My views on Modernist Poetry->

Hello readers,

  This blog is one of the activities of our academics. And this time it is based on Modernist Literature. Here I have tried to interpret ten Modern poems according to my understanding.

        Before proceeding forward here I put a brief description of what is Modernism??

        ->Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to World War I. Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious belief.

Here below are given my interpretations-

1> “The Embankment”- T. E. Hulme

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.

  Here the poet says that once he was in very good condition with gold heels on the hard pavement. But now he is on pavement having flashbacks of his well-beings facing hard times. He asks God for the old star-eaten blanket at least to comfort himself in his hard times. Here the Star is symbolised as a sign of sorrow and it can also be compared to a moth-eaten blanket which is unattractive. In his grief he forgets the beauty of the romantic starry sky and also makes it as an image to represent his sorrows.

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.

The title of the poem says everything about the poem. This short poem of four (4) lines by Joseph Campbell shows somewhat of ignorance of the Modernists for the Victorian Age. In this poem we can visualize that how the poet just passes a glance on the sky and moves on thinking that the star is no more a star now it’s just has become a mere image of silver ribbon of light in the dark sky.  Here star as a metaphor indicates the deteriorated Victorian Age.

3> “Image” - Edward Storer

       Forsaken lovers,

       Burning to a chaste white moon

       Upon strange Pyres of loneliness and

       drought.

In this poem we can sense the deteriorated position of the Victorian Age. Forsaken lovers the term can be very rightly referred to the Victorian Age because the age after the World War became abandoned and shattered utterly. The whole of Victorian ideas, principles and everything got shattered in such a way that the Modernists didn’t pay a heed to it and formed their own.

4> "In a station of the Metro" - Ezra Pound

         The apparition of these faces in the

          Crowd;

          Petals on a wet, black bough

There were many developments in the Modern Age and it becomes clear when we see the use of Metro as a symbol used by the poet. Here the poet says about the ghost like faces (apparition) of the crowd which has become because of their unenthusiastic spirit due to their busy life. The line ‘petal on a wet, black bough’ represents people as petal which is increasing with the passing time and black bough as society which is tolerating the burden.

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 “The Pool” represents water. Here the poet asks that are you alive? It is so because the water is stagnant and whenever anything is asked to the people they shiver like a sea-fish as if their life has got stuck in a net. It happened because of their unenthusiastic and busy life and they seemed to be like living dead. At the end the poet asks- “What are you?” Are you yourself or under somebody’s control?

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.

In this poem there are many images like “dreary trenches” which means a dark hole or dug in the ground, it is used as metaphors for the ups and downs of life. There are other words like “trudging” and “cheerily” which represents the image of a person who has to do his work but he don’t want to do. Here poet focused upon the ups and downs of life during the rough time of a person.

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 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.

Morning at the window is an image of poverty. The picture is that of a slum where people lead miserable lives. The speaker is at the window. The images in the poem correlate with the idea of poverty and feelings of sympathy.  The speaker says that he is aware of the condition of the household minds and souls or their psychology. He also mentions about the people with sad faces and also notices tear in the eyes of a passer-by with muddy skirt, which clearly shows that the passer-by was not happy with her life. Then again he finds smiles in very few faces which are also not so happy and it gets vanished till they walk the street.

8> “The Red Wheelbarrow” -William Carlos Williams

so much depends

 upon

a red wheel

barrow

 glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chicken.

The speaker sees that wheelbarrow is red. Red probably suggests things like life, blood, courage and zeal that are part of what the farmer sustains and support. The wheel barrow is one thing to us. The poet has separated the wheel and barrow here barrow consider as a body. The barrow depends on the wheel. The wheel consider as a life. The theme of dependence and interdependence can be extended in every direction. The chickens are white, it suggested that it is pure and sacred. There is also peace in this natural and simple mode of a farmer. It may also remind readers of innocence. The word ‘rainwater’ is split into two to make us see them separately and in turns, and appreciate them. The gazing wheelbarrow bathed with natural water of rain and white chickens create a simple but significant imagery. If we look at the poem with different angle that A Christian reader may interpret the red as the blood of Christ. And the white relates with sacredness.

9> Anecdote of the Jar- Wallace Stevens

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.

Stevens explores the question of superiority between art and nature. Is nature superior to human creations or does human creativity surpasses nature in some way? This poem solves riddle by recognizing the unique differences between art and nature. The poem begins by telling us of an incident in the past. Once he kept a big and beautiful jar upon an untidy hill in Tennessee. The jar is an art object made by a human being, whereas the hill on which it is placed is natural. Stevens truly does a wonderful job of portraying the relationship of humans to nature. By using the jar to represent man, he was successful in creating an environment not only expressed in the poem, but also felt by the reader. He used irregular rhymes and role changes to express the complex relationship. The reader is left with confusion but slight understanding of the relationship. Stevens expressed the relationship of humans to nature very well in this piece of work.

10> ‘l (a‘- E. E. Cummings

l(a... (a leaf falls on loneliness)

l(a

le

af

fa

ll

s)

one

l

iness

The title of the poem “A leaf falls on loneliness” shows itself the state of being alone and solitude. There is a word “fall” which represents the state of dullness. It can be fall of civilization, individual’s hope or fall of anything else. If a leaf falls from tree then the fallen leaf become lonely. In Modernist Literature we can see fall of spirituality and also fall of hope. Loneliness represents the separation from the entire world. So here we can say that this poem represents the state of separation from the entire world and also represents the state of self centeredness.