Characteristics Of Modernism In Poetry

Another famous and influential work from T.S. Eliot is The Hollow Men. Likely influenced by World War I, T. S. Eliot portrays a disconnect from humanity and a disillusionment with typical beliefs as a source of human despair in The Hollow Men. The “hollow men” that the work is centered around are depicted devoid of any human qualities that might provide them a relief from despair, such as hope or faith. As is written in “T. S. Eliot's Indigenous Critical Concepts and 'The Hollow Men'” by Muhammad Khan Sangi and others, “In this poem the human beings have been shown devoid of the qualities of faith, moral strength, of personality, determination and that of humanity; they are like empty bodies, lacking all human virtues” (Sangi et al para 4). No matter how these qualities were lost to the individuals, the result is constant and predictable: the individuals feel an inescapable despair. When one has nothing to anticipate in life, no expectations or hopes, then life loses its meaning. This is the world that the hollow men live in perpetually. The entire work, as Sangi describes, “is a cry of despair unrelieved by hope. The peculiarity of the poem is that it is an inner drama with the utmost economy of words. The images echo the deadness of sensibility and the emptiness of hollow men who, like the effigies, are fit only for burning” (Sangi et al para 5). Again, the hollow men are depicted as worthless, insofar as they are compared to effigies, the only purpose of which is to be

By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.

Modernist literature began between 1915-1935, writers mainly wrote fiction this is because they started to question what the future was going to bring since they were living through both World War. Modernists wrote their stories in first person which made their stories seem like a stream of consciousness, irony and satires. This type of literature was mainly written in English and became well known due to the increase of globalization, which was more about how the people felt about the events going on and how the people were affected in other words it spoke from the inner self of the writer. Many famous writers including Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald believed that the increase in new technology was leading to the decrease in civilization which was making individuals lonely.

Poetry can sometimes allow one to explore the unknown. However, in some works of poetry, one can realise that some known ideas or values remain relevant to current society. This is certainly applicable to T.S. Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Eliot’s manipulation of poetic techniques in both these poems allows the responder to realise that some ideas prevail in both modern and post-modern society. These poems explore the unknown phenomena of the obscurity regarding the purpose and meaning of life. This unknown phenomena causes the persona in both texts to resort to a sense of isolation or alienation. Eliot uses poetic techniques such as metaphors and personification to convey his ideas.

In the poem “The Hollow Men,” T.S. Eliot portrays the themes of darkness and emptiness. Through the poem Eliot sets the tone with disturbing phrases like “Headpiece filled with straw… Our dried voices.” This imagery gives the readers an underlying feeling of uneasiness. Eliot says “quiet and meaningless - As wind in dry grass - Or rats' feet over broken glass.” He repetitively uses the “s” sound throughout the rhyme scheme to create hissing sounds along with a whispering effect. This sibilance creates a creepy and disturbing atmosphere. Eliot connects “The Hollow Men” to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness first by including the quote “Mistah Kurtz—he dead.” This sets the tone for the poem because in Conrad’s novel, Mr. Kurt's lost his mind and

“The Hollow Men” also has a heavy usage of refrain, used to emphasize ideas or themes, and descriptive language, to create imagery. Overall, it has a somber sort of tone, created by Eliot’s use of words with a typically sad or negative connotation.

People in the past associated their writing with nature, God, and beings of the universe (Modernism). It was such a dramatic difference to the writers after World War I. People described modernist literature as scornful. (Modernism). Modernists believed that the transcendentalist views were coming to an end (Modernism). Many wrote their experiences of the horrors of War World I

T.S Eliot was the most famous English poet of his time, and he was one of the most influential poet. His distinctive style of writing took the attention of not only other poets, but many people all over the world. “Thomas Stearns Eliot is best known as a poet and literary critic (he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948), but his work in social and cultural theory has also been widely influential”(Edwards). T.S. Eliot's style of writing was mostly a pessimistic view on life. One of the best examples of his pessimistic view on life comes from his work The Hollow Men. The Hollow Men is a short part of the title The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. The Hollow

Thomas Stearns Eliot and Ernest Hemingway both captured the essence of the modern man during a time in history that the world was changing with the characters they created and the symbols used. “Modernism” was the name given to different styles of literature and art after World War I. This war was so horrific that many of the writers used their own experiences when creating their stories and poems. T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway both created characters that embody the “modern man” in two different, but similar ways. J. Alfred Prufrock from T.S. Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and Nick from Hemmingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River”. Both Prufrock and Nick share the characteristics of loneliness, anxiety, and finding their place, that represent the modern man during this era. Even though not all modern men are lonely, the characteristics, commonalities, and differences that both of these characters share are represented in these pieces of work.

T. S. Eliot was a man who strongly believed that poetry should represent life. He knew that life was complex, so that is why his poetry was difficult to understand not only for students writing research papers, but also for critics. He was the backbone of modernist poetry, who wrote mostly about darkness, despair, and depression in life. He tried and succeeded to capture the torment of the world during World War 1 and World War II (Shmoop "T.S. Eliot"). Eliot’s view of the human condition is evident in “The Hollow Men” through the issues of fear, despair, and depression.

T.S Eliot explores the struggle of individuals through reconciliation of their perspectives on the world and their place within it by displaying the thoughts and emotions of the personas in which embody him in the poems, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ and ‘The Hollow Men.’ The existentialistic view on things coupled with the experiences and discoveries which the personas have already made identifies the internal struggle and disillusionment with society that an individual has whilst undertaking the journey of self realization in fear of being rejected or unable to live a meaningful existence. In ‘The Love Song,’ Prufrocks’ inability to live a meaningful existence in the modern world stems from his humanity (or lack thereof) as his existentialism

The dictionary definition of modernism is “a style or movement in the arts that aims to break with classical and traditional forms.” In T.S Eliot’s Four Quartets two of the poem’s, Burnt Norton and The Dry Salvages embody the defining characteristics of modernism. Two of the main themes in the group of poem’s are man and the natural world around him, and existence in life. While these poems’ are complex and hard to follow, Eliot’s use of modernism is captured and related to social elements of the 20th century western world.

The end of The Hollow Men can only be the beginning of a deep and long reflection for thoughtful readers. T.S. Eliot, who always believed that in his end is his beginning, died and left his verse full of hidden messages to be understood, and codes to be deciphered. It is this complexity, which is at the heart of modernism as a literary movement, that makes of Eliot’s poetry very typically modernist. As Ezra Pound once famously stated, Eliot truly did “modernize himself”. Although his poetry was subject to important transformations over the course of his

W.B. Yeats famously said that poetry was born from a “quarrel with ourselves,” and Faulkner later added in his Nobel Prize Speech that good writing comes only from “the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself.” These insights are no more apt than when applied to the poetry of T.S. Eliot. Exploding onto the poetic scene in 1915, Eliot and his friend Ezra Pound were at the forefront of the modernist movement. They reacted strongly against the traditional techniques of the Georgians and others who came before them, who seemed to the modernists to be attempting to represent the modern world in a

Thomas Stearns Eliot was an eminent American poet of the twentieth century. In his early poetry, Eliot develops several characters who posses all characteristics of the modern man. However, Eliot’s personal views and poetry changed after years, as he indoctrinated to Christianity. His poems became more cheerful in tone and they started offering more propositions, instead of skepticism. Even though Eliot’s poetry experienced serious transformation, it carried similar aspects. All of his poems are intellectual, aesthetic and emotional, trying to pay tribute to the past and endorse the present. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and the set of four poems “Four Quartets” are good examples of Eliot’s outstanding and assorted poetry.