The Modernists Final, Research Paper Example

The Georgian poets were a group who wished to bring about a new age through the use of literary inspiration. They endeavored to recreate the classical ideas of the past through the use of literary reform throughout England and Europe. Their name comes from the era of king George of England.  These poets, also considered modernists, created a whole new genre of poetry

There were a couple of Modernist Georgian authors that were studied who were not English or originally from England. These included Sir Ronald Ross, from India and Francis Ledwidge, who was Irish, among others. This more international flavor reflects a specifically modernist turn in literature because it represents the progressive movement towards a conservative outlook on politics.  While they believed in promoting change within society and the advancement of humanity they believed that it should be tempered with the wisdom of the past.  The ability for these poets to work across borders is indicative of the modern ideas of advancement through cooperation and social reform.  Their endeavor was to make this view more accessible to a larger audience.  In this way, it was an early attempt at mass distribution of information and ideas.  By allowing more people to take part in the advancement of poetic discourse, they believed they could change the world for the better..

Thomas Hardy was an incredibly harsh critique and social commentator of his time.  His most famous works are set amidst backdrops of social inadequacy and political injustices.  By integrating these ideas into his work, he is able to disseminate social commentary in an efficient way.  He seems to have sought to inspire those who read his works to be more critical of their situations.  He is able to do this through years of sharpening his poetic and critical abilities.  Hardy’s works reflect the view of someone who lived through the upheavals of WWI.  The publishing of his works spans from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. In this time, he was able to gain insight into the problems of his day.  In this way, he is able to bridge the gap between the past and the future. He stands as a transitional figure between the Victorian world and modernism.

To answer question number two, T. S. Eliot’s poetic style in the poems studied reflects three of the tenets of modernism. These tenets include a hearkening to the past for inspiration.  It also used poetic license to give a voice to the perceived inadequacies that he saw within society by inserting certain ideas into the context of the poems. Finally, Eliot worked invoked deep spiritual and iconic representations of idealisms that showed the modernist idea of progressive works inspired by the conservative ideals of the past.  These tendencies within his work show a connection to the modernist movement of his time in a technical sense.

His work contains reflections that look upon the past, which relate to the modernist idea of looking to the classical world, to antiquity, in order to draw inspiration. Eliot’s work, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, was inspired by the literary accounts of Dante as well as works by Shakespeare.  By alluding to classic works by well-established authors, modernists were able to ground their work in a sort of authority that rests upon the shoulders of the great literary geniuses that came before them.  Eliot, like his contemporaries, was able to relate his work to the great poets and authors of the past in order to ground them in a sense of unity with the classical authors that had come before him.

Eliot’s poetry also relates to modernism through its tendency to sharply critique the social and political issues of the time. The Hollow Men is rife with reflections upon the political and social scenes of the day.  In this work, the allusions to the works of the past disappear in favor of a stark contrast with issues of the present. It deals instead with events that were seen as more directly important than the idealism of his other works. Instead, it paints a warning of things that could be if the issues of the day weren’t dealt with properly.

The poetry by Eliot also relates to contemporary poetry in that it is steeped in mythological and religious symbolism. At a point in his life, he converted and became more religious.  His work Ash-Wednesday is considered a beautiful homage to religious idealism. This was shaped through inspiration from the modernist Georgian’s approach to poetic dialogue. They believed that forming their literary structures on the epic tales of past cultures they would be given a power that would attract more people.  This was based on the natural tendency to gravitate towards the wonder of the mythological.

T.S. Eliot’s poetry is representative of the tenants of the philosophy that he wished to represent.  As he was more than a poet, an essayist as well as a playwright, he was able to successfully integrate his political and social ideals into his works.  In this way his work reflected the same ideas as the modernists, the modernist ideal of both hearkening back to classical antiquity and, at the same time, looking forward at the changes that are to come.