Hi everyone! 

Modernism is a term that for some reason has never come easily to me. It has always, for as long as I have been learning about it, confused me. So when I saw that we were to write a blog post for modernism, I can not say I was thrilled, but here I am. I am writing the post. Can’t say it will be my greatest blog post, but I am writing it, so that has to count for something, right? 

I decided to focus on T.S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men for this post. By the title, I figured this poem was going to be a little spooky. In all honesty, the title made me think of the headless horsemen, can’t tell you why, but it did for some reason. As I read the poem, I realized it was not only spooky. It was spooky, but it also was more sad to me in a way. There is no point to this group of men. They are all the same, and they are all meaningless. They do not have anything different about them whatsoever. They are just one big blob of bodies with no meaning to them. Now, what kind of life is that? 

After reading this poem through, the last four lines of the entire poem made me the saddest. “This is the way the world ends/This is the way the world ends/This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but with a whimper.” is so deeply depressing to me. It was definitely a bit spooky too. I can picture a bunch of creepy looking men standing over me saying that in unison, and it makes me feel unpleasant. I feel like this is something I would totally see in my nightmares. It also makes me think of people leaving this world in despair and in pain, which yes, some people do go out this way, but it is not the way I would ever hope anyone would go out. I would hate to go out that way, or for anyone I know to go out that way!!

I felt like this poem put a lot of clear imagery in my head, and as I have said before, that makes it easier for me to understand and connect to the poem. I can picture a group of scary looking people exiled in the middle of a desert or something, saying creepy things all in unison. They would look like they had not slept, drank water, or eaten in years. Honestly, I picture a bunch of salad fingers stuck together (if you know you know). They would be thin and frail, and would move very slow. This group would not be getting anywhere fast, that is for sure. 

Although modernism has not been an easy term for me to understand completely prior to this, this poem did make it a bit easier for me. The imagery definitely helped me figure it out a bit. Thank you all for reading my post, I hope you are all happy and healthy. Stay safe out there!