# The Hippopotamus explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by T. S. Eliot.

## What happens

This poem contrasts the earthly, flesh-and-blood hippopotamus with the institutional True Church, ultimately depicting the hippopotamus's salvation and ascension to heaven while the Church remains mired in worldly corruption.

## Themes in this chapter

### Spiritual Crisis and Desolation

The poem contrasts the hippopotamus's eventual salvation with the True Church's stagnation, highlighting a crisis of faith in institutional religion.

### Fragmentation and Modernity

The juxtaposition of the earthly hippopotamus and the Church's material concerns reflects the fragmentation of spiritual and worldly values in modern society.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The speaker observes the hippopotamus and the Church, describing their contrasting fates.

## Key lines

> The broad-backed hippopotamus / Rests on his belly in the mud; / Although he seems so firm to us / He is merely flesh and blood.

The large hippopotamus lies in the mud, appearing solid but being only mortal flesh.

_Introduces the hippopotamus as a symbol of earthly, frail existence._

> While the True Church can never fail / For it is based upon a rock.

The true Church is unshakeable because it is founded on a solid foundation.

_Contrasts the Church's supposed permanence with the hippopotamus's vulnerability._

> I saw the ’potamus take wing / Ascending from the damp savannas, / And quiring angels round him sing / The praise of God, in loud hosannas.

I witnessed the hippopotamus fly up from the wet grasslands, surrounded by angels singing praises to God.

_Describes the hippopotamus's miraculous ascension and salvation._

> While the True Church remains below / Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

Meanwhile, the true Church stays on earth, enveloped in a stagnant, corrupting fog.

_Ends with the Church left behind in a state of decay, contrasting with the hippopotamus's heavenly reward._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/the-hippopotamus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_21_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters