T.S. Eliot’s Poem “The Hollow Men” Illustrated by Artificial Intelligence [Video]

Can Midjourney’s AI live up to the challenge?

I’ve been experimenting with several of the AI platforms, attempting to learn all that I can about how the systems work and how to produce the best images from the prompts that I provide. My favorite platform is Midjourney, which is what I used to create the images for this poem. It’s a relatively straight-forward process over all, but there is a bit of learning when it comes to some of the finer aspects of telling AI exactly what it is that you want. Whether then AI can actually provide you with your desired results is another issue altogether, as I’ve discovered first-hand over the past week.

I haven’t officially made an announcement yet, but you can buy my AI work in the form of prints and merchandise at my new AI store front. It’s a separate enterprise from my normal artistic pursuits but I felt that I didn’t want to get left behind when this technology really takes off. . .which will probably happen tomorrow! That may seem like an exaggeration, but anyone using AI to create art will tell you that ‘tomorrow’ could be any day now. Do check out my prints though and do let me know if there’s anything that a(I) can create for you.

My Favorite Poem

Which brings me to The Hollow Men, by T.S. Eliot, my favorite poem. I thought what better way to put Midjourney’s AI to the test? Surely, not even artificial intelligence can handle all of Eliot’s lines in a cohesive manner. I found this to be true. But in some cases, the visuals came pretty close to matching a visual interpretation of the lines. I’ll let you be the judge though.

For each of the images below, the corresponding lines from the poem were fed into the bot a prompts, exactly as written, no other commands given except to make the images all in a 3:2 ratio. Other than that, you’re seeing only the results from Eliot’s own words.

I’ve also created a YouTube version here. You can watch it at the end of the post as well.

The Hollow Men

1

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.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

In death's dream kingdom

These do not appear:

There, the eyes are

Sunlight on a broken column

There, is a tree swinging

And voices are

In the wind's singing

More distant and more solemn

Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer

In death's dream kingdom

Let me also wear

Such deliberate disguises

Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves

In a field

Behaving as the wind behaves

No nearer-

Not that final meeting

In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land

This is cactus land

Here the stone images

Are raised, here they receive

The supplication of a dead man's hand

Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this

In death's other kingdom

Waking alone

At the hour when we are

Trembling with tenderness

Lips that would kiss

Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

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

In this last of meeting places

We grope together

And avoid speech

Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless

The eyes reappear

As the perpetual star

Multifoliate rose

Of death's twilight kingdom

The hope only

Of empty men.

V

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.

Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response

Falls the Shadow

Life is very long

Between the desire

And the spasm

Between the potency

And the existence

Between the essence

And the descent

Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is

Life is

For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

ChatGPT4’s Interpretation of The Hollow Men

T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men" is a haunting meditation on the human condition. The poem is a complex and dense work that explores themes of emptiness, despair, and spiritual emptiness. Eliot wrote the poem in the aftermath of World War I, a time of great social and cultural upheaval, and it reflects the disillusionment and despair that many felt at the time.

The poem opens with the lines "We are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men," a paradoxical statement that sets the tone for the rest of the work. The "hollow men" are empty and devoid of substance, while the "stuffed men" are bloated with meaningless material possessions. Eliot's use of paradox and irony throughout the poem serves to underscore the emptiness and futility of the human condition.

The hollow men are described as "shape without form, shade without colour," indicating their lack of identity and individuality. They are "quiet and meaningless," existing in a state of apathy and resignation. The poem also features several allusions to Dante's Inferno, with references to the "twilight kingdom" and the "dead land." These allusions serve to reinforce the sense of spiritual emptiness and despair that permeates the poem.

One of the most famous lines from the poem is "This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper." This line captures the sense of quiet resignation and acceptance of the emptiness and futility of life that pervades the poem. The poem ends with a repetition of the phrase "This is the way the world ends," underscoring the sense of finality and inevitability of the human condition.

Overall, "The Hollow Men" is a powerful and thought-provoking work that explores the darkest aspects of the human psyche. Eliot's use of paradox, irony, and allusion creates a complex and layered poem that rewards careful reading and reflection. The poem's themes of emptiness and despair continue to resonate with readers today, making it a timeless work of literature.