With
the death of Tennyson, critics of the 20th century seemed that the
glorious days of English poetry were completed. There was a widespread
impression that English poetry had died with him. But this apprehension was
rather misplaced because the modern age has so many great poems and poets that
can be the part of the imperishable literary heritage of England. Modern poetry
has to give a rich harvest of poetic thought in style and diction. A.C. Ward rightly
remarks
“The Poetry of the
period
shows a distinct decline
not in general way of
execution but in
genius
and breadth of range.”
Characteristics of Modern poetry:-
Astounding variety of themes
Astounding variety of themes is
the chief characteristics of the modern poetry. The modern poets have not accepted the theory of great subjects for
poetic composition. They find inspiration from railway trains, tramcars,
telephone, the snake charmer and thing of common place interest. The whole universe
is the modern’s poet’s experience. We have a wide variety of the poem such as, (1)
‘The Songs of Train’ by John Davidson, (2) ‘Good
Machine Guns’ by Keneth Aldington
(3) ‘Seekers’ by Masefield
(4) ‘Listeners’ by Walter De La Mare
Pessimism
and disillusionment
Modern poetry is marked with a note of pessimism
and disillusionment. The frustration and pessimism created by wars have been presented in poetry by
Eliot, Yeats, Hardy, Houseman etc. They chiefly reflected the disillusionment
of war in their poetry. Sometime the modern poets are dissatisfied with God and
the naked dance of chance and materialism in the modern world and their poetry
is an arrangement of modern society in a pessimistic strain. The following
lines from ‘The waste land’
gives picture of pessimism.
“The heap of broken
image, where the sun beats
And the
dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief”
Subject of religion.
The
modern age is the age of science yet we find poems written on the subject of
religion. There are many poets who have kept alive the flame of religion
and mysticism in their poetry. Religious faith was magnificently expressed in
the works of like Robert Grave’s ‘In
The Widerness’, Mrs. Meynell’s ‘I am the Way’, Chasterton’s ‘The House of Christmas’ The
echoes of religion can be heard in Noyes’s following line:- “The Lord of life is risen again and love is
Lord of all.”
Psychological researches
Psychological
researches by Freud, Jung, and Karl
Max turned the poets to an investigation of the hidden impulse of man. Some
modern poets are interested in delving deep into the recess of the subconscious
mind. Some the poems of Eliot
and Ezra pound are difficult to
follow because of their psychological complexity.
Realism
The
poetry of the 20th century is marked with a note of realism. Realism in modern poetry was the product of a
reaction against the pseudo-romanticism of the last century. Poets like Robert Frost, Edmund Blunder, W. H. Gibson and John Masefield
strikes the note of realism. The best expression of realism in modern poetry is
to be found among the war poets, Owen Graves and Sassoon. They have described
vividly and realistically the horror of war.
The spirit of romance
In
spite of the preponderance of realism in modern poetry, the spirit of
romance continues to sway away the minds of modern poets like Walter De La Mare, Yeats, and Edward
Thomas. The works of these poets have the fact the spirit of romance is
as old as life itself. Walter De La Mare’s poetry is saturated with the true
and romantic spirit bordering on supernaturalism. The dim moonlight of romance
and chivalry hovers over the early poem of Gibson. e.g. The voice of
romanticism can be heard in these lines of Gibson.
“I Sang of lovers and
praised my song
The
while the king looked on her with cold eyes”
Love
Love forms the
subject of many modern lyrics. e.g. Robert
Bridge has produced fine sonnets of love in ‘The Growth of Love’, W.B. Yeats’s ‘When you are Old’ is
fine poem of love. Arthur Symon’s
‘The Broken Tryset’ deals with disappointment in love.
Longingness
Longingness is at the root of
the all poetry whether ancient or modern. Modern poets express longing of all
kinds in their poetry. John Masefield’s ‘Seekers’ is the best example of
Longingness of man for God and the external city of life.
The Chief Modern Poets:-
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was the most famous Irish metaphysical poet. He was
regarded as the initiator of the 20th century poetry. He was a
leading figure of modern era who became a bridge between Victorian age and
modern age. He was a Noble Prize Winner in 1923 composed some of the most
respected poetry of 20th century. “The Wind Swans at Coole”, “Michael Robartes and the Dance” “Wind among
the Reeds”, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”,
“Responsibilities” are remarkable poetic works. Sir Ifor Evants,
“Yeats stands out as
the
greatest poetical
figure of
the first half of the
twentieth
century of a stature
beyond
controversy.”
Thomas Stearns Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot was one of
the representative metaphysical poets. He was a man of pessimistic bent of mind
and in ‘The waste land’ he
presents gives picture of pessimism. ‘The
Love Songs of J. Alfred Prufrock’ reveals urbanization, hollowness,
cowardice, disappointment of urbanized and organized modern man through
character of Prufrock. ‘Ash Wednesday’, ‘The Hollow man’ and
‘Four Quarters’ are remarkable poems. Eliot was the most remarkable in the most
influential poet of his period both in regard to subject matter and style. Edward
Albert
“With the possible exception
of Yeats, no 20th century
poet has been held in
such
esteem by his fellow
poets
as Eliot..”
G. M. Hopkins
G. M. Hopkins is mainly a poet of nature
and also an experimental poet. His most important experiment is Sprung rhythm’ found more complex paths to new ways in modern
poetry. His imagery is remarkable for its richness. Ifor Evans remarks about his greatness as a poet in his ‘Short History of
English Literature’,
“Hopkins is a unique
figure
in the history of
English
poetry. No modern poet
has been the centre of
more
controversy or the
cause of
more
misunderstanding.”
W. H. Auden
W.
H. Auden was accepted as a leading
poet whose influence was felt in much contemporary verse. The most immediate
impression made by Auden’s poems is its ‘Psychology’. He is well known by
‘Lifting Political Ideology.’ His best poem (1)‘The Orator(2) ‘New
Years Letter
Conclusion
To
summing up, modern poetry can safely take its place of pride in the kingdom of
poetry produced from the times of Chaucer to the modern times. It is reflection
of Modern life. It is realistic in tone and expresses the spirit of the age. It
can not be denounced as petty, wayward and puerile. In a short, it is less
vague, less verbose, and less eloquent than poetry of the Victorian era. It has
absolute sincerity and simplicity. In the words of W. W. Robson
It is likely that if English
Literature of this century
survives at all-it will be
in selection from poetry.” –A Prologue to English Literature p. 214.
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