20 th century literature “poetry”

1. 20th century literature “poetry”

2. Literature of the 20th century refers to world literature produced during the 20th century.

3. Twentieth century literature was influenced by Eliot, Joyce and Pound.

4. The majority of war poets were influenced by the ‘Georgian’ poetry movement. • The ‘Georgian’ poets considered themselves to be modern and innovative. They had their supporters, such as T S Elliott ”), and at the least they were seen as being more relevant than the late Victorian poets. •   Many of the war poets were keen readers of classic poetry from Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. The works of Shakespeare was also popular amongst them.

5. BACKGROUND In the early 19th century life and society seemed to have been turned upside down. Mass production had made the future uncertain for many people, there were monetary collapses in Central Europe and there were amazing advances in technology. Sound could be recorded and pictures could now be reproduced in vast amounts.

6. There were global wars and chaotic revolutions in Eastern Europe and weapons were more advanced and deadly than ever before. Soldiers could not see who they were trying to kill or who was trying to kill them. There was incredible suffering and people were now questioning the "glory" of war and distrusting their leaders.

7. Religious beliefs and the sense of individuality had been threatened by Darwin's Theory of Evolution and there was a sense of having been abandoned spiritually. Civilization as it had been in the 19th century was gone forever and there was an air of insecurity and distrust. Europe was like a wasteland and the Modernists attempted to express the Zeitgeist (spirit of the times) in their works.

8. Modernist poetry is a mode of writing characterized by two main features: • The first is technical innovation through the extensive use of free verse. • And the second a move away from the Romantic idea of an unproblematic poetic "self" directly addressing an equally unproblematic ideal reader or audience.

9. Another important feature of much modernist poetry in English is a clear focus on the surface of the poem. Much of this focuses on the literal meaning of the words on the page rather than any metaphorical or symbolic meanings that might be imputed to them.

10. The characteristics of the modern poetry: • Formal characteristics Open Form Free verse Discontinuous narrative Juxtaposition IntertextualityClassical allusions Borrowings from other cultures and languages Unconventional use of metaphor MetanarrativeFragmentation Multiple narrative points of view (parallax)

11. Thematic characteristics Breakdown of social norms Realistic embodiment of social meanings Separation of meanings and senses from the context Despairing individual behaviours in the face of an unmanageable future Spiritual loneliness Alienation Frustration Disillusionment Rejection of history Rejection of outdated social systems Objection to traditional thoughts and traditional moralities Objection to religious thoughts Substitution of a mythical past Two World Wars' effects on Humanity

12. The famous poets in the 20th century • T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) • Robert Frost (1874-1963) • James Joyce (1882-1941) • William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) • Ezra Pound (1885-1972)

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