The Modernist Period in English Literature occupied the years from shortly after the beginning of

the twentieth century through roughly 1965. n broad terms! the period was mar"ed by sudden
and une#pected brea"s with traditional ways of $iewing and interacting with the world.
E#perimentation and indi$idualism became $irtues! where in the past they were often heartily
discouraged. Modernism was set in motion! in one sense! through a series of cultural shoc"s. The
first of these great shoc"s was the %reat &ar! which ra$aged Europe from 191' through 191(!
"nown now as &orld &ar )ne. *t the time! this +&ar to End *ll &ars, was loo"ed upon with such
ghastly horror that many people simply could not imagine what the world seemed to be plunging
towards. The first hints of that particular way of thin"ing called Modernism stretch bac" into the
nineteenth century. *s literary periods go! Modernism displays a relati$ely strong sense of
cohesion and similarity across genres and locales. -urthermore! writers who adopted the Modern
point of $iew often did so .uite deliberately and self/consciously. ndeed! a central preoccupation
of Modernism is with the inner self and consciousness. n contrast to the 0omantic world $iew!
the Modernist cares rather little for 1ature! 2eing! or the o$erarching structures of history. nstead
of progress and growth! the Modernist intelligentsia sees decay and a growing alienation of the
indi$idual. The machinery of modern society is percei$ed as impersonal! capitalist! and
antagonistic to the artistic impulse. &ar most certainly had a great deal of influence on such ways
of approaching the world. Two &orld &ars in the span of a generation effecti$ely shell/shoc"ed
all of &estern ci$ili3ation.

n its genesis! the Modernist Period in English literature was first and foremost a $isceral reaction
against the 4ictorian culture and aesthetic! which had pre$ailed for most of the nineteenth
century. ndeed! a brea" with traditions is one of the fundamental constants of the Modernist
stance. ntellectuals and artists at the turn of the twentieth century belie$ed the pre$ious
generation5s way of doing things was a cultural dead end. They could foresee that world e$ents
were spiraling into un"nown territory. The stability and .uietude of 4ictorian ci$ili3ation were
rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The assassination of *rchdu"e -erdinand of *ustria was
essentially the triggering e$ent of the -irst &orld &ar! a conflict which swept away all
preconcei$ed notions about the nature of so/called modern warfare.
n the world of art! generally spea"ing! Modernism was the beginning of the distinction between
+high, art and +low, art. The educational reforms of the 4ictorian *ge had led to a rapid increase in
literacy rates! and therefore a greater demand for literature or all sorts. * popular press .uic"ly
de$eloped to supply that demand. The sophisticated literati loo"ed upon this new popular
literature with scorn. &riters who refused to bow to the popular tastes found themsel$es in a state
of alienation from the mainstream of society. To some e#tent! this alienation fed into the
stereotype of the aloof artist! producing nothing of commercial $alue for the mar"et. t5s worth
mentioning that this alienation wor"ed both ways! as the reading public by and large turned their
bac"s on many +elitist, artists. The academic world became something of a refuge for disaffected
artists! as they could rub elbows with fellow disenfranchised intellectuals. 6till! the most effecti$e
poets and no$elists did manage to ma"e profound statements that were absorbed by the whole of
society and not 7ust the writer5s inner circles. n the later years of the Modernist period! a form of
populism returned to the literary mainstream! as regionalism and identity politics became
significant influences on the purpose and direction of artistic endea$or.
The nineteenth century! li"e the se$eral centuries before it! was a time of pri$ilege for wealthy
8aucasian males. &omen! minorities! and the poor were marginali3ed to the point of utter silence
and inconse.uence. The twentieth century witnessed the beginnings of a new paradigm between
first the se#es! and later between different cultural groups. 8lass distinction remains arguably the
most difficult bridge to cross in terms of forming a truly e.uitable society. 6ome would argue that
class has become a euphemism for race! but that5s another discussion. The point is that as the
twentieth century mo$ed forward! a greater $ariety of literary $oices won the struggle to be heard.
