How we cite our quotes: (line)
Quote #4
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star. (lines 41-44)
The Hollow Men pray to stones instead of to God. (Considering that this is a Christian poem, that's a bad thing). They "supplicate," which means they want something, probably an end to their miserable condition. Does "twinkle" of the star, even as it is "fading," suggest that there might be some tiny atom of hope for them?
Quote #5
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men. (lines 61-67)
The Hollow Men hold out hope that the "eyes" will come back as a heavenly rose to save them. We think this meeting could look like the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, except with a flower instead of a space ship.