Plath's poem 'The Reflection' and Eliot's "The Hollow Men" are two pieces of verse that provide contrasting discourses about the existential idea of condemnation that mankind faces and having less self-assurance that defines who we could. Essentially both poets agree with the fact upon the problem of identity turmoil/alienation of how people see themselves. Sylvia Plath's career began at the age of eight, but then spiralled into a life of depression and suicidal endeavours- such a life is evidently shown in her work "The Mirror"- the idea of the poem was that Plath believed we must face the reality about ourselves and that the reflection is essentially, cruel similar to the world we reside in. Eliot on the other side experienced a life of success, founding popular journal "Criterion", this will not shape the way in which "The Hollow Men" is written but perhaps adds elegance to the theme of "Hollowness" and the way in which Eliot. . .
Influencing Discourses
Plath and Eliot resided two very different lives, one of success, the other of melancholy and attempted suicide. The first life of Eliot describe one who noticed the success of a poet who thrived in the modern world however he will write more desolate works condemning the world around him. On the other hand Plath struggled with life, with attempts of suicide at a young get older and a failed recovery with electroshock - which merits how she taunts the way she views herself in "The Reflection. Her social vitality was miniscule in comparison to Eliots, which shaped a feeling of bitterness that can be interpreted from the poem.
Finish FREYA!!!
Condemning the World
Despite their contrasting discourses, both of these poets find common ground amongst the theme of id. The identity of the hollow men is that they are unfilled, emphasizing this by reiterating the words "hollow", "empty" and "stuffed" again and again throughout the verses.
We will be the hollow men
We will be the stuffed me
17. as the hollow men
18. The stuffed men
53. in this hollow valley
65. of vacant men [ ' The Hollow Men - T. S Eliot]
These men seem empty, void of any real personality; just shells. The loudspeaker is not simply a stand in for the poet; it is nearly as though words are being put into their mouths. The voices seemed to fluctuate throughout the verse and give the impressions of the splintered firmness of tone- like that of a shattered mirror and cracked images are speckled throughout.
At times the hollow men can seem almost self-pitying such as when they cry "alas!" [Lines 4]
At times the Hollow Men are a lttle bit cheesy and self-pitying, such as when they weep, "Alas!" in-line 4. At other times, they discuss like professors of ancient Greek philosophy, covering matters like the space between "idea" and "reality" or between "potency" and "existence. " They speak in an extremely stylized and symbolic dialect that will not resemble normal conversation. How many people have you any idea who sprinkle their dialog with phrases like, "perpetual superstar/ Multifoliate increased" (lines 63-64)?
It's similar to they may be puppets being manipulated by a person who wishes to condemn them. Our puppet-master/speaker also makes them sing and party. The poem commences the declaration that the Hollow Men are a kind of chorus, speaking along as one. By the final section, they may be dancing around a prickly pear cactus and performing a children's melody. Every once in a while, they try to say part of the prayer but can't bring themselves to do it. They trail off and go back to their "end-of-the-world" jig.
PLATH
, the mirror, having no true thoughts or emotions, does not understand that the girl is upset. The mirror is convinced the tears to be rewards for its loyalty and for that reason has no sympathy for the girl. The mirror then says "I am important to her", which again is completely incorrect. The reflection itself truthfully means nothing to the woman. Instead, the girl is important to her own being. She is merely concerned with her personal beauty and self-image, not with the mirror. This clearly demonstrates that while the reflection is actually truthful, additionally it is ignorant to certainty. The mirror only is aware of what it sees on the outside- it acknowledges faces, the darkness, and even the green speckled wall membrane, but its comprehension of reality will not stem anywhere past appearance. Actually, the mirror is only genuine to the scope that the individual looking into it allows it to be. The truth is, the mirror has no vitality whatsoever. Inside, the girl already knows what she will see when she checks the mirror and therefore the mirror is merely a mere tool.
Regardless of set up woman dislikes her own reflection, she cannot help but return to the mirror each morning-"She comes and will go. Every morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. " The woman actually becomes dependent upon the reflection or her reflection generally. As the poem comes to an end, the mirror proclaims- "In me she's drowned a young gal, and in me a vintage woman increases toward her day after day, like a horrendous fish". They have observed the changes in her appearance as she grew elderly and is continually observing her as the girl morphs into a vintage girl. It becomes abundantly clear that every morning, the woman is compelled to look in the mirror at her old face which many days she will not realize to be her own
Two COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Perspectives on the same terrible world.
Use within the finish. Freya
I wouldn't pretend to comprehend all of this, nor just what it is he's seeking to state, but I do know what it says if you ask me. I take it as an indictment of Modern man and the inability of confidence that characterizes us. The epigraph about Mr. Kurtz, from Conrad's Center of Darkness (see Review), seems to harken back longingly for even such monstrous men who at least assumed in what these were doing, however horrific the results. It sets up a natural distinction to the hollowness of Modern man, who fundamentally is convinced in nothing and is also, therefore, vacant at the central of his being, just like a Guy Fawkes dummy.
Two other powerful images really appeal to me. The comparability of the audio of modern voices to "rat's foot over broken goblet" aptly dismisses every one of the psycho babble and faux spirituality of the age, all of modernity's futile effort to replace the beliefs which have been discarded. And, of course, the great lines, "This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper" remind me of an argument i used to take pleasure from during the Cool Conflict when such melodramatics looked more appropriate; that it might be easier to just juke it out with the USSR, just let the missiles soar, than to little by little succumb to Communist domination. Of course, this seems like the merchandise of unbalanced brains given that we've triumphed, but think back again to things such as Dr. Strangelove and you also get a feel for the tenor of the confrontation between absolutists and appeasers. I for just one preferred the bang to the whimper.
This is a powerful poem that rewards repeated readings, exposing different interpretations and images with each successive come back.