&hat had so recently been inconcei$able was steadily becoming a reality. *frican/*mericans too"
part in the 9arlem 0enaissance! with the li"es of Langston 9ughes at the forefront of a $ibrant
new idiom in *merican poetry. &omen li"e 9ilda :oolittle and *my Lowell became leaders of the
magist mo$ement. 1one of this is to suggest that racism and se#ism had been completely left
behind in the art world. Perhaps such blemishes can ne$er be fully erased! but the strides that
were ta"en in the twentieth century were remar"able by any measure.
n Modernist literature! it was the poets who too" fullest ad$antage of the new spirit of the times!
and stretched the possibilities of their craft to lengths not pre$iously imagined. n general! there
was a disdain for most of the literary production of the last century. The e#ceptions to this disdain
were the -rench 6ymbolist poets li"e 8harles 2eaudelaire! and the wor" of rishman %erard
Manley 9op"ins. The -rench 6ymbolists were admired for the sophistication of their imagery. n
comparison to much of what was produced in England and *merica! the -rench were ahead of
their time. They were similarly unafraid to del$e into sub7ect matter that had usually been taboo
for such a refined art form. 9op"ins! for his part! brought a fresh way to loo" at rhythm and word
usage. 9e more or less in$ented his own poetic rhythms! 7ust as he coined his own words for
things which had! for him! no suitable descriptor. 9op"ins had no formal training in poetry! and he
ne$er published in his lifetime. This model ; the self/taught artist/hermit who has no desire for
public adulation ; would become synonymous with the poet in the modern age. This stereotype
continues unri$aled to this day! despite the fact that the most accomplished poets of the Modern
period were far from recluses. E$en though alienation was a nearly uni$ersal e#perience for
Modernist poets! it was impossible to escape some le$el of engagement with the world at large.
E$en if this engagement was mediated through the poetry! the relationship that poets had with
their world was $ery real! and $ery much re$ealing of the state of things in the early twentieth
century.
Leading up to the -irst &orld &ar! magist poetry was dominating the scene! and sweeping
pre$ious aesthetic points of $iew under the rug. The magists! among them E3ra Pound! sought to
boil language down to its absolute essence. They wanted poetry to concentrate entirely upon +the
thing itself!, in the words of critic/poet T. E. 9ulme. To achie$e that effect re.uired minimalist
language! a lessening of structural rules and a "ind of directness that 4ictorian and 0omantic
poetry seriously lac"ed. :reaminess or Pastoral poetry were utterly abandoned in fa$or of this
new! cold! some might say mechani3ed poetics. magist poetry was almost always short!
unrhymed! and noticeably sparse in terms of ad7ecti$es and ad$erbs. *t some points! the line
between poetry and natural language became blurred. This was a sharp departure from the
ornamental! $erbose style of the 4ictorian era. %one also were the preoccupations with beauty
and nature. Potential sub7ects for poetry were now limitless! and poets too" full ad$antage of this
new freedom.
1o Modernist poet has garnered more praise and attention than Thomas 6tearns Eliot. 2orn in
Missouri! T. 6. Eliot would e$entually settle in England! where he would produce some of the
greatest poetry and criticism of the last century. Eliot pic"ed up where the magists left off! while
adding some of his own peculiar aesthetics to the mi#. 9is principal contribution to twentieth
century $erse was a return to highly intellectual! allusi$e poetry. 9e loo"ed bac"wards for
inspiration! but he was not nostalgic or romantic about the past. Eliot5s productions were entirely
in the modern style! e$en if his blueprints were se$enteenth century metaphysical poets. )ne of
the distinguishing characteristics of Eliot5s wor" is the manner in which he seamlessly mo$es from
$ery high! formal $erse into a more con$ersational and easy style. <et e$en when his poetic $oice
sounds $ery collo.uial! there is a current underneath! which hides secondary meanings. t is this
layering of meanings and contrasting of styles that mar" Modernist poetry in general and T. 6.
Eliot in particular. t is no o$erstatement to say that Eliot was the pioneer of the ironic mode in
poetry= that is! decepti$e appearances hiding difficult truths.
