The Hollow Men

This poem struck me as very solemn and empty like the title implies. The men in the poem have lost their hope and sense of life because of their old age and they are disappearing into the land of the dead, slowly becoming less human "shape without form, shape without color..." line 12. The author refers to them as stuffed men, I wonder if this means refers to stuffing like stuffing a dead animal but in this sense having the person always alive in their memories which is why people stuff their pets. Also when he says the hollow men I imagine dead men, men without souls or men no longer in their own bodies.

In the second section Eliot seems to be describing an unworldly place "eyes I dare not meet in dreams.." sounds more like the protagonist meeting either god or the devil, he wouldn't look upon god's eyes if he is a god fearing man and he wouldn't look into the devil's eyes because of how terrifying he is. As I keep reading the section it doesn't continue with unworldly imagery but changes the subject by saying he would wear a disguise. This is what makes poetry so confusing for me, the fact that I can't identify what the author is trying to tell his readers because his thoughts seem so jumbled. I think this poem is comparing our world with the unknow worlds outside of human reach. The hollow men can be souls of deceased men or of men still living on this earth but slowly fading.