dare not meet in dreams / In death’s dream kingdom”(19-20), Part III’s “This is the dead land / This is the cactus land” (39-40) and IV’s “The eyes are not here / There are no eyes here.” This language serves as a rhythmic refrain tying each section together while setting off the last. The use of literary devices in “The Hollow Men” is seemingly endless. Rhyme also plays and important role. In I, like all of the other parts (except the fifth) the final line of the stanza rhymes with one of the previous lines. For example the scheme in the first stanza is AABCABDCCB. Although the last line could have ended with the two C’s, it reverted back to a familiar rhyme ending. This tactic gives the feeling of familiarity and completion at the end of each stanza. Possibly the most powerful literary device used in “The Hollow Men” is repetition. The poem contains not only the repetition of rhyme, rhythm, and images, but also of actual words. In fact, the 420-word work only has 180 different words (Spurr). The repetition is seen throughout the poem and sometimes even within the same line “behaving as the wind behaves” (line 35). Repetition not only serves to reinforce the meaning, and also to connect the sections. Part II opens with image repetition and the use of alliteration “Eyes I dare not meet in dreams / In death’s dream kingdom / These do not appear” (19-20). In relating his fear of “the eyes” the speaker prefers to be emotionless. He would like to think of himself as a scarecrow “Let me also wear / Such deliberate disguises…In a field / Behaving as the wind behaves” (lines 31-35). The scarecrow may apply to the ineptness of the speaker, to the ritual of Guy Fawkes Day, and other pagan rituals (Smith). Throughout time straw men have functioned as sacrificial spirits or scapegoats riding ...
