Topic 5
Modernism
is a philosophical, religious, and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, and social organization which reflected the newly emerging industrial world, including features such as urbanization, architecture, new technologies, and war. Artists attempted to depart from traditional forms of art, which they considered outdated or obsolete. The poet Ezra Pound's 1934 injunction to "Make it New" was the touchstone of the movement's approach.Modernist innovations included abstract art, the stream-of-consciousness novel, montage cinema, atonal and twelve-tone music, divisionist painting and modern architecture. Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and made use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody. Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists also rejected religious belief. A notable characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness concerning artistic and social traditions, which often led to experimentation with form, along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating works of art.
While some scholars see modernism continuing into the 21st century, others see it evolving into late modernism or high modernism. Postmodernism is a departure from modernism and rejects its basic assumptions. The five most striking features of modernism are individualism experimentation absurdity symbolism formalism.
TPCASTT can help you analyze a poem.
Robert Lee Frost
(March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frequently honored during his lifetime, Frost is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic institution". He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont.The ‘The Mending Wall’ describes how the speaker and a neighbor meet to rebuild a stone wall between their properties—a ritual repeated every spring. This ritual raises some important questions over the course of the poem, as the speaker considers the purpose of borders between people and the value of human work.
‘After apple picking’ focuses on someone who's exhausted after a long day's work in an apple orchard. Drifting between wakefulness and sleep, the poem's speaker replays the day's events while feeling anxious about all the apples left unpicked.
An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word to plus a verb (in its simplest "stem" form) and functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb. The term verbal indicates that an infinitive, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being. Infinitives can be used nominally eg: He likes to run. [a direct object] Infinitives can be used as adjectives eg: I need a book to read. [a modifier of book] Infinitives can be used as adverbs eg:To listen well, you need a quiet place. [Why do you need a quiet place?]
The ‘The Mending Wall’ describes how the speaker and a neighbor meet to rebuild a stone wall between their properties—a ritual repeated every spring. This ritual raises some important questions over the course of the poem, as the speaker considers the purpose of borders between people and the value of human work.
‘After apple picking’ focuses on someone who's exhausted after a long day's work in an apple orchard. Drifting between wakefulness and sleep, the poem's speaker replays the day's events while feeling anxious about all the apples left unpicked.
An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word to plus a verb (in its simplest "stem" form) and functioning as a noun, adjective, or adverb. The term verbal indicates that an infinitive, like the other two kinds of verbals, is based on a verb and therefore expresses action or a state of being.
Infinitives can be used nominally eg: He likes to run. [a direct object]
Infinitives can be used as adjectives eg: I need a book to read. [a modifier of book]
Infinitives can be used as adverbs eg:To listen well, you need a quiet place. [Why do you need a quiet place?]