Modernist
Poems Short But Dramatic
Modernist Poems of selected
poets are analyzed here. Poets have written short poems but very
dramatic.
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.
Analysis:
-
Modernist literature at first seems difficult to
understand. In this
poem, Hulme is trying to escape
from earthly realities and wants
himself to be wined
up with comfortable lies.
In
this poem there are some symbols like gold heels,
old stars, etc. And
through these types of symbols it
becomes interesting, because these
all are
ornaments for poem.
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.
Analysis:
Poet
says that Darkness is itself symbolic. In one's
life and out of one's
life. We found some illusion in
darkness as he (poet) has the same.
As he passed
from the street he found a star in a boghole!!
Star
is something which we comment with
positive energy, great source of
light n power.
But here poet takes it as - A star no longer, but a
silver
ribbon of light.
In
this poem stars and ribbons are used as a symbol.
3.)
'Image' - Edward Storer
Forsaken
lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon
Upon
strange Pyres of loneliness and
drought.
Analysis
:-
Here
in the poem there an image of modern lovers and their feelings. They
wants love like a white moon but they are on pyres of loneliness
which suggests lover are staying together but there is no love
between them and the word “Drought” suggests that there is lack
of emotions and feelings as well as faith between them.
In
this poem "white moon" used as a symbol.
4.)
"In a station of the Metro" - Ezra Pound
The
apparition of these faces in the Crowd;
Petals
on a wet, black bough
Analysis:
The
word “Metro” in title clearly suggests the hasty lifestyle of
modern civilization. “These
faces in the crowd”suggests that
there are together but isolated. The metaphor of suggests that they
are from same tree(city, civilization) but that civilization is like
“withered stump” and they are like petals, isolated from flower
without identity.
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?
Analysis:
As a
bi-sexual person, Doolittle faced just such a
situation.She played
many roles; but, ultimately, she
became a many faceted person.
Sometimes, we have
difficulty, especially as adolescents,
understanding
our feelings. We do not know what our emotions
mean.We
question who we are and what we want
from life. It might be
satisfying to have someone pull
us close and help us to understand as
the poet says in
the last line: "What are you-banded one?"
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.
Analysis:
The
concept which poet has presented is about
staying detached with
problems of world and live
individual life happily, like staying in
utopia. The
poet is writing poetry for himself and living happily
under the sky. The metaphor “a flock of doves“
suggests living in
world but individually, like in flock
of dove not any bird is
connected with each other in
modern world people are living in same
country but
not having emotions.
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
despondentlyat 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.
Analysis:
The
poem is a set of striking images of poverty; the
poet says nothing
but shows them. The poor people
are rattling (making sound) breakfast
plates early in
the morning. It is an obligation for poor people to
go
to work early and work till late. Sun or shower, frost
or fog,
they have to set out early. The image brings
to mind similar images
of poverty. The speaker
saysthat he is aware of the condition of the
households' minds and souls, or their psychology. He
doesn't describe
that. Such housemaids are
appearing one after another at the city
gate. Maybe
they come from villages. They have no identity,
dignity
and meaningful life. They are 'despondent',
or
extremely sad.
8.)
The Red Wheelbarrow -William Carlos Williams
so
much depends
upon
a
red wheel
barrow
glazed
with rain
water
beside
the white
chicken.
Analysis:
The
poem has so much complexity, apparently the
first line is not
connected with the other lines of
poem but it can be said that once
which wheel was
so useful is now cannot work because of rain water
(connection of nature). The white chicken may be
trying to hide from
rain and wheel is also beside that
chicken.
Red
wheel, white chicken these all are symbols and
through these poet try
to say about human beings.
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.
Analysis:
Anecdote
of the Jar is an imagist poem in which
Stevens explores the question
of the superiority
between art and nature: Is nature superior to
human
creations, or does human creativity surpasses nature
in some
way? This is an age-old and puzzling
question. This poem solves the
riddle by recognizing
the unique differences between art and nature:
art
may sometimes be more beautiful than nature but it
cannot be as
creative as the nature.
10.)
‘l (a‘-E. E. Cummings
l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
l
iness
Analysis:
This
is the best poem amongst all given here. Poet
have marvelously
captured the image of falling
leaves in the poem. Words even are
falling in the
poem, just like leaf. . Broken into pieces, and with
that word and leaf, loneliness also fals and spreads in
the mind of
reader.
thank you........
