also refers to the dying religion among people. Jesus was to wash away the sins of humankind. Nevertheless, his signs are taken as nothing but miracles. Jesus, the savior of humanity, was killed and now in return, people are flowering Judas, the very murderer of Jesus. People are displayed to be reluctant of religion or to be worshipping sexual pictures of Gods made by the Titians. Some of them were shifting candles for tarot. Religion has changed its face in the modern world. It has lost its touch. These are all just vacant shuttles which are not weaving anything meaningful but just wind, which will yield nothing.

Eliot ends the poem by the lines, 'Tenants of the house, Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season' (Eliot 74-75). These lines suggest thoughts of this persona which are the tenants of the house. Here the human body has been referred to an adobe like the Bhakti poetry where the body is a chariot. They are of a dry brain which would refer to a decayed state or that of meaninglessness. There is nothing left in the brain of the older man now. Even the dry season refers to lack of rain or abundance in the life of the persona or the entire European civilization. The poem is about the dead hope of salvation in the European civilization.

This older man, the persona in the poem Gerontion, is like the fallen Adam in old age. He seems to have lost his paradise, and now he has no hope for salvation at all. The coughing of the goat in his neighborhood suggests the lust that prevails in contemporary society. The stony, rocky neighborhood which is full of merd (French word for excreta) suggests the sullen state of it. It also means that the place where he lives is decayed.The Eucharist sacrament adopted as a routine, ‘To be eaten, to be divided, to be drunk' (Eliot 22). All this suggests that religion is merely a formality and nothing else. It is just a task assigned for fulfillment.

The old persona of the poem suggests when he comes out of his reverie now and then that he is an old man, suggesting the decay in the European Civilization, who lives in a 'Draughty house" which is devoid of rain or abundance or salvation. It could also mean that this old man is an embodiment of the entire population of Europe and

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 31 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36 the 'Draughty house' is Europe itself, as land that yields nothing or land which has no future or hope for salvation. "An old man in a draughty house" (Eliot 31)

3. Preludes Preludes by T. S. Eliot, is in four sections which suggest the dullness and monotonous lifestyle of the modern world. All the four sections are images that reflect upon a decayed, dead, dry land with no hope. These images are sullen and filthy. They are images of the dull lives of people who have souls but could not stretch because the vast skylines block them. The first section of the poem opens on a winter evening. It smells of steak in the passageway that talks about the poem. It reflects upon a small street that is perhaps too narrow, and so the steak smell finds its way through the entire street. It also reflects on the monotony of the same dull lives that we live every day. "The burnt-out ends of smoky days." (Eliot 1-4). This line reflects on the filthy street that looks like the burnt-out ends of a cigarette. This image in itself is dull and decayed and dried. It is useless and also speaks on the uselessness of this street. There is a reference of rain falling on this street covered with grimy, industrial waste. "The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots" (Eliot 9-10)

This line suggests the working-class status of the people concerning Broken Blinds and Chimney Pots. It also suggests the uselessness of these people with such an image that means nothing. It is just a decayed side of society.

The second section shows the even filthier side of the society, where the morning comes to consciousness with the faint smell of the beer. "The morning comes to consciousness, of faint stale smells of beer" (Eliot, Preludes 14-15)

It shows the serious side of the life of the neighborhood that the poet is canvassing. The morning reflected in the poem is differently portrayed than other conventional poetry, but it instead comes to consciousness as it had fainted for a

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 32 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36 while. This morning smells of something rotten. It is not a fresh morning but a rather unwanted one. The poet also talks about people rushing to 'early morning stands' which, refers to the dullness and monotony of the life of the people in this street that live in total routines. These routines which are relatively consistent in this poem are unnatural. They are human-made and designed to trample men from a whole world that God has created. The use of the phrase "sawdust-trampled street" (Eliot 16), it refers to the souls of the people living on this street or living in such monotony. They trampled under the pressing feet of the people, which could also mean the pressing human-made desires. People are putting on Masquerades, like assuming roles on the stage and working or carrying on their lives like robots. They will be lifeless in carrying out a life which perhaps they do not even like. Eliot points out through this that the modern world has snatched away a crucial part of our life, which is life itself. Now, these people in Eliot's Poem are living in death in the natural state where they are deprived of even a gust of fresh air.

