Modernist Characteristics
One of modernism's major themes addresses this feeling, which resulted from increased isolation and an urbanized society.
What is alienation?
Beginning with Germany's invasion of Belgium in 1914, the First World War was widely known by this title at the time.
What is The Great War?
"If I should die, think only this of me;
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England."
What is "The Soldier"?
Yeats's poem references the Second Coming, which refers to what belief in Christianity?
What is Jesus returning to Earth?
T.S. Eliot moved to England to study at Oxford, eventually renouncing citizenship in his home country.
What is the U.S.?
Modernist poetry often features this type of figurative language, which focuses on sharp language that appeals to the senses.
What is imagery?
Although many British men were patriotic at first, many had grown cynical by the time of armistice, which was signed in this year.
What is 1918?
"In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could page
Behind the wagon that we flung him in..."
What is "Dulce et Decorum Est"?
Auden's poem is an ekphrastic poem, reflecting on a painting with this mythical subject in the Musee des Beaux Arts.
Who is Icarus?
The poem calls attention to Prufrock's bald spot, revealing he is in this stage of life.
What is middle aged?
Modernist poetry often uses this narrative technique, which attempts to mirror the "flow" of the brain's thoughts and reactions.
What is stream of consciousness?
The end of WWI reshaped the world order, leading to the collapse of these empires. (Name one.)
What are the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires?
"So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together..."
What is "The Parable of the Old Man and the Young"?
In "The Second Coming," this creature "slouches toward Bethlehem to be born."
What is the sphinx?
Prufrock repeats his observation that women in the room speak of this Renaissance artist.
Who is Michelangelo?
Modernists often experimented with this structure, which pertains to how words are arranged in a sentence?
What is syntax?
Being raised in a family of great privilege, this poet was struck by grief over the death of his brother in the war and became a pacifist after his service.
Who is Siegfried Sassoon?
"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons."
What is "Anthem for Doomed Youth"?
Auden's poem references European painters from before 1800, who were known by this name.
What are the Old Masters?
The poem opens with an epigraph from this epic poem, which chronicles Dante's journey through Hell.
What is the Inferno?
Coined by Ezra Pound, this slogan became the rallying cry behind Modernism, emphasizing the movement's focus on breaking with the past.
What is "make it new"?
This poet wrote in the trenches of war and military hospitals and was killed just seven days before the end of the war.
Who is Wilfred Owen?
Tripping, he grabbed the wall; saw someone lie
Humped at his feet, half-hidden by a rug,
And stooped to give the sleeper's arm a tug..."
What is "The Rear-Guard"?
Yeats believes in this cyclical view of history, which begins in a rational state and dissolving into chaos.
What is a gyre?
Prufrock alludes to this biblical figure, who Jesus raised from the dead in the New Testament.
Who is Lazarus?