American Literature,Modernism,Section One American Modernism Section Two Modern Poetry Section Three American Drama Section Four Modern Novels,American Modernism (19181945),American Modernism,Backgrounds of American Modernism Definition and Features of American Modernism,Background of Modernism,1 The Effect of the First World War and the Great Depression: 2 New Theories and Ideas a. German: Karl Marx and Nietzsche b. Austrian: Sigmund Freud c. William James and Carl Jung d. French Impressionism, German Expressionism and Cubism,Impressionism,Expressionism,Cubism,Definition of Modernism,During the first decades of the 20th century modernism became an international tendency in art and literature. It began in Germany in the 1890s, and spread worldwide, and ended in the early 1940s. It included a wide range of artistic expressions such as symbolism, impressionism, post-impressionism, imagism, expressionism and so on.,The distinctive feature of literary modernism was its strong and conscious break with traditional forms, perceptions and techniques of expression, and its great concern with language and all aspects of its medium.,A Ezra Pound (1885-1975) and Imagist Movement (19091917) Followers of Pound B T. S. Eliot (18881965) and New Poetry Movement Followers of Eliot C E. E. Cummings (18941962) D Three Types of Poets,Modern Poetry,Imagist Movement,Definition of Imagism Three principles of Imagism Examples of Imagist poetry,The Imagist Movement (Imagism),Led by Ezra Pound and flourished from 1909 to 1917, the movement advanced modernism in arts which concentrated on reforming the medium of poetry as opposed to Romanticism, especially Tennyson' s wordiness and high-flown language in poetry.,The three principles followed by the Imagists were: (1) “Direct treatment“ (2) “Economy of expression“ (3) “Free verse“,Direct Treatment,The subject of the poem must be expressed in such a way as to resemble it and reproduce it as closely as possible. Simple language must be used to create an “image“ which the reader can immediately see in his own imagination. Each word must be used with great exactitude to produce a precise image and nothing more.,Economy of expression,No word must be used which does not contribute directly to the image. The language must be concentrated. There must be no drawing of conclusions, no explanations.,Free verse,No unnecessary words may be included in order to make meter or a rhyme. A poem should be composed with the phrasing of music, not a metronome.,Examples of Imagist Poems,In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams,In a Station of the Metro,The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.,Ezra Pound,The Red Wheelbarrow,So much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens,William Carlos Williams,Ezra Pound (18851972) 埃茲拉.龐德,His life His works His contribution,His Life (1),Born in 1885 in Hailey, Idaho Brought up in Pennsylvania Studied Romance languages at college and university In 1908 sailed to Europe and first poetry in Venice Arrived in London and founded Imagism In 1912 editor of “Poetry” and blue-penciled “The Waste Land”,His life (2),In 1913 began studying Chinese Language and ancient Chinese culture In 1914 sponsored Vorticism In 1915 finished “Cathay” and began working on “Cantos” “Homage to Sextus Propertius in 1917 “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley” in 1920 Treason in World War Two and released in 1958 Returned to Italy and died there in 1972,His works,Personae (1909) 人物 Exultations (1909) 狂喜 Cathay (1915) 譯著華夏 Homage to Sextus Propertius (1917) 向賽克斯特斯.普羅波蒂斯致敬 Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) The Cantos The ABC Reading (Literary Essay),A Established Imagism with British poet T. E. Hulmein 1908; B Suggested 3 principles for Imagism with Richard Aldington and Hilda Doolittle C Sponsored Vorticism with painter Windham Lewis in 1914; D Leading role in poetic renovation and renaissance in the first 25 years of the 20th century E Father of modern American poetry,His contribution,New Poetry Movement,The years 19121914 witnessed the appearance of a new poetic revolution. The new poets wrote a poetry that defied most of the accepted rules, and dealt with subjects which had not been dealt with. They wrote in new ways and techniques. The new verse was responsive to the fragmentized nature of modern life.,T. S. Eliot (18881965),His life His works His contribution About his work,His life,famous American poet, playwright