Modernist poem

To understand modernist poem first we must understand what is modern and how this thing we found in  Literature.

The word modern means something new which is not contemporary. Modernism was the period ( approximate) between 1890 and 1950.  The main two events of the period was the two world war.  This two world war has cast influence on the Literature of the period.

Characteristics of modernist Literature : 

When we talk about modernist Literature there are few characteristics of that Literature.

1. The radical disruption of liner flow of narrative.

2. They explore individual consciousness rather than narrative.

3. They make language central to artistic exploration.

4. There was a focused on individual and his alienation and confusion.

5. Modernist have interest in rhythm and fragments of everyday language.

6. In this Literature we found heavy use of symbolism and setting.

As this blog is part of my thinking activity Here I look some modernist  poem and try to find metaphor, symbols and imaginary.

1.   T. E. Hulme's  The Embankment. 

Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,

In a flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.
Now see I
That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy.
Oh, God, make small
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.

When I first read this poem I was confused about the whole Image if the poem. Because by looking at the words I got different picture of heels and then sky. At this time I was not able to connect that. 

After this I read the analysis  and I come to know about the actual picture of poem which talks about the fallen Gentleman and his past. Here in this poem it also talked about the flesh of gold heels that line is connected with prostitute but when I read the poem by my self I never thought that it may connect with the prostitute. 

2.  Ezra pound' s In a station of metro.

        

The  apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

When first I read the poem I have  image in my mind is of the place where is lot of croud. In which poet has stuck. When he look at the face he found that petals on a wet. 

When I read the analysis I found the same thing about that.The speaker, in a station at the Paris Metro underground system, observes that the faces of the crowds of people are like the petals hanging on the ‘wet, black bough’ of a tree. Yet this paraphrase already adds too much to Pound’s poem, or rather subtracts too much from it. 

3.  Joseph Campbell's Darkness : 

Darkness.
I stop to watch a star shine in the boghole –
A star no longer, but a silver ribbon of light.
I look at it, and pass on.

When I read the poem first time I was not able to understand the meaning of word boghole. And by reading it The image was in mind is that poet has may be seen the Star was Fall. Because he says the silver ribbon of light. 

When I read the analysis I come to know about the actual what poet ponts to say. But when I read the analysis I come to know that it talks about the downfall of  some kind of civilization. 

4.  Edward storer's Image : 

Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon,
Upon strange pyres of loneliness and drought.

When I read the title I come to know that it may talk about some image. When I read poem I have an image of moon which is facing loneliness in sky. 

When I read the analysis I come to know that it talk about the poem I come to Know that it is completely different that what I have imagined. The poem is actually talk about the modern people and their way of living. 

5. H. D. (. Hilda Doolittle) 's The phool. 

Are you alive? 

I touch you. 

You quiver like a sea-fish. 

I cover you with my net. 

What are you—banded one?

When I first read the poem I feel modernist touch. Because it very first asked the question are you alive? It also compare person with the fish. This thing I understand by reading the poem. 

When read the analysis I come to know that this poem talks about the Same things. The new thing I come to know about is symbolism of phool. The title it self has symbolism  The title "Pool" is  symbolize the stillness like water store in it which don't have flowness which is most important things in the life to flow from one to another.

6.Richard Aldington's  Insouciance.

IN and out of the dreary trenches,
Trudging cheerily under the stars,
I make for myself little poem
Delicate as a flock of doves.
They fly away like white-winged doves When I read the poem I have thought that in this poem poet talk about the port talks about him self. When I read about the poem I come to know that in this poem poet talks that how people lives there life's carelessly.  In the poem line "White-winged Doves" is used for modern culture of living life and feeling of isolation is there. 7. T.s. Eliot's  Morning at the window. They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens, And along the trampled edges of the street I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids Sprouting despondently at area gates. The brown waves of fog toss up to me Twisted faces from the bottom of the street, And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts An aimless smile that hovers in the air And vanishes along the level of the roofs.

When first I read the poem I  have  two three things in mind. I have thought that it must be talk about the house and morning. Because in bugging we see that it talk about breakfast kind is things.

When I read the analysis I come to know about actual meaning of poem. That this poem talks about the modern Life and  it's main idea of the poverty.

8. William Carlos Williams, ‘The Red Wheelbarrow' 

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

When I first read the poem the image in mind is of  some fectroy because it talks about the depending on something as well we see that it also talks about the wheel. Because it is modern poem this image was come in my mind.

 When I read the poem I come to know that poem is talk about the 

With four stanzas the poem describes in humongous detail not just a wheelbarrow but a whole scene, a moment stuck in time. Williams’s form in the poem accomplishes this by using the strange break points to emphasize certain words and letting the words and their rhythms work for themselves. 

9. Wallace Stevens, ‘Anecdote of the Jar‘ 

I placed a jar in Tennessee,   

And round it was, upon a hill.   

It made the slovenly wilderness   

Surround that hill.

The wilderness rose up to it,

And sprawled around, no longer wild.   

The jar was round upon the ground   

And tall and of a port in air.

It took dominion everywhere.   

The jar was gray and bare.

It did not give of bird or bush,   

Like nothing else in Tennessee.

When I read the poem I remember the poem I have studied in the last semester The  Grecian urn.  That poem was also like this. It also talk about the jar. 

When I read the analysis of poem I came to know that poem explores the question of the superiority between art and nature: Is nature superior to human creations, or does human creativity surpasses nature in some way? 

10.  E. E. Cummings, ‘l(a 

l(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

When I first see the poem there is question in my mind that what is the reason to write the poem in this way? 

When I read about the poem I came to know that this poem is on modern times. The poem was on loneliness. Here we aslo see that the death of human is connect with the fall of leaf.