The Hollow Men in Popular Culture - Literature

Literature

  • The poem is referenced in Alan Moore's V for Vendetta graphic novel.
  • The poem is used in the opening of "The Compound" By S. A. Bodeen.
  • The Nevil Shute novel, On the Beach, takes its name from the second stanza of Part IV of the poem and extracts from the poem, including the passage in which the novel's title appears, have been printed in the front papers of some editions of the book including the 1957 first US edition.
  • Stephen King's Dark Tower series contains multiple references to "The Hollow Men," as well as The Waste Land (most prominently the title of the 3rd book in the series, which is The Waste Lands). King also makes reference to this poem in Pet Sematary with "Or maybe someone who had escaped from Eliot's poem about the hollow men. I should have been a pair of ragged claws," the latter sentence of which is taken from Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
  • Dean Koontz's novel, The Taking contains lines that are heavily influenced by this poem.
  • Sharon Kay Penman's novel Falls the Shadow, recounting the life and career of Simon de Montfort, takes its title from this poem.
  • The Hollow Men, a book by Nicky Hager, presumably takes its name from this poem.
  • Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore contains parts of the poem.
  • Louise Lawrence's apocalyptic novel Children of the Dust contains a reference to the last stanza of the poem.
  • Meg Rosoff's book Just in Case that is about a boy and his imminent doom contains the last stanza of the poem and is used in reference to losing his virginity.
  • Tracy Letts' play August: Osage County uses the poem as the skeleton for the story, and is heavily referenced in the prologue and the closing lines of the play.
  • The James Morrow novel This is the Way the World Ends is named for a line in the last stanza of the poem.
  • The novel "Beautiful Creatures" the character Lena quotes the poem on her birthday saying this is the way the world ends, the world ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

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