Voice in T.S. Eliots The Hippopotamus, The Hollow Men,...

Voice in T.S. Eliots The Hippopotamus, The Hollow Men, and Journey of the Magi Poetry has meaning. This meaning is usually a message, and a message is projected though a voice. When we read poetry we hear this voice. The voices projected in the T.S. Eliot poems The Hippopotamus, The Hollow Men and Journey of the Magi are particularly strong, and the voice carries a lot of meaning to the readers. The voice is three things; the voice of the poetry in relation to Eliot, the voice of the poetry, and the individual readers interpretation of the voice. If something changes in Eliots life, or if he is influenced by something, it may be reflected in his poetry. T.S. Eliot once said a large part†¦show more content†¦While reading the poem they may feel some of the emotions, but it is the final voice of the entire poem that will influence the readers response. The poem The Hollow Men shows the various thoughts, emotions and journeys of men who have died, but do not belong in one particular afterlife because they have done no good, but done no evil. The poem is saying you should do something with your life, because then you will have a determined afterlife. If you do evil things in your life, you will go to the inferno, but at least you are going somewhere. If you do good things, you go to paradise. That is the best. But dont just do nothing, because you will end up standing around waiting for nothing in an empty desert, like the hollow men. Eliot read and admired works of Dante Alighieri. In his work Divina Commedia Dante describes his beliefs on the afterlife; that for the lost/violent souls there was an inferno, for the not so bad souls there was a purgatory, and for the good there was a paradise. Eliot alludes to these, but also creates an other kingdom, a limbo for hollow men. This idea of Dantes may have been the inspiration for th is poem. The voice heard by the reader is the voice of the poem, but after closer examination is also the voice of Eliot