Two readings of crucial lines, one dependent upon the other, are typical of attempts to solve the riddle embodied in T. S. Eliot's The Hollow Men. The term “empty” in the lines “The hope only/ Of empty men” is usually taken as synonymous with “hollow,” and the “multifoliate rose” is taken as a haven of escape, acceptable to hollow men, but intellectual and spiritual death for others. As a result, the concluding portion, “Life is very long,” of the final section is assumed to be spoken by the same “hollow men” whose aimlessness is symbolized in the first part of the poem.