ALLUSIONS : THE HOLLOW MEN

First Epigraph: The first epigraph is a quotation from Joseph Conrad's novel about Western imperialism, Heart
of Darkness.
Second Epigraph: The second epigraph is a version of an expression used by English school kids to ask for
money to buy fireworks to blow up straw dolls the represent the traitor Guy Fawkes. The "Old Guy" may also
represent Charon, the ferryman who would take souls across the Acheron into the realm of death if you gave
him a coin.
Lines 15-16: In Canto 3 of Dante's Inferno, a large group of soul's has been excluded from Hell because they
were not "lost" or "violent" enough. They can't take sides in the battle between Good and Evil. We know from
other poems like The Waste Land that this canto really resonated with Eliot.
Line 60: The river is most likely Acheron, a branch of the mythical River Styx. Acheron and the ferryman
Charon also appear in Canto 3 of Dante's Inferno.
Lines 68-71: The italicized song lyrics are a variation of the children's ditty, "Here we go round the Mulberry
Bush."
Line 77: "For Thine is the Kingdom" alludes to the ending of the Lord's Prayer, sometimes known as the "Our
Father." The full ending goes: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."
Lines 95-98: The end of the poem modifies a different part of the "Mulberry Bush" song.

For this poem, he claimed to have combined the title of a poem by Rudyard Kipling (of The Jungle Book fame),
"The Broken Men," with the title of story by a writer named William Morris, "The Hollow Land." He claimed,
"I combined the two" (source).

To be honest, we don't think that Eliot's memory adventures are necessarily useful when reading his poems. A
more important connection might be Marlow 's description of the character Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's novella
Heart of Darkness as "hollow at the core." This connection is relevant because the first epigraph of the poem is a
quote from Heart of Darkness announcing Kurtz's death.

Literary and Mythological References

First epigraph: Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness
Second epigraph: Charon from Greek myth
Lines 15-18: Canto 3 of Dante's Inferno
Line 60: The River Acheron
Lines 63-64: Heaven in Dante's Paradiso
Historical References
Second epigraph: Guy Fawkes Day in England
Pop Culture References
Lines 68-71, lines 95-98: " The Mulberry Bush" song
Religious References
Lines 77, 91: Lord's Prayer