Modernism Movement

1. Modernism Movement OrteciaGuity Aaliyah Carson Bri-Jae Scarbrough Winsinslow

2. What is the modernism movement ? • Modernism is characterized as a revolutionary force • In science Einstein was reassessing time, space, and our relationship to these concepts • In global politics two world wars was bracketed decades of intense technological advances in the mass killing of soldiers and civilians • In visual arts surrealism, futurism, abstraction, and cubism overthrew most accepted traditional ideas about pictorial representation. Surrealism Cubo-Futurism Semi-Abstract

3. Techniques of modernism • experimentation, • anti-realism, • individualism • intellectual • verbal cleverness • Juxtaposition, • irony, comparisons, • satire

4. Themes of modernism • The breaking down of social norms, • rejection of standard social ideas ,traditional thoughts and expectations, • objection to religion • anger towards the effects of the world wars • the rejection of the truth • rejection of history, • social systems • sense of loneliness • Reject Romanticism and Victorian Literature

5. Wallace Stevens • Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) • attended Harvard University as an undergrad from 1879 to 1900 • due to shortages of family funds he had to withdraw from the university • once out of Harvard he worked as a journalist for the New York Evening Post • his father counseled him to study law so he graduated from New York School of Law in 1904 and practiced law in New York city until 1916 • moved to Connecticut where he became vice president of a health insurance company

6. Notable works • Harmonium (1930) • Ideas of Order (1935) • The Man with the Blue Guitar (1942) • Collected Poems (1954)

7. The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun; and not to think Of any misery in the sound of the wind, In the sound of a few leaves, Which is the sound of the land Full of the same wind That is blowing in the same bare place For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

8. Snowman Analysis • overview: man realizes that he must • the snowman symbolizes the “mind of winter” • “mind of winter” is an extended metaphor of a mind that holds nothing • diction and imagery cause a gloomy/miserable tone • repetition of nothing • theme: the relation between imagination and reality

9. T.S Elliot • born September 26, 1888, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.—died January 4, 1965, London, England • T.S. Eliot was an American-English poet, playwright and literary critic • He won the Nobel Prize in 1948. • His first masterpiece was "The Love Song of J. Alfred Purfrock," • a leader of the modernist movement in poetry in such works as The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets(1943)

10. Notable Works • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock— 1915 • Gerontion (1920), • The Waste Land (1922), • The Hollow Men (1925), • Ash Wednesday (1930), • Four Quartets (1945)

11. THE HIPPOPOTAMUSby: T.S. Eliot (1920) The broad-backed hippopotamus Rests on his belly in the mud; Although he seems so firm to us He is merely flesh and blood. Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail, Susceptible to nervous shock; While the True Church can never fail For it is based upon a rock. The hippo's feeble steps may err In compassing material ends, While the True Church need never stir To gather in its dividends. The 'potamus can never reach The mango on the mango-tree; But fruits of pomegranate and peach Refresh the Church from over sea. At mating time the hippo's voice Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd, But every week we hear rejoice The Church, at being one with God. The hippopotamus's day Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts; God works in a mysterious way-- The Church can sleep and feed at once. I saw the 'potamus take wing Ascending from the damp savannas, And quiring angels round him sing The praise of God, in loud hosannas. Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean And him shall heavenly arms enfold, Among the saints he shall be seen Performing on a harp of gold. He shall be washed as white as snow, By all the martyr'd virgins kist, While the True Church remains below Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

12. Figurative Language • Tone • Biblical allusion • Symbolism

13. E.E Cummings • American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright • Produced 2,900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays and several essays • Also produced numerous drawings and paintings (an artist) • Wife and daughter (the effect of an affair) • Born on October 14, 1894 Cambridge, Massachusetts • Died of Hemorrhage at age 67 • Religion: Unitarian

14. Notable Works • Spring • Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town • Snow • A Pretty a Day • I Carry Your Heart With Me

15. Anyone lived in a pretty how town   by E. E. Cummings anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn't he danced his did Women and men(both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn't they reaped their same sun moon stars rain children guessed(but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew autumn winter spring summer) that noone loved him more by more when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and stir by still anyone's any was all to her someones married their everyones laughed their cryings and did their dance (sleep wake hope and then)they said their nevers they slept their dream stars rain sun moon (and only the snow can begin to explain how children are apt to forget to remember with up so floating many bells down) one day anyone died i guess (and no one stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april wish by spirit and if by yes. Women and men(both dong and ding) summer autumn winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain

16. Poetry Analysis • Notes • Anyone is a generalized term for joyous townspeople • No one is the woman referred to in the poem, so… anyone is in love with no one • Overall message: mankind is selfish and only cares for the living (disregards the dead) • Literary Devices • Metaphors • Symbolism • Couplet (rhyme used in two consecutive lines) • Repitition • Form • Quatrain (stanza of four lines)

17. Hilda Doolittle • Born: September 10, 1886 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania • An American poet, she attended University of Pennsylvania • Known for her association with the early imagist movement. • Work later developed into a more female centric version of modernism • Married once, but had a number of heterosexual and lesbian affairs. • She had an interest in Greek literature and her poetry often borrowed from Greek mythology

18. Notable Work • "Sea Rose" • "Garden" • "Mid-day" • "Hermes of the Ways" • "The Helmsman" • "Helen"

19. HelenBy: Hilda Doolittle HelenAll Greece hates the still eyes in the white face, the lustre as of olives where she stands, and the white hands. All Greece reviles the wan face when she smiles, hating it deeper still when it grows wan and white, remembering past enchantments and past ills. Greece sees, unmoved, God's daughter, born of love, the beauty of cool feet and slenderest knees, could love indeed the maid, only if she were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses. Hilda Doolittle

20. Analysis of Helen Literary Devices • Allusion • Imagery • Repetition • Irony • Symbolism • Tone • Compare and Contrast Form • End-stopped

21. Writing Prompts • Wallace Stevens constantly implanted aesthetic philosophy, dealing with the nature of beauty and art, in his poetry. In the following poems he discusses the conditions of winter. Read both poems carefully. Then write an essay in which you compare and contrast the two of them and analyze the relation between them. • The following poem is taken from Harmonium, a collection of poems written by the American poet Wallace Stevens. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well organized essay in which you analyze how he communicates his opinion about the power of imagination. • Write a well organize essay in which you analyze the literary techniques the author uses to characterize winter.

22. Quiz Questions 1. Which of the following was not a key element of modernist poetry? • experimentation • anti-realism • realism • individualism 2. What ideas did the modernist movement borrow from Romanticism? • an urban setting • willingness to break taboos • artist-centered view and retreat into irrationalism • stress on the cerebral 3. What theme does Steven’s, “The Snowman” embody? • the misery of winter • the importance of a snowman • the relationship between imagination and reality • speech of nature

23. Quiz Questions 1. What group of poets was Hilda Doolittle apart of before Modernism? a. Harlem Renassaince b. Realistic c. Romanticism d. Imagist • What was the tone of the poem “Helen” a. Depressed b. Happy c. Unforgiving d. Aposrtophe

24. Resources • http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-modernism • http://www.poemhunter.com/hilda-doolittle/ • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hd/hd.htm • http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/156 • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/e-e-cummings • http://www.internal.org/e_e_cummings • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/wallace-stevens • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/stevens/bio.htm • http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1948/eliot-bio.html • http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/eliot.htm