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‘Prufrock’ and ‘Hollow Men’ The contexts of modernist composers are prevalent in developing a perspective on wider societal issues. T.S. Eliot’s poetry demonstrates this, communicating a lack of faith in the modern environment through the conduit of his poetry. Common themes subjected throughout Eliot’s work include loss of identity and moral standards, the superficial nature of the modern social environment, and the quest for divinity within the modernist context. The poems ‘The Love of Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (‘Prufrock’) and ‘The Hollow Men’ explore these ideas that are accentuated through the employment of a wide range of language techniques. This enables Eliot to cultivate poetry that communicates personal observations of the decrepitude of modernity. Eliot’s observation of the modern man’s loss of identity and morality is salient in both ‘Prufrock’ and ‘The Hollow Men’. The stream of consciousness style, reminiscent of the modernist era, present in ‘Prufrock’ delineates the metaphysical world. As Prufrock is a flaneur, the style is synonymous with his tendencies to observe and thus helps his character to be a more plausible representation of the modern man. The allusion to James Fenimore Cooper’s ‘The Lost Pioneers’, “an overwhelming question”, uses intertextuality to integrate contextual relevance on the exploration of lost opportunity as a result of modern man’s loss of individualism and morality. This is furthered through the existential questioning, “Do I dare?” repeated throughout the poem. Similarly within ‘The Hollow Men’, the title communicates the concept of identity loss, as Eliot’s consensus remains – the people of a post-war world are “hollow” and lack substance. The title is also an allusion to Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’, validating the idea of emotional alienation through referencing a canonical work. The paradox, “Shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion” establishes the emotional paralysis experienced by the modern man and thus the vacuity of the modern persona. The philosopher Sigmund Freud is present within these texts, “The loss of the self can only be found by accessing the subconscious.” The influence of this can be seen in both poems due to the common emotional paralysis and social stasis, as well as the presence of morally vacuous protagonists. Thus, Eliot communicates the emotional paralysis experienced by the modern man, leading to the vacuous consistency of the modern persona. Furthermore, Eliot exposes the superficial nature of social ritual and obligation in both ‘Prufrock’ and ‘The Hollow Men’. Eliot offers the modern man’s experience with social interaction in both poems, and exposes it as having a superficial quality. The simile in ‘Prufrock’, “Like a patient etherised upon a table” subverts Romantic imagery (preceding Modernism) and initiates the exploration of social fraudulence through the deliberately jarring image. Furthermore, the syntactical echo, “To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet” accentuates the façade of polite society and emphasises the personality type “Prufrock” is desperate to escape, but is unable to due to superficial social expectations. Alike ‘Prufrock’, ‘The Hollow Men’ communicates Eliot’s perspective of society’s superficial social environment. The epigraph “Mistah Kurtz – he dead” intertextualises Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, a symbol of the social decrepitude of modernity. This is further explored by the need to wear “deliberate disguises” in order to satisfy social obligation. The subject’s referral to “Death’s Dream Kingdom” (Heaven), “Death’s Other Kingdom” (Hell) and “Death’s Twilight Kingdom” (Life) presents the modern social environment as a form of limbo and thus emphasises dissatisfactory social interaction. Eliot using his poetry as an expository form is supported by critic Anna Sewards who argues, “(Eliot) offers an image of sterility that seems inimical to human life.” Therefore, it can be concluded that Eliot deliberately subjects disappointing social interactions to further emphasise the impact of the modernist context on the individual. Moreover, Eliot transcends the physical plain by initiating a search for divinity in the modernist context. Both ‘Prufrock’ and ‘The Hollow Men’ return empty-handed, thus communicating Eliot’s anguish with the modern environment. The epigraph of ‘Prufrock’ references ‘Dante’s Inferno’ and thus situates Prufrock in another circle of hell – that “hell” being a modern society indifferent to change and lacking any form of divinity. Specifically, the reference is extracted from the eighth circle of hell – Fraud. This serves as an intertextual paratext that foreshadows the nihilistic, spiritually devoid tone of the poem. The biblical allusion to John the Baptist, “I have seen my head brought in upon a platter” serves as a fleeting attempt at finding something of divine quality in the barren modern landscape. Seen as a forerunner to Jesus Christ, the allusion also accentuates Prufrock’s mediocrity. Similarly, ‘The Hollow Men’ makes reference to texts of divine quality to communicate the instability of religion in modern society. The liturgical tone in poignant sections of the poem enables small glimpses of salvation. The fragmented Lord’s Prayer, “For Thine is the Kingdom, for Thine is, Life is” is doxological and instils a sense of unease, alike the ill-fitting presence of divinity in the modern context. The search for spiritual purpose present in Eliot’s poetry is explored by the philosopher Nietzche, “Man is held back by the morality of conscience, built by traditional religious beliefs.” Thus, it can be concluded that the lack of divinity in the modern era caused the modern man to become alienated from hisself. Throughout both ‘Prufrock’ and ‘The Hollow Men’, Eliot has communicated the futility of human affairs with heavy cultural reference to the modern environment and employment of language features. These, in conjunction, work to facilitate the nihilistic experiences observed by Eliot in the modern era. .

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