Modern English Poetry

Introduction

The 20^th century was like no time period before it. Einstein, Darwin, Freud, and Marx were just some of the thinkers who profoundly changed the Western Culture. These changes took distinct shape in the literature of the 20^th century.

Modernism, a movement that was a radical break from 19th century Victorianism, led to post-modernism, which emphasized self-consciousness and pop art. While 20th-century literature is a diverse field covering a variety of genres, there are common characteristics that changed literature forever.

20th Century English Poetry Development

The 20th century English poetry emerged in the early years of the 20^th century through various schools, styles, and influences:

1st Phase

The first phase of the movement, the school of imagism, the style of French symbolist poetry influence of Dome and the dominance of war poetry, these were all different manifestations of modernism in English poetry (1909-16)A.D.

2nd Phase

During the flowering of Modernist poetry between 1917 and 1929, the 2^nd phase of the movement, all these initial manifestations of modernism combined to find a full nature expression in the poetry of T.S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell and later Yeats most notable of which is,Eliot’s The Waste Land, Sitwell’s Gold Coast Customs and Yeats’s Michael Robartes and the Dances

3rd Phase

The 3^rd and the final phase of Modernist is largely the decade of the 30s which is marked by the Marxed (Non-Marxist) poets such as Auden, Louis McNiece, C. Day-Lewis and Stephen Spender.

Characteristics

Diverse Variety of Themes

Poetry today can be written on almost any subject. The modern poets find inspirations from railway trains, tramcars, telephones and things of commonplace interest. Modern poets have not accepted the theory of great subjects for poetic composition.

The whole universe is the modern poet’s composition. He writes on themes of real-life e.g. The Songs Train by John Davidson, Goods Train of Night by Ashley, Machine Guns by Richard Aldington, Listeners by Walter

Realism

The poetry of the 20^th century is marked with a note of realism. Realism in modern poetry was the product of a reaction against the pseudo-romanticism of the last century over and above the influence of science.

The modern poet sees life and paints it as it is with all its wait and ugliness. He tears the veil which the romantics had hug between life and art. Robert Frost, Edmund Blunden, and Gibson are the poets of realism in modern poetry.

Love

Love forms the subject of many modern lyrics Robert Bridges has produced fine sonnets of love in The Growth of Love. E.g. I Will Not Let Thee Go. W.B. Yeats’ When You are Old etc.

Pessimism

There is a note of pessimism and disillusionment in modern poetry. The modern poet has realized the pettiness of human life and the tragedy and suffering of the poor have made him gloomy and sad.

Poetry as the expression of the feeling has become autumnal in tone T. Hardy, Huxley and T.S. Eliot are the poets of Pessimism and disillusionment in modern poetry.

Romantic Elements

In spite of the dominance of realism, in modern poetry, the spirit of romance continues to rule the minds of certain poets like Yeats, E. Thomas, Masefield etc. The works of these poets have the fact that the spirit of romance is as old as the life itself.

Walter De La Mare’s poetry is full of true romantic spirit bordering on supernaturalism. With him, the ghosts and fairies of the old world have come into their own in the 20^th century.

Nature

Nature attracts the modern poet no less than the poets of the earlier ages. But for the modern poet, nature is not a mystic. He does not find any spiritual meaning in nature. He feels jolly at the sight of nature’s loveliness.

He gives a clear picture of birds, clouds landscapes, sea and countryside in his poetry. Masefield, Robert Bridges, Edmund Blunden etc are the great poets of nature in modern poetry.

Humanitarian and Democratic Note

Modern Poetry is marked with a note of humanitarianism and democratic feeling. The modern poet, more than Wordsworth, is interested in the life of labourers, workers etc.

He sees, in the daily struggles of these people the same potentialities that the older poets found in those of high rank. Masefield, Gibson, Goldsworthy are mainly interested in the common man and his sufferings.

Religion and Mysticism

The modern age is the age of science, but even in this scientific age, we have poems written on the subject of religion and mysticism. W.B. Yeats, Francis Thompson, Robert Graves etc are the great poets who have kept alive the flame of religion and mysticism in their poetry.

Diction and Style

Modern poets have a preference for simple and direct expression. Modern poets have chosen to be free in the use of the meter. They have followed freedom from the trammels of verse. Verse rhythm is replaced by sense rhythm. There is free movement in 20th-century English poetry.

 

Formal features of poetry

1.  Open form
2.  Use of free verse
3.  Juxtaposition of ideas rather than consequential exposition
4.  Intertextuality
5. Use of allusions and multiple associations of words
6.  Borrowings from other cultures and languages
7.  Unconventional use of metaphor
8.  Importance given to sound to convey “the music of ideas”

 

Victorian Poetry

Introduction

Victorian poetry refers to the poems composed during the reign of Queen Victoria in English (1837-1901). This period was marked by tremendous cultural change.

