Contemporary Poetry
Contemporary Poetry
Contemporary Poetry
THE CONTEMPORARY
SCENE
Overview
Modernism is where we are now, broadly
speaking, if we include Postmodernism
and experimental poetry. Modernist
poetry is the poetry written in schools
and poetry workshops, published by thousands of
small presses, and reviewed by serious newspapers
and literary journals — a highbrow, coterie poetry
that isn't popular and doesn't profess to be. To its
devotees, Modernist styles are the only way of
dealing with contemporary matters, and they do
not see them as a specialized development of
traditional poetry, small elements being pushed in
unusual directions, and sometimes extended
beyond the limits of ready comprehension.
Elitist Intellectualism
But Modernist writers and their commentators do
not regard the narrowly individual outlook a
shortcoming, quite the opposite. Nineteenth-
century realism was tainted with commerce and
the circulating libraries. Twentieth-century realism
all too blatantly takes the form of TV soaps and
blockbuster novels. God forbid that the modern
writer should obey the first tenet of art, and
portray something of the world in clearer and more
generous contours. That would mean actually
experiencing the hard world as it is for most of its
inhabitants, of living like everybody else.
The intellect has its demands and pleasures, but
the Modernists do not generally live such a life,
which requires university tenure or independent
wealth. Their learning tends to be fragmentary,
with ideas serving ulterior purposes, one of which is
social distinction. There is a persistent strain of
intellectual snobbery in Modernism — sometimes
breaking out in racism and contempt for the
masses, sometimes retreating to arcane philosophy:
idealism, existentialism,
Poststructuralism. {13} Modernists are an
aristocracy of the intellect. The cerebral is
preferred. Modern dramatists and novelists may
appeal to mythology, but their understanding is
intellectualized: work is not crafted to evoke the
primal forces unleashed in plays by Euripides or
Racine, but shaped by concepts that serve for plot
and structure.
Representatives
Poets belonging to the 'high Modernist' phase
include:
Ezra Pound: e.g. Hugh Selwyn Mauberly {14}
T.S. Eliot: e.g. Waste Land {15}
Wallace Stevens: e.g. Thirteen Ways of Looking at
a Blackbird {16}
Conclusions
Modernism evolved by various routes. From
Symbolism it took allusiveness in style and an
interest in rarefied mental states. From Realism it
borrowed an urban setting, and a willingness to
break taboos. And from Romanticism came an
artist-centred view, and retreat into irrationalism
and hallucinations. Even its founding fathers did
not long remain Modernists. Pound espoused
doctrinaire right-wing views. Eliot became a
religious convert. Joyce's late work verged on the
surrealistic. Lewis quarrelled with everyone.
No one would willingly lose the best that has been
written in the last hundred years, but earlier
doubts are coming home to roost. Modernism's
ruthless self-promotion creates intellectual castes
that cut themselves off from the hopes and joys of
everyday life. The poetry can be built on the
flimsiest of
foundations: Freudian psychiatry, verbal
cleverness, individualism run riot, anti-realism,
over-emphasis on the irrational. The concepts
themselves are fraudulent, and the supporting
myths too small and self-admiring to show man in
his fullest nature. Sales of early Modernist works
were laughably small, and it was largely after the
Second World War, when the disciples of
Modernism rose to positions of influence in the
academic and publishing worlds, that Modernism
came the lingua franca of the educated classes.
The older generation of readers gradually died out.
Literature for them was connoisseurship, a lifetime
of deepening familiarity with authors who couldn't
be analyzed in critical theory, or packed into
three-year undergraduate courses.
References
1. Julian Symons's Makers of the New: The
Revolution in Literature 1912-39. (1987), Chapter 1
of Douwe Fokkem and Elrud Ibsch's Modernist
Conjectures: A Mainstream in European Literature
1910-1940 (1987), and Vicki Mahaffey's Modernist
Theory and Criticismentry in Michael Groden and
Martin Kreiswirth's The Johns Hopkins Guide to
Literary Theory and Criticism (1994).
2. Harry Levin's What Was
Modernism? in Refractions: Essays in Comparative
Literature (1966).
3. Alistair Davies's An Annotated Critical
Bibliography of Modernism (1982).
4. John Carey's The Intellectuals and the Masses:
Pride and Prejudice among the Literary
Intelligentsia, 1880-1930 (1992), and Barry
Appleyard's The Pleasures of Peace: Art and
Imagination in Post-war Britain. (1989).
5. David Lodge's Language of Fiction: Essays in
Criticism and Verbal Analysis of the English
Novel (1966), and D.J. Taylor's A Vain Conceit:
British Fiction in the 1980's (1989).
6. Timothy Steele's Missing Measures: Modern
Poetry and the Revolt Against Meter (1990), Dana
Gioa's Can Poetry Matter: Essays on Poetry and
American Culture (1992), and Wendell
Harris's Literary Meaning (1996).
7. R. Poggioli's The Theory of the Avant-
Garde. (1968)
8. Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern
History (1975).
9. See the large literature on stress, both academic
and popular accounts.