n *merican Literature! the group of writers and thin"ers "nown as the Lost %eneration has
become synonymous with Modernism. n the wa"e of the -irst &orld &ar! se$eral *merican
artists chose to li$e abroad as they pursued their creati$e impulses. These included the
intellectual %ertrude 6tein! the no$elists Ernest 9emingway and -. 6cott -it3gerald! and the
painter &aldo Pierce! among others. The term itself refers to the spiritual and e#istential
hango$er left by four years of unimaginably destructi$e warfare. The artists of the Lost
%eneration struggled to find some meaning in the world in the wa"e of chaos. *s with much of
Modernist literature! this was achie$ed by turning the mind5s eye inward and attempting to record
the wor"ings of consciousness. -or 9emingway! this meant the abandonment of all ornamental
language. 9is no$els are famous for their e#tremely spare! blunt! simple sentences and emotions
that play out right on the surface of things. There is an irony to this bluntness! howe$er! as his
characters often ha$e hidden agendas! hidden sometimes e$en from themsel$es! which ser$e to
guide their actions. The Lost %eneration! li"e other +9igh Modernists!, ga$e up on the idea that
anything was truly "nowable. *ll truth became relati$e! conditional! and in flu#. The &ar
demonstrated that no guiding spirit rules the e$ents of the world! and that absolute destruction
was "ept in chec" by only the tiniest of margins.

The no$el was by no means immune from the self/conscious! reflecti$e impulses of the new
century. Modernism introduced a new "ind of narration to the no$el! one that would fundamentally
change the entire essence of no$el writing. The +unreliable, narrator supplanted the omniscient!
trustworthy narrator of preceding centuries! and readers were forced to .uestion e$en the most
basic assumptions about how the no$el should operate. >ames >oyce5s ?lysses is the prime
e#ample of a no$el whose e$ents are really the happenings of the mind! the goal of which is to
translate as well as possible the strange pathways of human consciousness. * whole new
perspecti$e came into being "nown as +stream of consciousness., 0ather than loo"ing out into
the world! the great no$elists of the early twentieth century sur$eyed the inner space of the
human mind. *t the same time! the psychoanalytic theories of 6igmund -reud had come into
mainstream acceptance. These two forces wor"ed together to alter people5s basic understanding
of what constituted truth and reality.
E#perimentation with genre and form was yet another defining characteristic of Modernist
literature. Perhaps the most representati$e e#ample of this e#perimental mode is T. 6. Eliot5s long
poem The &aste Land. Literary critics often single out The &aste Land as the definiti$e sample
of Modernist literature. n it! one is confronted by biblical/sounding $erse forms! .uasi/
con$ersational interludes! dense and fre.uent references which frustrate e$en the most well/read
readers! and sections that resemble prose more than poetry. *t the same time! Eliot fully displays
all the con$entions which one e#pects in Modernist literature. There is the occupation with self
and inwardness! the loss of traditional structures to buttress the ego against shoc"ing realities!
and a fluid nature to truth and "nowledge.
The cynicism and alienation of the first flowering of Modernist literature could not persist. 2y mid/
century! indeed by the 6econd &orld &ar! there was already a strong reaction against the
pretentions of the Moderns. *rtists of this newer generation pursued a more democratic!
pluralistic mode for poetry and the no$el. There was optimism for the first time in a long time.
8ommercialism! publicity! and the popular audience were finally embraced! not shunned.
*lienation became boring. True! the influence of Modernist literature continues to be .uite
astonishing. The Modern poet/critics changed the way people thin" about artists and creati$e
pursuits. The Modern no$elists changed the way many people percei$e truth and reality. These
changes are indeed profound! and cannot easily be replaced by new schemas.
This article is copyrighted @ AB11 by >alic nc. :o not reprint it without permission. &ritten by
>osh 0ahn. >osh holds a Masters degree in English Literature from Morehead 6tate ?ni$ersity!
and a Masters degree in Library 6cience from the ?ni$ersity of Centuc"y.
Ma7or Modernist &riters
2ishop! Eli3abeth D1911/19E9F
8onrad! >oseph D1(5E/19A'F
:oolittle! 9ilda D1((6/1961F
Eliot! Thomas 6tearns D1(((/1965F
-aul"ner! &illiam D1(9E/196AF
-it3gerald! -. 6cott D1(96/19'BF
9emingway! Ernest D1(99/1961F
9ughes! Langston D19BA/196EF
>ames! 9enry D1('G/1916F
Lawrence! :. 9. D1((5/19GBF
Lowell! *my D1(E'/19A5F
Pound! E3ra D1((5/19EAF
6haw! %eorge 2ernard D1(56/195BF
6te$ens! &allace D1(E9/1955F
&illiams! Tennessee D1((A/19'1F
&oolf! 4irginia D1((A/19'1F
<eats! &illiam 2utler D1(65/