There were a drastic change and development in the form of literature, art and music. Although Victorian Poetry was quite different from that of the preceding era, yet there were some similarities that existed between the two periods.

Characteristics

Realism

The Victorian Poetry was quite realistic in nature and quite less idealised as compared to the Romanic Poets who were idealists and believed in Art for art sake Nature, that was everything for the Romantics lost that idealised position in the Victorian era and became just a source of leisure and inspiration for the poets.

Focus on Masses

Romantic Poetry mainly focused on rural and rustic life. It is no way related to city life. On the other hand, Victorian poets used language as well as themes common to city life and thus wrote about the masses and for the masses.

Pessimism

As already discussed, Victorians were quite realistic and thus were more concerned about the reality rather than the ideal world. Due to the industrial revolution and advancement in science and technology, there was a drastic increase in the city population that gave rise to slums, poverty, unemployment, corruption diseases, deaths etc.

Thus, Victorian Poetry which focused on the pains and sufferings of commoners had a note of pessimism.

Science and Technology

The advancement in science and inventions was welcomed by the Victorian poets. It made them believe that a man can find all solutions to his problems and sufferings. They made their readers believe that they should use science for their betterment.

Questioning to God

It was an important feature of Victorian poetry. The development of empirical science, rationalism and radicalism led the people to give up religious thoughts and be more sceptic. Moreover, corruption in the Church, defining the morality of Priests, etc also led the people to question the religious institutions.

Sense of Responsibility

The Romantics believed in “return in nature”. A number of the Romantics did not like the city life and instead of giving voice to the victims of industrialisation, they left the city life. On the other hand, Victoria poets took the responsibility of social reform and gave voice to the commoners by living with them.

Morality

Though morality saw a steep decline in the Victorian Era, a number of poets tried to retain it by encouraging the people to be honest and noble.

Interest in Medieval Myths & Folklore

The Victoriansshowed great favour towards Medieval Literature. They loved mythical and chivalrous anecdotes of Medieval Knights, Courtly Love etc. This interest is on contrary to the of Romantics as the latter loved classical myths and legends.

Use of Sensory Devices & Imagery

The poets of the preceding era used imagery vividly. However, the Victorians also used sensory devices to describe the abstract scenes of chaos between Religion and Science.

Sentimentality

The Victorians wrote about artistic creations thus giving way to deeper imaginations.

Humour

A number of poets wrote humorous and whimsical verses. e.g. Bad Ballads.

Dramatic Monologue

A dramatic monologue is a long speech by a single person. It differs from soliquay which means the expression of ideas by a character in a play. On the other hand, dramatic monologue is a kind of lyric which was used and improved by Robert Browning.

Early Victorian Poets

The Early Victorian Poetry or the High School Poetry does not have the topic “The Love and Worship of Nature” as the Romantics had in their poetry. It is because the Romantics loved nature and it was shown through their poems adoring and blessing nature as if it were God. Early Victorian Poets are as follows:

• Robert Browning: He was the lover of music. He was the first to write Dramatic Monologue. He was an undying optimist. His important works are My Last Duchess, A Death to the Desert, Men and Women, The Last Ride Together etc.
• Lord Alfred Tennyson: Tennyson stood as the summit of poetry in England. For nearly half a century, he was not only a man and a poet but also the voice of people, expressing their doubt and faith, grief and triumph in his works. His important poems are The Princess, The May Queen, Crossing the Bar etc.
• Mathew Arnold: He was a poet as well as a critic. His important works are Rugby Chapel, Thyrsis, Scholar Gypsy, Dover Bitch, Soharab and Rustom, Shakespeare (A Sonnet) etc.
• Arthur Hugh Clough: He is famous for his poem The City of Dreadful Night.
• Edward Fitzgerald: He is mainly famous for his verse translation of Persian work Rubaiyat of Umar Khayyam. His pessimism was inherent in his acceptance of life’s purposelessness.

Later Victorian Poets

The Pre-Rephaelite was a movement. It began in 1848 A.D. by three painters including D.B. Rossetti. It aimed at a return to older principles in painting, but as Rossetti and other followers like William Morris and Swinburne were also gifted writers, they aimed to bring a change in a literary manner as well.

Female Poets

One of the important features of Victorian Period is the interest of female poets in Literature. Although there were few female poets before, yet males were the major composers of this genre. Important Victorian Poets include Elizabeth Browning (wife of Robert Browing), Christina Rossetti, and the Bronte sisters etc