Modernist Poems

#Modernist Poetry:-

Modernist poetry in English started in the early years of the 20th century with the appearance of the Imagists.In common with many other modernists, these poets wrote in reaction to the perceived excesses of Victorian poetry, with its emphasis on traditional formalism and ornate diction.Modernists saw themselves as looking back to the best practices of poets in earlier periods and other cultures.

***Here is my interpretation of ten short poems, with modern metaphors and symbols.***



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"..


In this Poem, Poet is missing his old life,as a “fallen gentlemen”, the metaphor contains complexity by using word ‘gentleman’ rather than ‘man’.Poet recounting his past by using the words like "finesse of fiddles" and "flash of gold heels".. Night is mostly presented to show beauty of moon and peace of mind but in this poem, night has represented as negativity.He also used  "star-eaten blanket" as a negative word. But now what all he need is warmth; which he will get under the blanket of sky where he will get comfort from the harshness of life.In the cold winter night he only needs a blanket rather than anything else and he has not  even blanket,because he was so poor,so he requests to God to give a "blanket of stars", but here the word he has used is “Star-eaten blanket” which suggests that blanket of God is in poor condition....


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"..


Here title itself reflect some kind of the darkness. In the poem,poet presented the view of night;that how the sky is dark without star and night everywhere, if we look at sky in night,it is most represented to show beauty of stars and Moon.we feel some kind of peace of mind but a poem is reflected of the darkness its symbol of downfall of the civilizations that is...  There were stars no longer but its "silver ribbon of light"...Here we find modernist metaphors like "star shine" and  "silver ribbon"....



3.) 'Image' - Edward Storer

 "Forsaken lovers,

 Burning to a chaste white moon

 Upon strange Pyres of loneliness and

 drought"..

Here in the poem there an image of modern lovers and their feelings. They wants love like a white moon or with purity.. but they are suffering from loneliness which suggests lover are staying together but there is no love between them.Generally,White colour presents positivity but here it seems negative sense.The metaphor are "White Moon","Loneliness" and "Drought".

     

4.) "In a station of the Metro" - Ezra Pound

"The apparition of these faces in the Crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough"..


The word of title, “Metro” is clearly suggests the hasty lifestyle of modern civilization." Apparition" is modern metaphor which is given to the human faces.In second line it connects the man with nature..This poem evokes the mortality of human life.. “These faces in the Crowd” suggests,that they are together but isolated."Petals on a wet"is a modern image.The metaphor of “wet, black bough” suggests that they are from same tree which are constantly moving,growing and changing...

                                                                           

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?"

In this poem ''The Pool''suggests, lifelessness. Poet asks are you alive? You quiver like a sea fish. Modern people are like that fish who lives restless life.The illustration utilized "trembling seafish"and power controls this sort of person.In end also poet asks what are you?



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"..



The poet presents that how people are living their life in insouciance way with carelessness..This poem about the freedom. poet wants freedom and fly away because,he faces the dark time of wars.
The reference of  “white-winged Doves” is an originally a bird of desert thickets and it's used here for modern culture of living life and feeling of isolation is there. "White winged doves" is modern metaphore.






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"..



In this poem, poet give complex image of deep thinking and visualization.The poem has a imagery of morning that how people starts their daily life that plats are rattling in kitchens, on streets there are people walking but with damp souls and because of that the atmosphere seems gloomy.
This poem has a metaphors like 'rattling',it  means vibreting its suggests the modern way of living..




8.) "The Red Wheelbarrow" -William Carlos Williams

"So much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chicken"..


The poem has such agricultural metaphors like “wheel”, “rain” "water" and “white  chicken”.Here we can see the the poet uses "chicken" which is the younger one of hen.we can say that it is a poem about the sacrifice of a younger one in this modern age.The  another one is the wheel, without wheel the cart cannot work, one cannot transport anything without wheel, the red colour suggests the aggressiveness but that red wheel is now covered with rain water and not able to work....





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"..

This poem is about jar which was in the state “Tennessee” in United States of America. ‘jar’ means that war. And 'Anecdote’ means a small story..
Here in this poem metaphor is "Jar".
There was nothing which can be produced by jar, but though it was dominion upon the hill.


10.) "‘l (a‘-" -E. E. Cummings

l(a


le

af

fa

ll


s)

one

l


iness

The structure of the poem is very different to understand, but it is directly connected with the situation and the time of war and that's why poet wrote poem in broken words. Poet gave an example of " Leaf Fall" means here he talkes about the loneliness or isolation.This poem is mordenism way of writing.The word ‘fall’,signifies fall of civilization and A falling leaf is symbol of loneliness.The poem create confusion, but it is all about the experiment with structure of poem and play with words....


Thank You....