How we cite our quotes: (line)
Quote #4
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms (lines 52-56)
The landscape is a no-man's-land of broken things, dying stars, and death. Like the Hollow Men, the setting is also characterized by absence: the lack of "eyes."
Quote #5
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning. (lines 68-71)
The circular motion of dancing around a spiny cactus symbolizes the lack of direction in the existence of the Hollow Men. The souls of Heaven, by contrast, moved in a straight line toward God's justice. In this revision of a children's song, Eliot substitutes a dry, bare plant ("the prickly pear") for a lush, green plant (the mulberry bush).