and critic major figure in New Poetry Movement a key to modern British and American poetry,Born in St. Louis, Missouri; received a good education, especially with classic literature; went to Harvard in 1906; explored the poetry of the 17th Metaphysical poets; finished The Love Song in 1911; settled down in England in 1915 teaching, working as a bank clerk, writing book reviews, suffering an unhappy marriage while composing poetry.,His works,Poems: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Gerontion The Waste Land The Hollow Men Ash-Wednesday Four Quartets Dramatic works: Sweeney Agonistes; Murder in the Cathedral; The Cocktail Party, The Confidential Clerk;,His contribution,a giver of laws and the arbiter of taste in new poetry and criticism a literary dictator in American literary history.,His basic themes of his criticism concerned the relationship between tradition and individual talent, and between the past, the present and the future.,His famous doctrine on poets and poetry is known as the “impersonal theory” or the theory of impersonality and objectivity. One of the things that this theory emphasizes is the relation of a poem to the poems by other authors and suggests “the conception of poetry as a living whole of all the poetry that has ever been written”. It explains the importance of tradition and the past. Another thing that this theory tries to focus on is the relation of the poem to its author.,a He started the reevaluation of poets like Milton and the Romantics. b He did more to popularize the 17th-century Metaphysical poets and late-19th-century French Symbolism. c He emphasized the need to see the vitality of the literature of the past and to draw from literary traditions other than English literature.,His poetry is difficult to read: 1) For one thing the images and symbols seem very much disconnected. 2) Another difficulty lies in his learned quotations and allusions.,His The Waste Land (P180-183) 1) It was composed in the autumn of 1921. 2) Its epigraph is taken from the Satyricon of Petronius representing the motif and the somber mood of the poem: desperate struggle to attain salvation. 3) Its title draws its significance from the Fisher King lengend. 4) It reveals his strong historical sense: the past is of great significance to writers. 5) It was a poem of despair for the 1920s and 1930s.,E. E. Cummings,His life His works His contribution His style,His works,Poems: Tulips and Chimneys XLI Poems Is 5 No thanks Complete Poems ,Drama: Him Santa Claus Prose: The Enormous Room -4 months wrong experience in prison Eimi -his experience in Russia Six Non-lectures -speeches at Harvard,His contribution Against traditional poetry with bold attempts at composing poems Unique style Cubism & Dadaism-guide his poems,His style,New spatial arrangement of words; New poems dealing with “un-poetic subjects”; His scramble word order in syntactic anagram; His extension of the semantic possibilities of words (he chooses to stretch, squeeze, or intensify by typographical acrobatics or grammatical innovations); (see an example on P208),in Just- spring when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles far and wee and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and its spring when the world is puddle-wonderful the queer old balloonman whistles far and wee and bettyandisbel come dancing from hop-scotch and jump-rope and,its spring and the goat-footed balloonman whistles far and wee,Three Types of Modern Poets,A: Chicago Poets B: Leading figures in the poetic revolution C: in-between poets,Chicago Poets,Vachel Lindsay (18791931) 維切爾.林賽 Edgar Lee Masters (18691950) 埃德加.李.馬斯特斯 Carl Sandburg (18781967)卡爾.桑德堡 Hart Crane (18991932) 哈特.克蘭/克萊恩,Leading figures in the poetic revolution,Ezra Pound (18851972) 埃茲拉.龐德 T. S. Eliot (18881972) T. S. 艾略特 E. E. Cummings (18941962) 卡明斯,Followers of Imagism:,Amy Lowell (18741925) 艾米.洛威爾 Hilda Doolittle (18861961)（希爾達(dá).杜利特爾） William Carlos Williams (18831963)威廉.卡洛斯.威廉斯,Followers of T. S. Eliot:,Wallace Stevens (18791955) 華萊士.史蒂文斯,in-between poets,Robert Frost (18741963) 羅伯特.弗羅斯特 Edwin Arlington Robinson (18691935) 埃德溫.阿靈頓.羅賓遜,Chicago Poets,Chicago: the revolutionary center against traditional poetry Poetry (a magazine) Adhere to the tradition of Whitman Reflect feelings of laboring people,Vachel Lindsay (18791931) 維切爾.