Modernist Poetry (AT2-AU-ENGADV-11-2020)

My English assignment exploring Modernist poetry, featuring examples from Walt Whitman, and Ezra Pound.

Transcript

1. MODERNIST POETRY There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. - Ernest Hemingway JUNE 23, 2020 LIKE A SKEIN OF LOOSE SILK BLOWN AGAINST A WALL SHE WALKS BY THE RAILING OF A PATH IN KENSINGTON GARDENS. AND SHE IS DYING PIECEMEAL OF A SORT OF EMOTIONAL ANEMIA. AND ROUND ABOUT THERE IS A RABBLE OF THE FILTHY, STURDY, UNKILLABLE INFANTS OF THE VERY POOR. THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH. IN HER IS THE END OF BREEDING. HER BOREDOM IS EXQUISITE AND EXCESSIVE. SHE WOULD LIKE SOME ONE TO SPEAK TO HER, AND IS ALMOST AFRAID THAT I WILL COMMIT THAT INDISCRETION. Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,The question, O me! so sad, recurring— What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity,That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
2. Presentation Overview Points of Discussion What is Modernism? Elements and Features Industrialism and Individuality - Walt Whitman Caste Systems and Inequality - Ezra Pound QUESTION: REPRESENT YOUR CONSIDERED INTERPRETATION OF MODERNIST POETRY, EVALUATING THE WAYS IN WHICH MODERNIST PERSPECTIVES ARE CONVEYED IN AND THROUGH THEIR TEXTS.
3. What Is Modernism?
4. ELEMENTS AND FEATURES DISILLUSIONMENT STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS UNRELIABLE NARRATORS
5. Identity
6. Walt Whitman Industrialism and Individuality BACKGROUND Born in Huntington, NY, USA “Father of free verse” Left school at age 11 to work in Brooklyn Worked in Washington D.C. hospitals during the American Civil War Whitman’s work was part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism “I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demigod” (Whitman, 1867)
7. Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d, Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined, The question, O me! so sad, recurring— What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here— that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. Industrialism and Individuality: Oh Me! Oh Life!
8. Ezra Pound Caste Systems and Inequality BACKGROUND Born in Hailey, ID, USA Dropped out of Cheltenham Military Academy to attend a local high school Advocate for transcendentalism in literature "Pound is more responsible for the 20th- century revolution in poetry than is any other individual.” (T.S. Eliot)
9. LIKE A SKEIN OF LOOSE SILK BLOWN AGAINST A WALL SHE WALKS BY THE RAILING OF A PATH IN KENSINGTON GARDENS. AND SHE IS DYING PIECEMEAL OF A SORT OF EMOTIONAL ANEMIA. AND ROUND ABOUT THERE IS A RABBLE OF THE FILTHY, STURDY, UNKILLABLE INFANTS OF THE VERY POOR. THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH. IN HER IS THE END OF BREEDING. HER BOREDOM IS EXQUISITE AND EXCESSIVE. SHE WOULD LIKE SOME ONE TO SPEAK TO HER, AND IS ALMOST AFRAID THAT I WILL COMMIT THAT INDISCRETION. Caste Systems and Social Inequality: The Garden