What can you conclude about what the Shadow is in Part V of “The Hollow Men”? Cite one or two lines from the poem to support your response.
In Part V, the Shadow represents the barrier between intention and action—the weakness or spiritual emptiness that keeps people from turning ideas into reality. Eliot writes, "Between the idea / And the reality" and "Between the motion / And the act / Falls the Shadow." These lines show that something dark and obstructive prevents human beings from fully acting or achieving what they intend.
Constructed ResponseThe question below refers to the selection “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot.
Choose the word that is most opposite in meaning to imperturbable in the following sentence. Explain why the answer you chose is correct.The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces. a. flat b. dark c. emotional d. calm
Which lines from “Sailing to Byzantium” support Yeats’s idea that Byzantium symbolizes the world of art? Explain why your answer choice is correct.a. “Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. / Caught in that sensual music all neglect / Monuments of unaging intellect” (lines 6–8).b. “An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick, unless / Should clap its hands and sing, and louder sing / For every tatter in its mortal dress . . .” (lines 9–12).c. “Consume my heart away; sick with desire / And fastened to a dying animal / It knows not what it is . . .” (lines 21–23).d. “Once out of nature I shall never take / My bodily form from any natural thing, / But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make / Of hammered gold and gold enameling . . .” (lines 25–28).
The best choice is d. These lines show that Byzantium symbolizes the world of art because the speaker wants to leave behind his natural, mortal body and take on a form made by “Grecian goldsmiths.” That image of “hammered gold and gold enameling” represents art that is carefully created and lasting, unlike human life, which ages and dies. Byzantium therefore stands for the eternal, perfect world of artistic creation.
What is the speaker’s view of society in “The Second Coming”? Support your answer, citing details from the poem.
In “The Second Coming,” the speaker sees society as chaotic, violent, and falling apart. He believes the world has lost its order and moral center, as shown by the lines “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” and “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” He also describes a “blood-dimmed tide,” which suggests destruction and suffering. The speaker thinks good people have become weak or silent, while dangerous people are gaining power, as shown in “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.” Overall, he views society as decaying and moving toward disaster.
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