"One thinks of all the hands That are raising dingy shades In a thousand furnished rooms." (Eliot 21-23)

This line refers to the monotony of everyone and also a reflection on the modern world where people have become robot-like and are just doing things in crowds. There is no individuality left in these people anymore. They are just going about in crowds and performing their assigned tasks without even thinking if they are actually into it or not. The third section reflects, about the woman. It depicts the persona of a woman because she is removing curled papers from her hair. The image of this woman is very routinely depicted. She wakes up in the morning, mechanically tossed the blanket from the bed. She seems to have just dozed, and it looks like the night passed by her. It means that perhaps the persona did not sleep and just waited for the morning to arrive so that she can carry on with her societal chores. "And you heard the sparrows in the gutters" (Eliot 32). It shows the filth waiting for the persona in the outside world. The sparrows speak not from nature but from what is just a gutter now in the street. It shows the filth of the neighborhood. The persona wakes up and thinks of the street, the picture or even the thought of it only disgusts her. Perhaps not just the idea of the

Sept, 2020. VOL.12. ISSUE NO. 4 https://hrdc.gujaratuniversity.ac.in/Publication Page | 33 Towards Excellence: An Indexed, Refereed & Peer Reviewed Journal of Higher Education / Tehzeeb Node & Milind K. Solanki/ Page 27-36 dirty outside street but also the same monotonous routines, which makes a delineating to her,

You curled the papers from your hair, Or clasped the yellow soles of feet. In the palms of both soiled hands. (Eliot, Preludes 36-38)

The curling of the paper from the persona's hair shows how mechanically humans lead on to their lives in the modern world. The yellow soles of the feet and the soiled hands resemble the filth lying in the outside world. Either they are dirty because of the decayed outside world or perhaps because they have no life left in them and they are just sick.

His soul stretched tight across the skies. That fade behind a city block, Or trampled by insistent feet. At four and five and six o'clock. (Eliot 39-42)

Section 4 of the Poem talks about the trampled souls of the people under the skylines of the city life. The souls of the people living in the modern world, want to stretch but could not because the skylines block them. All whatever is left is their time in their watches and the routines that the society wants them to follow. The modern world has disabled humans with the routines, and now he is also devoid of religion. Eliot calls the man, "Infinitely suffering thing." (Eliot 51) Because of the helplessness man is suffering now. There is no hope of salvation for man in the mess that the world has created now.

The worlds revolve like ancient women. Gathering fuel in vacant lots. (Eliot 53-54)

The world, according to Eliot, has become nothing but a garbage bag. He gives us a decayed image of this of the ancient women collecting fuel from vacant lots.

Conclusion:

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Eliot has published all the poems as mentioned above, The Hollow Men, Gerontion and Preludes at different times of his life. Some were written before WWI and others written in the post-war era. All belong to some of the other grave experiences of the author. All are images of what Eliot thinks has become of the world now. Like other modern writers/poets, even Eliot fantasized of the grandeur of the past. The poet perceives death, decay and dullness in his contemporary world through his poems.

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Work Cited:

Eliot, Thomas Sterns. "Prufrock, and other observations, by T. S. Eliot." Bartleby.com, Poems. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1920., 1917, https://www.bartleby.com/198/3.html. Accessed 6 April 2020. "Gerontion." POETRY FOUNDATION, 1920, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47254/gerontion. Accessed 3rd March 2020. "The Hollow Men." https://allpoetry.com, 1925, https://allpoetry.com/the-hollow- men. Accessed 3rd March 2020. "Preludes BY T. S. ELIOT." POETRY FOUNDATION, POETRY FOUNDATION, 1917, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44214/preludes- 56d22338dc954. Accessed 3rd March 2020. A Visitor's Guide to Dante's Nine Circles of Hell, Penguinrandomhouse, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/articles/a-visitors-guide-to-dantes-nine- circles-of-hell. web. Accessed 3rd March 2020.

Tehzeeb Node Scholar and Translator, Gadhidham-Kachchh & Milind K. Solanki Assistant Professor, Department of English, KSKV Kachchh University, Bhuj

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