Modernism
· WWI
o Mass destruction - 7 million deaths
o Trauma
o Disillusionment
§ Loss of faith/meaning; life is absurd
§ Institutions questioned
o War couldn’t be romanticized
§ Trench warfare, gases, new weapons
o “Lost Generation” – Stein
o International tension
§ League of Nations – U.S. out (isolationist)
o Patriotic
· Roaring 20’s
o Big business
o Partying, big spending lifestyle
o Flamboyance
o Consumer culture – fill life with goods
o Capitalism
§ Alienated from production of goods
§ Henry Ford
· Alienation
o Decline in community
o Mass culture – new technology
§ Superficial connections amongst people
o Urban culture/lifestyle
§ Pace of life increase
§ Population increase
Characteristics of Modernist Art
· Allusions à Elite
· Understatement
o Doesn’t explain the idea fully
o Subtle and suggestive
o Interpretation – reader must participate in meaning making
· Pessimistic
· Stream of consciousness
o Experimentalism – “make it new”, defy convention
· Tradition
The Hollow Men
· Allusions
o Tie together themes from literature/history
o Men who live without substantial meaning
· “Make it new”
o Refers to “tradition”; holds onto tradition while trying to break from it
§ Allusions and references – hold onto tradition
§ New or random poetry structure – break from tradition
o Uses references to tradition to say that society has lost sight of tradition
o Need knowledge of tradition to put together the “scraps” of the poem and understanding meaning
· Dystopian
o Warning about the bad things occurring in the present
o People have become robots
§ Go through the motions, but nothing underneath
§ No place or purpose
§ “Grasping” for something to cling onto
o The present will get worse
· Not with a bang but a whimper; gradual fade
o “Dystopian Dusk” – slow tightening of screw
o Dusk and twilight
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