Introduction to Modernist

1
Introduction to Modernist

• 1914 1940
• Imagism
• T.S. Eliot

2
Imagism

• Major poets
• Ezra Pound
• H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)

3
Characteristics of Imagist Poetry

• Reaction to Romantic fuzziness and facile
  emotionalism
• Direct treatment of the thing through
  presentation of an image a concrete, firm,
  definite picture
• Suggestion, not statement, of the abstraction of
  meaning
• Concentration avoidance of all words that do
  not contribute to the presentation
• Creation of new rhythms to the specifications of
  the emotion to be conveyed, not to any specific
  poetic meter

4
T.S. Eliot

• The central practitioner of modernist poetry
• Like Imagists, in revolt against Romanticism
• The ego, uncontrolled by social institutions is
  sub-human
• The essential human personality is the individual
  in the context of social institutions
• True poetry is impersonal takes the stuff of
  the poets life and transforms it into something
  else
• One of the key elements of true poetry is an
  awareness of the poetic tradition of which it
  becomes a part.

5
Other influences on Eliot

• 1912 New edition of the work of 17th century
  poet John Donne
• Penchant for highly intellectual poetry
• Penchant for shocking and obscure imagery and
  rough verse

6
Characteristics of Eliots poetry

• Imagistic
• Colloquial language and slang
• Allusiveness, suggestiveness
• Complex and layered
• Uses irony and puns to express several levels of
  meaning at the same time

7
Image patterns in Eliot

• Salvation
• Innocence
• Rose/Hyacinth Garden
• Young girl
• Young Hero
• Purification by water
• Purgation by fire
• Detachment
• Awareness of past
• cultural achievements
• Aware of past
• rose garden experiences

• Damnation
• Experience of fallen world
• Dry barren desert
• Young girl betrayed/abandoned
• Love destroyed
• Death by water
• Destruction by fire
• Clutching or indifference
• Disguises
• No memory