Modernism is a literary and cultural international movement which flourished in the first decades of the 20th century. Modernism is not a term to which a single meaning can be ascribed. It may be applied both to the content and to the form of a work, or to either in isolation. It reflects a sense of cultural crisis which was both exciting and disquieting, in that it opened up a whole new vista of human possibilities at the same time as putting into question any previously accepted means of grounding and evaluating new ideas. Modernism is marked by experimentation, particularly manipulation of form and by the realization that knowledge is not absolute.
Modernism as a movement cab be recognized not only in literature but also in
- The Science
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Anthropology
- Painting
- Music
- Sculpture
- Architecture
- W.B. Yeats
- Ezra Pound
- T.S. Eliot
- E.M. Rilke
- T.E. Hulme
- Joseph Campbell
- Richard Aldington
- Carlos Williams
Following are my observation in identifying modernist metaphors in the following short poems:
1. 'The Embankment' - T.E. Hulme
(The fantasia of a fallen gentleman on a cold, bitter night.)
Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,
In the 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.
A short paraphrase of the poem on London's Embankment is an area well-known for homeless people sleeping rough. It means that people aren't having their home which is one of their basic need. They even don't have the blanket to cover their body at night and at that time poet feels that warmth is more important than any fancy things.
2. 'Darkness' - Joseph Campbell
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.
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.
The title itself reflects the dark shade which gives the negative feeling. Darkness also symbolizes the downfall. If we read further poem then poet tells that it's night time and the sky is without the stars. The star are the symbol of goodness, positivity, light and hope. Here poet tries to portrait the decayed condition of the civilization.
3. 'Image'- Edward Storer
Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon
Upon strange Pyres loneliness and drought.
The 'Forsaken lovers' means people of civilization are burning. Here burning in which sense I'm not sure about, but I think with loneliness and drought. This brokenness of civilization is of the situation after the world wars. We can also connect this poem with one of the Universal Human Laws: 'Fatal love and Inevitable Death.'
4. 'In a Station of the Metro'- Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the
Crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The title of the poem itself gives the image of how the life of people have became like machine. It shows that people of the civilization has one scheduled life. If we try to see this image form top view than we can feel that peoples are also working like machines to complete their basic needs in life. Here 'petals' means people and 'black bough' means culture of living dead.
5. 'The Pool'- Hilda Doolittle
Are you alive?
I touch you
You quiver trembling like a sea-fish
I cover you with my net
What are you- banded one?
The title of the poem gives us an image of stored water. Water is a symbol of purity and rebirth but here the water is stored in a pool. Which symbolize the lifelessness and monotones life like a 'fish caught in net'.
6. 'Insouciance'- Richard Aldington
In and out of the dreary trenches
Trudging cheerily under the stars
I make for myself little poems
Delicate as a flock of doves
They fly away like white-winged
doves.
'Dreary trenches' is used as a metaphor for the ups and downs of the life. In this poem we have many contrasting images like 'Trudging' and 'cheerily'. In the last lines it shows that poet is not willing to live in the atmosphere around him but he has to. Thus he becomes a small poem which shows the so-called brightness and his aggressiveness to be free from the hypocrite society.
7. 'Morning at the Window'- T.S. Eliot
They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaid
Sprouting despondently at ares 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.
In this poem we get the images and symbols of the dead spirit in people, who are doing everything aimlessly. Death of spirit can be seen here. Here their soul has became 'Damp' means lifeless. 'Fog' is also a negative word as it doesn't give the clear view. 'Twisted faces', 'tears', 'muddy skirts', 'aimless smile' are the words in poem which gives us negative feelings.
3. 'Image'- Edward Storer
Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon
Upon strange Pyres loneliness and drought.
The 'Forsaken lovers' means people of civilization are burning. Here burning in which sense I'm not sure about, but I think with loneliness and drought. This brokenness of civilization is of the situation after the world wars. We can also connect this poem with one of the Universal Human Laws: 'Fatal love and Inevitable Death.'
4. 'In a Station of the Metro'- Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the
Crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The title of the poem itself gives the image of how the life of people have became like machine. It shows that people of the civilization has one scheduled life. If we try to see this image form top view than we can feel that peoples are also working like machines to complete their basic needs in life. Here 'petals' means people and 'black bough' means culture of living dead.
5. 'The Pool'- Hilda Doolittle
Are you alive?
I touch you
You quiver trembling like a sea-fish
I cover you with my net
What are you- banded one?
The title of the poem gives us an image of stored water. Water is a symbol of purity and rebirth but here the water is stored in a pool. Which symbolize the lifelessness and monotones life like a 'fish caught in net'.
6. 'Insouciance'- Richard Aldington
In and out of the dreary trenches
Trudging cheerily under the stars
I make for myself little poems
Delicate as a flock of doves
They fly away like white-winged
doves.
'Dreary trenches' is used as a metaphor for the ups and downs of the life. In this poem we have many contrasting images like 'Trudging' and 'cheerily'. In the last lines it shows that poet is not willing to live in the atmosphere around him but he has to. Thus he becomes a small poem which shows the so-called brightness and his aggressiveness to be free from the hypocrite society.
7. 'Morning at the Window'- T.S. Eliot
They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaid
Sprouting despondently at ares 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.
In this poem we get the images and symbols of the dead spirit in people, who are doing everything aimlessly. Death of spirit can be seen here. Here their soul has became 'Damp' means lifeless. 'Fog' is also a negative word as it doesn't give the clear view. 'Twisted faces', 'tears', 'muddy skirts', 'aimless smile' are the words in poem which gives us negative feelings.
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