Peter Cruz, Bradley Dorsey, Allan Balcita, Jeremiah Napoles
 Just like the name itself Modernism has to do with the
rejection of old ideas due to the advances within the
modern time .
 It is the result of the new industrial world and
changing social conditions.
 During this era people began to stray away from old
traditions seen in literature and art and moved into
the new direction guided by innovations at the time.
 1890-1950
 WWI and WWII occurred during this time period.
 Many advances were made in science and technology
at the time as well.
 Poets aimed to challenge past ideas with new
techniques in literature.
 Poets tended to be pessimistic due to the global shocks
within this era.
 Rejects classical techniques
 Some themes include: human nature, freedom,
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spirituality, individuality, isolation and loneliness
Often used multiple perspectives
Still used traditional techniques such as: allusions and
metaphors
Techniques varied widely as each poet had their own
distinct style
Usually was not structured in stanzas; mainly free
verse
•Born October 14, 1894, and died September 3,
1962.
•Full name: Edward Estin Cummings
•Was a professor of Sociology and Political
Science at Harvard University.
•Left Harvard to become an ordained minister of
the South Congregational Church.
•Spent his childhood attending Cambridge public
schools, where he got inspiration to write his most
famous poem, “In Just-”
•Was a poet, painter, essayist, author, and
playright
•Experiments with form, punctuation, spelling,
and syntax
•Abandons original techniques for those of his
own
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,grasshopper;
 Literary Techniques: Concrete Structure, Free Verse,
Symbolism
 “Grasshopper, who, as we look, now upgathering into
himself, leaps, arriving to become, rearrangingly, a
grasshopper.“
 When the reader has reviewed the entire poem once or
twice, he recreates in his mind the very effect of a
grasshopper leaping.
 This effect is partially produced by the fact that the
syllables of "grasshopper" are rearranged acrostically four
times (including the normal spelling); partially by the
distribution of parentheses, punctuation marks, and
capitals; and partially by the joining, splitting, and spacing
of words.
 Regulating the reader’s mind on HOW they interpret
and read the poem themselves.
 Many interpret this poem several ways:
 Born October 2, 1879
 Attended Harvard
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University from 1896- 1900
Famous Poems include:
Valley Candle
Anecdote of a Jar
Sunday Morning
The Emperor of Ice Cream
Anecdote of a Jar
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.
T- The story of the jar (Jar symbolizing mankind)
P- A jar is placed on the hill, completely alone, with
nature completely surrounding it, as if it was completely
controlling the jar. Nature thinks it has complete power
over the it, but the jar just sits there, as if it doesn't care
about nature.
S- The tone of poem at the start is showing loneliness,
towards the end it becomes more positive
F- It uses personification and imagery and symbolism:
Personification in each stanza.
Jar symbolizing mankind
A- The author’s tone about it is simplistic and positive.
S- Structure is free verse, 3 stanzas
T- The poem is basically like a story of mankind. In the
early years, we were more vulnerable to nature in every
way. But in the present, We have more control over
nature in ways that we are able to predict natural
disasters before they actually happen and well are able to
protect ourselves from the weather.
Theme- Although nature is always around us, it won't
affect our lives in a negative way.
 Born September 26, 1888 and
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died January 4, 1965
Read a lot growing up, which led
to him to begin writing at age 14
Later moved to England and
became a citizen
Worked as an editor and director
for a publishing house
Very religious, was reflected in
many of his poems
Notable works: The Wasteland,
The Hollow Men, Ash
Wednesday, The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock
Miss Nancy Ellicott
Strode across the hills and broke them,
Rode across the hills and broke them —
The barren New England hills —
Riding to hounds
Over the cow-pasture.
Miss Nancy Ellicott smoked
And danced all the modern dances;
And her aunts were not quite sure how they felt about it,
But they knew that it was modern.
Upon the glazen shelves kept watch
Matthew and Waldo, guardians of the faith,
The army of unalterable law.
 Born September 10, 1886
 Attended University of
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Pennsylvania
Her poetry was largely
ignored due to inequality
during her time.
Famous Works include:
Helen in Egypt
The Helmsman
Pear Tree
Sea Rose
 An imagist and modernist poet
 Used the name H.D to attain a wide audience since
women were not accepted as writers at the time.
 Her style involves the use of strong images to articulate
her ideas.
 Used her writings to convey her strong feministic
principles to the readers.
 Themes include: women strength, human
relationships with the changing world, equality
between the sexes, and peace to the war stricken
world.
Rose, harsh rose,
marred and with stint of petals,
meagre flower, thin,
sparse of leaf,
more precious
than a wet rose
single on a stem—
you are caught in the drift.
Stunted, with small leaf,
you are flung on the sand,
you are lifted
in the crisp sand
that drives in the wind.
Can the spice-rose
drip such acrid fragrance
hardened in a leaf?
 Literary Techniques used include: diction, symbols and imagery.
 Symbols:
- I believe she uses the rose as a symbol of a women. It describes the
appearance of the rose through hardships it faced. This relation is like
that of a women suffering the unequal treatment during this time.
 Diction
- She uses certain words like harsh and meagre to give off a feeling of
bitterness that the rose goes through. This feeling gives off a
sympathetic mood in the poem. Then a shift changes as she adds in
“precious” which conveys an attitude of admiration of the perseverance
the rose exhibits although it faces these obstacles.
 Imagery:
- As an imagist, Hilda uses the picture of a rose to discuss the theme of
the poem itself. She discusses the strength women have although they are
limited by society. The images she uses are also used to showcase the idea
of the hardships women face.
 Read the following poem carefully. Then, in a well-
organized essay, analyze how the speaker uses diction
and symbolism to reveal her attitude toward the idea
of equality between sexes.
 Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay
in which you discuss how literary devices such as
imagery, diction, and symbolism convey the overall
idea of isolation in human nature.
Now it’s your turn. Take about 5-10 minutes to create a
poem based on the modernist style.
Use one of the following themes:
-Loneliness
-Freedom
-Isolation
-Individuality
1.
All of the following are modernist poetry themes
EXCEPT:
A. Loneliness
B. Individuality
C. Righteousness
D. Human Nature
2. When did the Modernist movement begin?
A. 1945- 2009
B. 1890- 1950
C. 1650- 1700
D. 1600- 1650
3. What war occurred during the Modernist movement?
A. WWI
B. Vietnam War
C. Civil War
D. Korean War
4. How were women viewed as writers during this time?
A. They were greatly admired
B. They were equally admired to male writers
C. They were not accepted as writers
D. None of the above
5. Which of the following is not a Modernist poet?
A. Oscar Wilde
B. Hilda Doolittle
C. T.S Eliot
D. Both A and C
 http://www.poets.org/
 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/glossary-
term/Modernism
 http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/literaryterms/mo
dernist-poetry.html
 http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php