The visual alliteration “shape without form, shade without colour, gesture without motion” emphasizes the concept of paralysis and stasis to vindicate the hollowness of this world, devoid of change. Further, the verse evokes the imagery of a corpse to portray the absence of life, indicating the void of silence that encompasses the futility of a static lifestyle. The paradoxical nature between the lines “we are the hollow men/we are the stuffed men” mimics the ironic representation of individuals experiencing the psychological disillusionment prevalent of post-WW1; emphasizing the hollow and empty existence of mankind. Eliot’s textual allusion to Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” evident in the opening stanza “Mister Kurtz – he dead” further amplifies the theme of emptiness, emanating the individual’s psychological corruption undertaken from the developed violence of mankind.
Eliot promotes the importance of individual spirituality in response to the progressive degradation of our current modernist society. ‘The Hollow Men’ serve as a representation to portray an exploration of religious spirituality in response to the post-war period, emanating the possibility for humanity to attain home within a period of uncertainty and alienation. Eliot utilizes the motif of ‘kingdom’ located in the reoccurring statement “death’s other kingdom” to highlight the existence of a separate reality paralleled to our current world, objectively belonging to Death. The eerie connotations that associate with ‘death’s kingdom’ emulate the denial of positive spiritual intention in the developing bleakness of 20th century society.