Saturday, 13 August 2016

Modernist Poems Short But Dramatic


 

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........ 

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