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MODERNISM. Modernism. Common Elements of Modernism include A usage of free verse and other experimental poetry formats (Cummings) Individuality is praised
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Modernism • Common Elements of Modernism include • A usage of free verse and other experimental poetry formats (Cummings) • Individuality is praised • Themes of loneliness/isolation, violence, government control, depression, addiction, racial tension, war, secularism, and gender differences • Question maxims of past generations in light of war, technology, and revolutions
History • Modernism unofficially began with the dawn of WW I - 1914 • 15 million people were killed during the war • European powers formed alliances with their allies, engulfing all of Europe. • America entered late in the war - Avoided much of the casualties • England and Trench Warfare • The decline of England as the most powerful nation in the world • Also includes change in Western lifestyle as people leave the farm and head to the industrialized city.
T.S. Eliot • As a young man he suffered a religious crisis and a nervous breakdown before regaining his emotional equilibrium and Christian faith. • His early poetry, including "Prufrock," deals with spiritually exhausted people who exist in the impersonal modern city. • Prufrock is an example of modern man, highly educated yet socially inept in a world that he feels fails to understand him.
Dramatic Monologue • Prufrock” is a variation on the dramatic monologue • Three things characterize the dramatic monologue, • First, they are the utterances of a specific individual (not the poet) at a specific moment in time. • Secondly, the monologue is specifically directed at a listener or listeners whose presence is not directly referenced but is merely suggested in the speaker’s words. • Third, the primary focus is the development and revelation of the speaker’s character.
Questions • Provide a summary of the poem that explains the poem stanza by stanza. (Only need one sentence per stanza) • Find and explain the three allusions in the poem . • Choose three images and explain how they add to the author’s tone. • Why does the author change the beginning of stanzas from “Would it be” to “Would it have been”? • “When It’s All Too Much” • What is the thesis of the article? • How did you and your members score on the maximizer test? • Think of examples when we are unhappy with those around us because we think “we deserve only the best” • Do you agree that too many choices can actually make you less happy?
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot • “Like patient etherised upon the table”, “half-deserted streets” paints an image of a dreary landscape • “Talking of Michelangelo”- speaking of men much more powerful and memorable than himself. This idea is repeated throughout.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot • Images of cat drifting in and hiding from the crowd • “October night”- nearing the end • “There will be time to murder and create”- this idea is repeated throughout as an overwhelming symbol of indecisiveness and fear • “Do I dare disturb the universe?”- frightened to the point where the social gathering seems like a universe
Prufrock • “Pinned to the wall”- metaphor of being a insect pegged for display • “And how should I begin?” Nervous, Indecisive • “brought my head in on a platter” reference to the Apostle John • “Eternal Footman”= Death, laughs at him
Prufrock • “Would it have” – Did he even go, or did he just not try to speak? • “I am not Prince Hamlet.” Hamlet is also indecisive, nervous, jumpy. However, he is flamboyant and outspoken. The narrator believes he is a secondary character meant to set the stage for this type of man. • Mermaids and drowning- dreaming of women coming for you until the point where you drown in your own misery or are disappointed.
The Hollow Men • The Hollow Men is a message of Eliot’s view of a decaying world • He sees the world as worthless and finds faith to be a lost cause • Eliot wrote this series poem in a book called The Wastelands. The book is a reaction to his view of the world post WW I