Disillusionment and Rebellion in Modernism

In “Spring and All”, Williams personifies spring, and the season takes on anthropological attributes, to change the dimension of the poem. When Williams brings up the season, he characterizes “spring” as “sluggish and dazed” (line 14-15). He uses these attributes to describe the season in order to personify the spring season, in order to make it more relatable to the reader. Williams’ poem is personified again, in a way that defines the cyclical nature of plant life. Williams describes plants as entering “the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter” (line 16-18) therefore comparing plants to human babies by using the words “naked” and “uncertain”. The use of these keywords furthers his intention for the reader to relate directly with the natural realm. He spends a significant amount of detail in defining the characteristics of dead plants. This image is significant to the poem, as leads us to knowing that winter is truly exanimate and cold. In the context of the entire poem, it tells us that there has to be a death in order for a new life to

The portrayal of alienation and existential nihilism inherent in modern life pervades T.S Eliot’s poems, therefore, directly resonating with Jeanette Winterson’s perspective of the modernist writer. By exploring the isolation of men and the futility of life in a modernised society through ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ (1915) and ‘Preludes’ (1915), T.S Eliot questions the uncertainty of the Modernistic lifestyle. Both these poems which are derived from T.S Eliot’s historical and cultural context in Post-war Europe, present aloofness and nihilism as manifestations of the superficiality and pretensions of the modern urban environment. T.S Eliot’s poetry has transformed the world of modernist poetry and remains valued as contemporary society

Elliot’s “The Waste Land.” Each author highlights the meaning of rivers; Crane begins with the East River, which then grows into the Hudson and onto the Mississippi and Eliot with the River Thames. To each author the river has a distinct meaning. To Eliot, the River Thames is symbolic of the collapse of western civilization, which doesn’t factor into Crane’s piece. In “The Waste Land,” Eliot-like most British poets-immortalize the Thames. Despite how he depicts this, in the modern world it is just a dirty river. Eliot’s background causes him to symbolize the Thames differently than a reader would in the U.S. Similarly, a reader outside of the U.S. will symbolize the East, Hudson, and Mississippi Rivers completely different than Crane and other Americans. Foster believes that the connection in how one interprets a symbol, and their personal background goes hand in hand. Otherwise, everyone would connect the Thames to Eliot’s beliefs, or the Mississippi and Hudson according to Crane’s ideas. Rather Foster believes that it is important for a reader to have the freedom to interpret the text

In ‘I kneel to pick frail melancholy flowers among ashes and loam’ a tone of loneliness and sadness is established as the persona enters. Harwood describes the violets as ‘frail’ and ‘melancholy’, terms that arn’t usually associated with flowers. This is also explored in the juxtaposition of ‘ashes’ and ‘loam’. Ash is symbolic of death and decay which contradicts the ‘loam’, symbolic of life and birth. The persona’s dark and unpleasant perceptions reveal their uncertainty and state of mind. The present tense indicates the persona’s adulthood and their sense of longing and unsatisfaction conveyed through the nostalgic delivery of

Though the start of the modernisation may trace back to the beginning of Industrial Revolution. “Modernism in the design world did not exist in a fully developed form, until well after First World War.” (Wilk, 2006) Causing the great loss of lives and other countless damage to the world, it reshaped many people’s way of thinking the world. With the inspiration of early avant-garde movement, the modernism began to emerge advocating an utopian future and shared certain core principles by various styles of modernists: rejecting the past and applied ornament; forms follow function, a preference for

Authors wanted to revolutionize arts and audience worldwide. This was done by the creation of tools that helped excel the “American Dream”. Some of the major authors in this time included T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein (Modernism). There are two different groupings of modernism, which are modernism and post modernism. In the beginning, “early modernists used elements of experimentation, freedom, radicalism, and utopianism” (Modernism). After the war, “post-modernists, however, rebelled against many modernist elements and instead depicted disillusionment and elements of dystopian ideas—dehumanized and fearful lives” (Modernism). Many different historical aspects influenced the upcoming of the modernist movement such as publications of scientific theories, technological inventions that globalized society, Sigmund Freud’s change in the discipline of psychology, new concepts of ethics, morality, and ideals, and artistic movements (Modernism).

