Eliot's "Depersonalization" Practiced in The Hollow Men

Abstract：As one of the most influential English poet and literary critic in the 20th century， T. S. Eliot's poetics of "depersonalization" is both anti-traditional and revolutionary. More importantly， he applies his literary theory into his own literary creation， and this paper would analyze the "depersonalization" practiced in The Hollow Men.

Key words： depersonalization；The Hollow Men；T. S. Eliot

中图分类号：G648文献标识码：B文章编号：1672-1578（2013）10-0009-01

Introduction：

As a distinguished literary critic， Eliot is famous for his "impersonal theory" or the theory of impersonality. He employs the term "depersonalization" for this critical notion which emphasizes the relation of a poem to the other authors' poems and the relation of a poem to its author. He thinks the poets' creativeness comes from the long tradition of literary system. The literary creation in fact is the impersonal process which combines the expressions and experiences in unexpected ways. During this process， the subject consciously avoids his personality and returns to the tradition. This not only requires the writer to strengthen the sense of traditional history but also calls poets to give up personality. However， the "impersonal" creation advocates personal innovation within traditional style and it should be in accordance with his peculiarity， for only the original creation can bring fresh vitality to tradition.

1. Eliot's View of "Depersonalization"

Eliot thinks that the process of creating a poem is a continual self-sacrifice and extinction of personality. He objects the traditional view that the purpose of poetry creation is to express the poets' emotions. For him， poetry is not the subjective self-expression but a non-personalized expression. Just like what he said： "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion， but an escape from emotion； it is not the expression of personality， but an escape from personality."

In his view， a work of art is an independent entity. Once the literary work is finished， it is independent from the writer so the work， not the poet should be the focus of critical attention. Moreover， Eliot believes that the poet's emotions can be blend in his work only by a series of infusions and transmissions. To achieve the universal applicability， poets must get rid of their own personalities， namely， the "depersonalization" in poems and make poems possess the universal emotions.

2. "Depersonalization" Practiced in The Hollow Men

Eliot himself practiced theory of "depersonalization" through all his poetry creation life and The Hollow Men is a typical example which reflects his poetry creation theory. The "hollow men" depicted by Eliot are those who have lost their ability to act and are stuffed with straw. The whole poem reveals a kind of hesitated， doubted， and desperate emotion.

In the first section， a bunch of Hollow Men are leaning together like scarecrows and everything about them is as dry， including their voices and their bodies. They have lost the ability to act and what they do is meaningless. Though seemingly stuffed， they are empty in the depth of their souls. They are alive but in fact they are dead， in a state like Hell. They are lifeless without direction and hope of salvation and are like waling corpses in the street. In the following sections， one hollow man is timid to be looked at or look at people. They live in a world of disintegrated civilization with broken symbols and images. Then the poet describes the living situation of the "hollow men"： barren， vacant and desolate surroundings. Lonely and isolated， they look like the stones to beg for help. Though gathering together， they cannot communicate with each other and what they can do is just "walking alone in the death's another kingdom". Finally， we can see that all the living people without souls struggle in vain under the huge shadow of material and spiritual world. In a word， the hollow men are Eliot's empty and corrupted man who suffers collapse of modern civilization.

Throughout the poem， there is no typification and personalization. Eliot just objectively describes some living scenes of the western people according to the "objective correlative"， i.e. using related objects， situations， events， all external facts， to express emotions. The "dry grass"， "dying stars" and "broken stone" are all the impersonalized objects to express his feelings. What Eliot emphasizes is not any individual， but the whole community， not the personalization， but the universality of all human beings. He chooses to universalize all these individual emotions instead of directly showing his emotional tendency. This transcendence of narrow personal emotions makes the poem possess a meditative and wide reflection about human beings， life and the whole society.

3.Conclusion

Through careful analysis of "The Hollow Men"， we know that Eliot's poetry is the embodiment of his critical theory. His sense of "tradition" profoundly reveals the grey state of mind throughout the western world after the First World War； His art of "depersonalization" reveals the figures' spiritual vacuum profoundly without his emotional interruption.

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