林賽,“a tramp and a beggar” The Tree of Laughing Bells Rhymes To Be Traded for Bread General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems The Congo and Other Poems -widely recognized as an exponent of the “new poetry” Tried to stimulate a popular taste for poetry through a method that he called “the higher vaudeville” in which his recitations were marked by a dramatic use of gesture and chant, emphasizing his strong rhythms and syncopation. Eg: Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight ; The Congo The Santa-Fe Trail ,The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems -marked the peak of his artistic achievement: its title poem and The Ghost of Buffaloes In Praise of Johnny Appleseedone of his most significant pieces Later collections with comparatively little value: The Daniel Jazz The Golden Whales of California Collected Poems The Candle in the Cabin Johnny Appleseed His prose works include: Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty A Handy Guide of Beggars The Golden Book of Springfielda mystic Utopia based on his gospel of beauty The Litany of Washington Streeta book of political essays His biography was written by his friend Edgar Lee Masters Mark Harriss City of Discontentan interpretation of his life and his region,Edgar Lee Masters (18691950) 埃德加.李.馬斯特斯,Kansas-born lawyer in Chicago First entered literature as an avocation A Book of Verse Maximilianblank-verse drama Spoon River Anthology: free-verse epitaph suddenly catapulted into fame The New Spoon River-a bitter commentary on the vicious urban standards of changing America Domesday Book and its sequel The Fate of the Jury 陪審團(tuán)的命運(yùn) among the best of his later poetry,other later poetry: Songs and Satires The Great Valley Toward the Gulf Starved Rock Dramatic poems: Lee Jack Kelso Godbey Lichee Nuts statements of philosophy in the Chinese manner Invisible Landscapes Poems of People The New World panoramas of America and its outstanding figures Illinois Poems Also wrote prose and novel,Carl Sandburg (18781967)卡爾.桑德堡,American modern poet and biographical writer Benefit from his humble personal backgrounds and rich experience Write plain poems for plain people “為樸素的人民寫樸素的詩” To be sound of the people 成為“人民的聲音” Contribution to colloquial style of American literature be awarded the American Poetry Society prize in 1919 and 1920 be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his Complete Poems in 1950 ,His works,In Reckless Ecstasy Chicago Poems Famous Imagist poems: Fog Lost The Harbor Chicago Cool Tombs I Am the People, the Mob The People, Yes The American Songbag -folk songs of cowboys, vagabond and black people Biography of Lincoln (6 volumes) 1 autobiography 1 historical novel Cornhuskers Smoke and Steel Good Morning, America Collected Poems ,Hart Crane (18991932) 哈特.克蘭/克萊恩,Poor childhood，adolescence and life White Buildings -early 23 poems The Bridge He was not approved until 1937.,Amy Lowell (18741925) 艾米.洛威爾,Female American poet and critic Leading advocator and organizer of Imagist Movement together with Ezra Pound Amplify Pounds principles for Imagism (36) John Keats (1925) A Dome of Many Colored Glass (1912) Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914) Men, women and Ghosts (1916) Pictures of the Floating World (1919) Legend (1921) ,Hilda Doolittle (18861961)（希爾達(dá).杜利特爾）,Well-known as an American Imagist poet One major representative of Imagism Once lover and later friend of Ezra Pound H. D. (pen name given by Ezra Pound) Trilogy : The Walls Do Not Fall (1944) Tribute to Angles (1945) The Flowering of the Rod (1946) Heliodora and Other Poems (1924) Collected Poems (1925, 1940); Helen in Egypt (1961) Her long novels: Hedylus (1928) Bid Me to Live (1960) ,William Carlos Williams (18831963)威廉.卡洛斯.威廉斯,a most important figure in modern American poetry unique theory on literary composition “say it! No ideas but in things.” (Book I, Paterson)“思想僅寓于事物中” Free verse and accentual verse 自由體詩、重音詩 Famous American poet,His works,Poem 詩集 The Tempers Spring and All A Novelette and Other Prose Kora in Hell Collected Earlier Poems Collected Later Poems The Desert Music Journey to Love Pictures from Breughed The Red Wheelbarrow Paterson White Mule 小說三部曲 Many Loves and Other Plays In the American Grain Selected Essays Selected Letters Autobiography ,Wallace Stevens (18791955) 華萊士.史蒂文斯,Unsuccessful lawyer and then worked in insurance company Insurance and poetryreality and imagination/art value of art and mission of artists duty of poets Harmonium (first collection of his poems at the age of 44) Notes toward a Supreme Fiction The Idea of Orders The Man with the Blue Guitar Parts of a World Transport to Summer The Auroras of Autumn Collected Poems Opus Posthumous The Necessary Angel ,Robert Frost (18741963) 羅伯特.