Modernism began around the late 1800s or early 1900s, with artists and writers in Europe producing many extraordinary and influential works. This period spans many events, including both World Wars and the Great Depression. World War I appeared to be a major event that helped to start Modernism; this was because of the destruction and ruin that came from it and events that followed. This poem is consistent with the values of Modernism because of alienation, time, and self- consciousness; however, it continues to resonate with readers today because isolation, change, and insecurities are things that humans may face.

The mistrust of the world which is at the center of modernism can be attributed to the world wars and the psychological effect that it had on the individual. The horrors and violence altered public perceptions of life, a change that is evident within writers of the time period. The focus of writing shifted from the outward world to inner thoughts and feelings and overall representation of an individual’s stream of consciousness which are themes associated with modern text. In “Impact of Modernism”, focuses on the idea that world needed new outlets for expression and in finding them rejected the tradition that was already there with the quote, “Many modernists believed that by rejecting tradition they could discover radically new ways of making art.” (Impact) .The world no longer had the beauty it once did so a a discovery of new arts were needed. The mind of an individual became that new found inspiration and beauty that modern writers needed and for that reason it was one of the main focuses of modern

T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land explores modernism, specifically focusing on the troubling of binaries and the breakdown of the traditional. The boundaries between life and death, wet and dry, male and female, and more are called into question in Eliot’s conception of modernity and the waste land. The blurring of gender boundaries—significantly through Tiresias and the hooded figure scene in “What the Thunder Said”— in the poem lends itself to Eliot’s suggestion that traditional masculinity breaks down and decays in the waste land. Traditional masculinity is further challenged through Eliot’s criticism of hyper-masculinity and heterosexual relations in the modern era through allusions to the myth of Philomela and the “young man carbuncular” scene in “The Fire Sermon.” Along with this, Eliot stages scenes charged with homoeroticism to further challenge ideas of traditional masculinity. Homoerotic scenes such as the “hyacinth girl” scene in “The Burial of the Dead” and the Mr. Eugenides scene in “The Fire Sermon” suggest an intensity and enticement towards male-male relations, while also offering a different depiction of masculinity than is laid out in the heterosexual romance scenes. Through scenes depicting queer desire and homosexual behavior, Eliot suggests that masculinity in the modern era does not need to be marked by aggression and

Modernism was a movement that was developed during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Modernism developed due to the changes happening in societies at the time. Around the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century there was a rise in the industrial society’s where there were advancements in technologies and machines, and a rapid growths in cities. This lead to a change in cultural trends and philosophies, which is known as modernism. Modernism was well known for the rejection on traditional way, such as the arts and beliefs. It rejected the idea of realism and religious beliefs. During these years modernism could be distinguished by two aspects, High and Low Modernism.

Message of Hope in Eliot's The Waste Land, Gerontion, and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Most first time readers of Eliot's work would, probably, agree that his poems read as bleak and depressing. They would also say that many of his poems portray society as having a terminal illness, but when we look deeper you can see that amid the anguish not all is lost and there is hope to be found among the ruins. "The Wasteland", is an amalgamation of fragmented images that are disturbing and, yet, at times beautifully poetic. The juxtaposition of the ugly landscape and the lyricism with which it is conveyed lend the poem an

In this discussion of Eliot’s poem I will examine the content through the optic of eco-poetics. Eco- poetics is a literary theory which favours the rhizomatic over the arborescent approach to critical analysis. The characteristics of the rhizome will provide the overarching structure for this essay. Firstly rhizomes can map in any direction from any starting point. This will guide the study of significant motifs in ‘The Waste Land.’ Secondly they grow and spread, via experimentation within a context. This will be reflected in the study of the voice and the language with which the poem opens. Thirdly rhizomes grow and spread regardless of breakage. This will allow for an

What further contributed to the rise of modernism was the First World War, which shell-shocked many. People lost their sense of certainty and it made them change their points of views. It made modernists question civilisation. This is seen in T.S Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” which questions

Eliot’s creative use of poetic form is one of the hallmarks of “The Wasteland” and greatly contributed to the overall tone and mood. The structure of the poem is uneven and almost discordant. It rapidly transitions between various unrelated scenes at a rapid pace. For example, “I read, much of the night and go south in the winter/What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow…” (19-20) illustrates an abrupt shift in the setting which includes the speaker, time, and place. In the first line, the reader is listening to the story of Marie. In the second line, however, the reader has been transported to a desert: a literal wasteland. This choppy stream of images emphasizes a message about society: like the poem, society does not progress smoothly and can even be unpredictable.