The Cultural Conflict of Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
By imitating writing styles of ancient poets, Ezra Pound exhibited his attitude toward modern civilization, and his famous poem, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, is the stereotype. In this poem, Pound revealed his disagreement with industrial society. The poem is an imitation of other old poetic styles, or epic style; however, it presents ironic meaning. To fully understand Pound's divergence from modern culture, the ways of presenting his position will be firstly explained. Next, the focus is on the contrast between the elitist and popular culture. Finally, to highlight Pound's attitude, I prefer to make comparison with other literary masterpieces, Odyssey, which have similar poetic style,
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The focus of Ezra Pound's cultural conflict is the contrast between high culture and popular culture. And, the source of the conflict has a close relationship with a modern technological advance in human history, the industrial revolution. The revolution not only changed people's life but also influenced the way of thinking. As a result, materialism and capitalism influenced industrialized areas. With the advance of technology, it improved human's living standard on the physical side, but decreased the spiritual level. To some persons like Ezra Pound, it is the end of Western civilization rather than the physical improvement of man's life. Hence, "Pound comes to terms with his historical situation not by abandoning his ideal of high art, but by maintaining it in ironic contrast to the products of modern culture."i[i] Literary work itself, like a mirror, reflects cultural facts of its contemporary period, and "Pound considered the art of a society to be an index to its vitality"ii[ii] In "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley," there is a clear line between elitist and popular art, or the ideal and the reality. This kind of distinction is the result of explosive growth of capital society that overpowers and endangers high culture; yet ambitious poets could not disregard the sign. An ideal situation is that both modern technology and culture should grow at equal rate.
This quote represents the way that the author’s anti-utopian style further depicts the alienation between people and literature, as well as the isolation of people from other people, as a negative effect of the advancements of modern technology.
Explain how particular features of at least two of Wilfred Owen's poems set for study interact to affect your response to them.
Throughout the ages, poetry has played--and continues to play--a significant part in the shaping of a generation. It ranges from passionate sonnets of love to the gruesome realities of life. One such example of harsh realism is Wilfred Owen 's "Dulce et Decorum Est." Owen 's piece breaks the conventions of early 20th Century modernism and idealistic war poetry, vividly depicts the traumatizing experiences of World War I, and employs various poetic devices to further his haunted tone and overall message of war 's cruel truths.
In the era of technological advancements, one can not help but fall into its trap. It is starting to replace our ability to question, reason and even think. The works of Ray Bradbury in his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 portrays the devastating effects of technology in the face of mankind. It follows the life of Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books instead of putting fires out. As he develops a love for books, he starts to question and notice their technology-dependent life. His worries take him to Faber, an English professor who explains him a great deal about the why the society is the way it is. Using juxtaposition and personification, the author demonstrates that technology restricts knowledge and creates ignorance in society.
Wilfred Owen’s poetry is shaped by an intense focus on extraordinary human experiences. In at least 2 poems set for study, explore Owen’s portrayal of suffering and pity.
In the poem Exposure by Wilfred Owen, Owen has used some language techniques to appeal to my imagination by using personification, repetition and alliteration. By analysing the poems language techniques in-depth to see a bigger picture of how traumatising their experience's during the war were like and how severely nature's wrath tormented the soldiers, and to see what the poem is trying to convey. Owens most important message in the poem is to avoid war at all cost because of the harshness of nature and how tormenting it
In Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, the protagonist in the book, lives in a period of time where television is imperative while literature is on the verge of eradicating. Bradbury portrays a society where entertainment is not only a distraction, but it becomes a dominant aspect in the way individuals function in society. Furthermore, Montag’s ideal world is a world that sees a concept in books rather than television. We live in a world full of advanced technology, however there are drawbacks in the midst of the benefits. Fahrenheit 451 is an example that depicts the disadvantages that comes with the overuse of technology.
The purpose of war is again in question through the ironic titles evidenced in most of Owen’s poems. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, the sweet and fitting death is contrasted against the bitter and
William Blake’s “London” and Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” appear to have little in common. Although at first they may seem different, they have many hidden similarities. Ultimately, Blake and Owen enhance the overall message presented in their poems by allowing the reader to fully gasp the meaning by connecting them through their senses, the overall consequences of the event, and the importance of the issue.
Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.
Pound discusses in his text “As the sun makes it new, Day by day make it new, Yet again make it new,” he talks about focusing on one thing at a time or one day at a time. You can not continue on with your journey if you have possibly missed something along the way. Pound became the face for new American poetry in the 1930’s, even influencing some of his friends, William Carlos Williams, E.E. Cummings, and Hart Crane. They called the influential poets’ works ‘the American idiom’ which means that there writings portrayed how people were really feeling during this time. They were basically the voice for the people when they did not know that they had
The turn of the 20th Century marks a substantial evolution for the pursuit of English Literature responding to the larger socio-political developments berthed by the rapid onset of industrialization. The Modern Tradition of English literature, as literary critics refer to the period today, transforms our understanding of english literary mechanics in that both poets and authors examined the repercussions of industrial society on urbanites and rural peoples alike through experimental prose and verse styles, forever changing the English Language. In particular, the poetry of T.S Eliot in his breakout poem, “The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock” written in 1915, and “Not Waving but Drowning” written by poetess Steve Smith in 1953, reflect a particular sentiment spanning an entire generation of both poetic and public society in which the burdens of modern living within a capitalist society complicate man and women’s ability to express their individuality, much less understand their place among the vastness of the cosmos. By reading Steve Smith’s “Not Waving but Drowning” as it relates to themes such as misunderstanding helplessness in the face of doom which T.S Eliot employs in, “The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, one finds that Smith’s drowning man compounds our understanding of Prufrock’s suffering; two individuals who fail to discover themselves, nor any meaningful purpose and life; and offers an response to despair through the voice of the drowned man’s friends that
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, changes in the dynamics of society caused intellectuals to question the traditions of everyday life. From religious views to the arts of literature, traditional values and forms were rejected, thus defining a line between the two time periods, which can be considered as the start of the Modern era. Also known as Modernism, the modern era used literature as an outlet for expressing the thoughts and feelings of the time. Modern texts use city life, industrialization and globalization, and ironic and satirical themes to showcase their bleak outlook on life post both world wars. The nature of these events are aspects of society
American society is known for having the highest standard of living across the globe; this is solely due to the consumerist culture that is brought forth by capitalism. Americans in the U.S. take pride in these standards and in the freedoms that this democratic nation has established. The 20th century will always be remembered in American history as a century of radical changes on the social and political fronts of the nation. Literature, too, evolved quickly from specific, compartmentalized fields which fit into categories, to works which had no set definition—nobody knew what to do with them. These changes also took place in poetry; artistic expression began to change across the arts and so did the mediums. Poets across the nation
European Modernism and American Modernism, while sharing broadly similar characteristics, engage in different projects. In Europe, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound found potential solutions in Conservatism (involving Eliot’s concern with tradition) and new modes of organic social organization (represented by Pound’s acceptance of Fascism). The Dadaists and Italian Futurists adopted a subversive and negative eye towards the present in desire for the future. Abstract artists and atonal composers were examining ways to represent a search for truth in a way that overcame the bourgeois art and music of the past. In America, life was dominated by an explosion of wealth and prosperity in the wake of World War I. In some instances, soldiers and citizens became expatriates. Hemingway and Fitzgerald stand out as representatives of two parts of American Modernism. Fitzgerald focuses on life in the United States in all of its excess and search for deeper connection amid vapidity. Hemingway shows the life of the post-war American who is aware of the change in the world and strives for enjoyment and direction in activities like bull fighting, hunting, love, and drinking.