Summary Of Literary Modernism In The Waste Land

“Modernism is a catchall term for any kind of literary production in the interwar period that deals with the modern world” (Baym, Levine, and Franklin 663). Literary work that was created during this timeframe was established during the late nineteenth century. Most modernism authors wrote about “material culture, journalism, magazines, race, gender, nationalism, the body, emotion, popular and commercial culture” (Currell 232). Some key aspects of modernism works include fragments of information, perceptions, or experiences. Oftentimes, “a typical modernist work may seem to begin arbitrarily, to advance without explanation, and to end without resolution, consisting of vivid segments juxtaposed without cushioning or integrating transitions” (Baym, Levine, and Franklin 663-664). Influenced by the modernism literacy movement, “Babylon Revisited” and “A Rose for Emily” portray the impact that love has on one’s life; the former text portrays how a change in one’s life circumstances can be used to help try and bring a family back together; whereas the latter

Modernism is when writers proclaimed a new "subject matter" for literature and the writer feels that its new way of looking at life required a new form, a new way of writing. The writers of this period tend to pursue more experimental and usually more highly individualistic forms of

Modernist literature began between 1915-1935, writers mainly wrote fiction this is because they started to question what the future was going to bring since they were living through both World War. Modernists wrote their stories in first person which made their stories seem like a stream of consciousness, irony and satires. This type of literature was mainly written in English and became well known due to the increase of globalization, which was more about how the people felt about the events going on and how the people were affected in other words it spoke from the inner self of the writer. Many famous writers including Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald believed that the increase in new technology was leading to the decrease in civilization which was making individuals lonely.

After the conclusion of World War One, many artists experienced a sense of psychological dislocation from the traditional values of the romantic period of literature. Formerly anchored points of meaning (country, status, etc.) by which people had defined their lives were lost or rendered meaningless in the aftermath of the war. However, this lack of meaning was not merely a side effect of World War One; rather its roots lay with the rampant industrialisation of the world and the subsequent belief among many westerners that there was nothing left to discover. Attempts by the next generation of artists and writers, desperate to carve out meaning from the chaos of the new geopolitical landscape, were characterised under the banner of modernism,

The birth of the modernist movement in American literature was the result of the post-World War I social breakdown. Writers adopted a disjointed fragmented style of writing that rebelled against traditional literature. One such writer is William Faulkner, whose individual style is characterized by his use of “stream of consciousness” and writing from multiple points of view.

The literary modernism time period was a movement in literature that started in the early 1890s and was very eventful. During this era there were many considerable events taking place such as The Great War (also known as “World War One”), which started in 1914. This War lasted for four years and finally ended in 1918, but its effects lasted much longer. The financial instability of Europe and death caused by this First World War gave people a sense of patriotism that unified them. It made people think of not only the society as a whole, but themselves as individuals ("Modernism."). This new individualist mindset made people think more about their thoughts and actions than they had ever previously done before. Because individuals thought

Authors wanted to revolutionize arts and audience worldwide. This was done by the creation of tools that helped excel the “American Dream”. Some of the major authors in this time included T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein (Modernism). There are two different groupings of modernism, which are modernism and post modernism. In the beginning, “early modernists used elements of experimentation, freedom, radicalism, and utopianism” (Modernism). After the war, “post-modernists, however, rebelled against many modernist elements and instead depicted disillusionment and elements of dystopian ideas—dehumanized and fearful lives” (Modernism). Many different historical aspects influenced the upcoming of the modernist movement such as publications of scientific theories, technological inventions that globalized society, Sigmund Freud’s change in the discipline of psychology, new concepts of ethics, morality, and ideals, and artistic movements (Modernism).

The Waste Land, written by T.S. Eliot, is poem portraying the lack and/or the corruption of culture in England during the post WWI period. Eliot uses a form of symbolism, in which he uses small pieces from popular literary works, to deliver his message. He begins by saying that culture during the post WWI period is a “barren wasteland.” Eliot goes on to support this claim by saying that people in England are in a sort of shock from the violence of World War I. Eliot believes that the lack of culture open doors for immorality to grow among the populace.

The time period of 1915-1935 was affected by the great depression and World War I. Modernist authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and Willa Cather helped shape this time period with their use of modernism. Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes. All these writers use examples of modernism. F. Scott Fitzgerald is a well-known modernist author. He is famous for his short story called The Great Gatsby.

T.S. Eliot in the twentieth-century wrote what is today widely-regarded as one of the most important text of modernist poems, “The Waste Land.” This poem evaluates many aspects of ancient and contemporary culture and customs, and how the contemporary culture has degraded into a wasteland. In “The Waste Land,” Eliot conjures, through allusions to multiple religions and works of literature in five separate sections, a fragmented and seemingly disjointed poem. Eliot repeatedly alludes to western and eastern cultural foundation blocks to illustrate the cultural degradation prevalent in the modern era of England. One specific eastern example is brought up in the third section of the poem, which T.S. Eliot names “Fire Sermon,” an allusion to

This reinforces Eliot's claim that, 'Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood'. The theme's that run throughout 'The Wasteland', such as sterility, isolation and death, are applicable to both the landscapes and the characters. When drawn together, it is these themes that give the poem structure and strength, and the use of myth mingled with historic, anthropological, religious and metaphysical images reinforce its universal quality.

If René Descartes’ “Cogito Ergo Sum” embodies the essence of what it means to be a unified and rational Cartesian subject, then T.S. Eliot’s “heap of broken images” eagerly embraces its fragmented and alienated (post)modern counterpart. The message this phrase bears, resonates throughout the entire poem: from its title, “The Waste Land”, to its final mantra “Shantih shantih shantih”.

Modernism in film and literature often begins with space and distance. The modernist movement in the early to mid-20th century sought to change the way we look at art and its expression of inner human turmoil. Influenced by the German Expressionist movement that “attempted to show a distorted view of [the] world to evoke a mood or idea” (Crabbe), modernist narratives use space to allow the reader or viewer to actively engage with the character and have more self-conscious and subjective interpretation towards the novel so as to create the strong bond with the novel. Often, modernism narratives style replaces the claustrophobia of first-person narration styles, welcoming third-person forms that provide readers subjective interpretation of the story. Also, modernism

“The Wasteland,” written by American-born British poet T.S. Eliot, is an epic poem that characterizes the Modernist movement. The poem captures the gloomy mindset of post-WWI society and profoundly guides the savage destruction of the Great War. “The Wasteland” was Eliot’s masterpiece and went on to become one of the most influential poems of the 20th century. It exemplifies many of his specific techniques and is well-known because of its inventive poetic form. In the poem, Eliot skillfully utilizes form, symbolism, and diction to depict the horrors of war’s aftermath, signify the death of Western culture, and convey the dreary worldwide view of the Modernist movement.

What further contributed to the rise of modernism was the First World War, which shell-shocked many. People lost their sense of certainty and it made them change their points of views. It made modernists question civilisation. This is seen in T.S Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” which questions