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All That's Old Is New Again


We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

"The Hollow Men"  T. S. Eliot  1925. 

Something has been niggling at the back of my brain  about my new work for a few weeks now and it's only today that it finally clicked.  About ten years ago I made a painting based on the imagery found in this T. S. Eliot poem.  This is the first part of a longer poem, but it's the part I respond the strongest to.

In many ways I think some of my ideas have come full circle to work I was doing years ago.  I think the words in this poem have even more meaning to me today than they did years ago.    

Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at 06:26PM by Registered CommenterHoward | Comments3 Comments

Reader Comments (3)

Isn't it exciting when you have a revelation like that! I've always responded strongly to that poem as well, though I haven't heard it in years and years. Do you still have the earlier painting?

On another note, where do I click to get your feed?
April 6, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterElise
At some point my ideas always seem to circle back in on themselves. It's not the same as repeating though. It's more like I'm returning to a major theme that only really begins to show itself after years of work. Seeing those connections emerge can be really exciting at times.

Just do an url look up in your newsreader through Add feed Elise. It's still not working correctly though, you can read it but you can't link back to my site from it.
April 7, 2006 | Registered CommenterHoward
Damn feeds, I finally got mine working right (I thought) and it turns out that I show up as having a new post anytime I make a comment or delete spam.

grrrrr

greymatter is such old technology now.

Thanks for telling me how to search for URLs through the add feed box, I didn't realize you could do that.
April 11, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterElise

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