10. Gertrude Himmelfarb's The New History and the
Old (1987) and Guy Routh's The Origin of Economic
Ideas (1977).
11. Chapters 1 and 2 of A.T. Tolley's The Poetry of
the Forties (1985).
12. M.H. Abrams' Poetry, Theories of entry in Alex
Preminger's (Ed.) The Princeton Handbook of Poetic
Terms (1974).
13. Carey 1992, and Paul
Johnson's Intellectuals (1988).
14. Ezra Pound. Hugh Selwyn Mauberly (Part
I) http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/p
ound/pound.htm. Bibliography, short articles and
some poems of 1920 and before.
15. T.S. Eliot. The Waste
Land. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_La
nd Short article, with links to the poem text, etc.
16. Wallace Stevens. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a
Blackbird. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID
/124. Biography, bibliography, links and nine
poems.
Internet Resources
1. Modernism. Holly
Ashkannejhad. http://www.class.uidaho.edu/eng2
58_1/modernists/homepage1.htm. Illustrated guide
to accompany freshman course.
2. Modernism. Jan
2004. http://nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mod
ernism. Nationmaster Encyclopedia entry.
3. American Modernist Poetry.
38. http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/Mod
ernist.html. Notes and a listing of material at the
University of Toledo.
4. Modernism in Literature.
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/Periods_and_Mov
ements/Modernism/. Open Directory's short listing
of sites. NNA
5. Modernism. http://vos.ucsb.edu. Voice of the
Shuttle listings.
6. Bohemian
Ink. http://www.levity.com/corduroy/index.htm.
Useful listings for key figures.
7. Perspectives in American Literature. Chapter 7:
Early Twentieth Century - American Modernism: A
Brief Introduction. Paul P. Reuben. Jan. 2003.
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap
7/7intro.html. Useful notes.
8. Book Reviews: 21st-Century Modernism and With
Strings. Yunte Huang.
2002. http://www.bostonreview.net/BR27.3/huang
.html. Review of books by Perloff and Bernstein.
9. Pound: On Canto IX. Lawrence S. Rainey et
al. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/
pound/canto9.htm. Analysis of modernist
techniques, by several critics.
10. American modern
poetry. http://www.findarticles.com. Many
articles on American and modernist poets.
11. Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-
garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism. Matei
Calinescu.
1987. http://www.duke.edu/~aparks/Calin1g.html
. Summary of Calinescu's 1987 book.
12. Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. Kristi
Siegel. Jan.
2003. http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm.
Introductions and selected listings.
13. Dana Gioia Online.
http://www.danagioia.net/essays/ecpm.htm.
Articles on poetry and twentieth century literary
figures.
14. Shrink-Rapt Poetry? Dean Blehert. Apr.
2002. http://www.blehert.com/essays/shrink.html
. New York Quarterly essay on relationship of
modern poetry to psychiatry.
15. Modern American Poetry Criticism. Timothy
Materer. 1994.
http://www.missouri.edu/~engtim/ALS94.html
NNA. Reviews of 1994 critical articles.
16. Modernism Links. Nancy Knowles. 2002.
http://www2.eou.edu/~nknowles/winter2002/engl
322links.html NNA. Good selection.
17. Guide to Literary Theory. Michael Groden and
Martin
Kreiswirth. http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/guide
/. Johns Hopkins online guide: free access limited.
18. Literary
Criticism. http://www.libraryspot.com/litcrit.htm.
Library Spot's listing.
19. Comparative Literature and Theory. Stephen
Hock and Mark Sample . Jun.
2003. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/Complit/Eclat/.
Essential listings.
20. Literary Resources on the Net. Jack Lynch. Jun.
2003.
'shttp://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/Lit/.
Extensive as usual.
21. KWSnet Web Resources. Kirk W. Smith. Jan.
2004. http://www.kwsnet.com/litstudi.html.
Excellent directory of literature sources.
22. Internet Public Library. Jun.
2002. http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/. Listing of
critical and biographical websites.
23. Voice of the Shuttle. Alan Liu et
al. http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2718.
Literary theory section.
24. Literary Criticism and Biographies.
http://library.hilton.kzn.school.za/English/litcrit.h
tm NNA. Short but useful directory.
25. English Literature on the Web. Mitsuharu
Matsuoka. http://www.lang.nagoya-
u.ac.jp/%7Ematsuoka/EngLit.html. Very extensive
listings.
26. Literature Webliography. Mike Russo. Jul.
2003. http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/lit/lit.html.
LSU Libraries useful listings.
27. Literary Periods: Modern: 1900 to
1945. http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/p
eriods/modern.htm. Useful listing of sites.
28. Modernism and the Modern Novel. Christopher
Keep, Tim McLaughlin and Robin Parmar.
2000. http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/elab/hfl
0255.html. Brief articles but good bibliography.
29. Modernist Poetry. Jun.
2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_poe
try. Short articles with extensive lists.
30. Dana Levin, Make It New: Originality and the
Younger
Poet. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmM
ID/5893. Short article and links to featured poets.