弗羅斯特,“New England poet” Robert Frost was the most popular American poet of this century. received four Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry: The Road Not Taken Mending Wall Fire and Ice Acquainted with the Night,Robert Frost,Literary Achievements His works His style Appreciation of his poems: 1 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 2 The Road Not Taken,Literary Achievements,Frost mainly wrote about the landscape and people in New England. He wrote many poems that investigate the basic theme of man's life.,His works:,My butterfly A Boys Will North of Boston Mountain Interval New Hampshire West-Running Brook A Further Range Mending Wall After Apple-Picking The Birches A Witness Tree Steeple Bush A Masque of Mercy Collected Poems Complete Poems In the Clearing won Pulitzer Prize 4 times Appointed as professor or visiting poet by dozens of universities Be entitled “national poet” by American senate at age of 75 Recited his poem The Gift Outright on Inauguration Day of John Kennedy Last poem at age of 88,His style,Frost took no part in the literary movement in the 20th century. He did not experiment with form, as many poets did in the 1920's. He used conventional forms, plain and a graceful style. His poems were very carefully constructed yet he made them seem effortless by using colloquial language and familiar, conversational rhythms. Images and metaphors in his poems are drawn from the simple country life and the pastoral landscape that can be easily understood-mowing, scything, wind's rustling in the grass, bird's singing, as well as ponds, roads, the cycle of the seasons, and the alteration of night and day. Most of Frost' s poems are short and direct on the information level, and they have simple diction. However, profound ideas are delivered under the disguise of the plain language and the simple form. By using simple spoken language and conversational rhythms, Frost achieved an effortless grace in his style. He combined traditional verse forms sonnet, rhyming couplets, blank verse. He wrote in both the metrical forms and the free verse, and sometimes he wrote in a form that borrows freely from the merits of both, in the form that might be called semi-free or semi-conventional.,Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promise to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And mile to go before I sleep.,“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening',It represents a moment of relaxation from the onerous journey of life, an almost aesthetic enjoyment and appreciation of natural beauty which is wholesome and restorative against the chaotic existence of modern man.,The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.,I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.,“The Road Not Taken“,This poem is written in classic five-line stanzas, with the rhyme scheme a-b-a-a-b and conversational rhythm. The poem seems to be about the poet, walking in the woods in autumn, choosing which road he should follow on his walk. In reality, it concerns the important decisions which one must make in life, when one must give up one desirable thing in order to possess another. Then, whatever the outcome, one must accept the consequences of one' s choice for it is not possible to go back and have another chance to choose differently. In the poem, the poet hesitates for a long time, wondering which road to take, because they are both pretty. In the end, he follows the one which seems to have fewer travelers on it. Symbolically, he chose to follow an unusual solitary life, perhaps he was speaking of his choice to become a poet rather than some commoner profession. But he always remembers the road which he might have taken, and which would have given him a different kind of life.,Edwin Arlington Robinson (18691935) 埃德溫.阿靈頓.羅賓遜,New England poet poor and like drinking appreciated by President Theodore Roosevelt and then specialized in poetry Won Pulitzer Prize in 1922, 1925, and 1928 Promote poetic renaissance in the 1920s together with Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, etc.,His works,The Torrent and the Night Before The Town Down the River : “Miniver Cheevy” “Richard Cory” The Children of the Night Mr. Floods Party The Man Against the Sky ,