The modernist period in English literature occupied the year
from shortly after beginning of the twentieth century through roughly 1965. In
broad terms, the period was marked by sudden and unexpected breaks with the
traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. In the world of
art, generally speaking, modernism was the beginning of the distinction between
“high” art and “low” art.
20th Century English Poetry Characteristics
#Diverse Variety of Themes
Poetry today can be written on almost any subject. The
modern poets inspirations from railway trains, tramcars, telephones and things
of commonplace interest. Modern poets have not accepted the theory of great
subjects for poetic composition.
#Realism
The poetry of the 20th century is marked with a note of
realism. Realism in modern poetry was the product of a reaction against the
pseudo-romanticism of
the last century over and above the influence of science
#Pessimism
There is a note of pessimism and disillusionment in modern
poetry. The modern poet has realized the pettiness of human life and the tragedy and
suffering of the poor have made him gloomy and sad.
#Romantic Elements
In spite of the dominance of realism, in modern poetry,
the spirit of
romance continues to rule the minds of certain poets like Yeats, E.
Thomas, Masefield etc. The works of these poets have the fact that the spirit
of romance is as old as the life itself. Walter De Le Mare’s poetry is full of
true romantic spirit bordering on supernaturalism. With him, the ghosts and
fairies of the old world have come into their own in the 20th century.
#Nature
Nature attracts the modern poet no less than the poets of
the earlier ages. But for the modern poet, nature is not a mystic. He does not
find any spiritual meaning in nature. He feels jolly at the sight of nature’s
loveliness. He gives a clear picture of birds, clouds landscapes, sea and
countryside in his poetry. Masefield, Robert Bridges, Edmund Blunden etc are
the great poets of nature in modern poetry.
Analysis of small poems and identify
"Modernist" symbols, imagery and metaphors.
1) 'The Embankment'- T.E.Hulme
“Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,
flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.
Now see I
That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy.
Oh, God, make small
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie”.
This poem about the homeless people sleeping rough and fallen gentleman reflect on his past and
how he found pleasure in worldly social activities . In this poem we saw many
metaphor, symbol and imagery like ‘flash of god heels’ , ‘star-eaten
blanket’.
2)Darkness- by
Joseph Campbell
I stop to
watch a star shine in the boghole –
A star no longer, but a silver ribbon of light.
I look at it, and pass on.
In this poem we saw the title is a symbol. Darkenss is symbol
of blackness, symbol of absence of light and darkness. Metaphor in this poem is
silver ribbon.
3) Image- by Edward Storer
"Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon
upon strange pyres of loneliness and drought".
Meaning of image is a representation of the external form of
a person or thing in art. And in this poem the metaphor is ‘forsaken lover’ And
the symbol is ‘white moon’. Moon is a
symbol of love and in the starting of poem we see a word ‘love’ so white moon
is a symbol of the love.
4) "In a station of the metro" by Ezra Pound
"The apparition
of these faces in a crowd,
Petals in wet, black
bough
The poem on the sight of the crowd of commuters at the Paris
metro station. The title is symbol of modernism.
5)The pool- by Hilda Dolittle
"Are you
alive?
I touched you
you quiver trembling like a sea fish
I cover you with my net
What are you banded one?
The title pool is symbol of the water. After read the title
of poem we say that the poem related the water and the title reflect the whole poem.
6) "Insouciance"- By Richard Aldington
"In and out of the dreary trenches
Trudging cheerily under the stars
I make for myself little poems
Delicate as a flock of dovesin
Thy fly away like white-winged Doves.
7)"Morning at the window"- T.S.Eliot
They are rattling breakfast
plates in basement kitchens,
And along the
trampled edges of the street
I am aware of
the damp souls of housemaids
The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Sprouting despondently at area gates.
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.
The poem present a series of miniature observations about
modern urban life. Like sound of dirty plates being rattled in basement
kitchen. Many images in this poem there are ‘damp soul’, ‘twisted face’, ‘muddy
skirts’.
8) "The Red wheelbarrow- William c
'so much depends
Upon barrow
a red wheel
water
glazed with rain
chickens.'
beside the white
wheelbarrow meaning as par Cambridge dictionary, ‘a large,
open container for moving things in with a wheel at the front and two handles
at the back used especially in the garden.
9) "Anecdote of the jar- wallace stevens
I placed a
jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
10) "I (A- E.E.Cummings
"A leaf falls with loneliness"
The word loneliness is symbol of the sadness, sorrow, gloom.
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