Modernist Poems : Activity - Identify modernist metaphors in these short poem.
Here I'm given my interpretation on these ten short modern poems.
Modernism was set in motion, in one sense, through a series of cultural shocks. Modernism is with the inner self and consciousness. Modern society is perceived as impersonal, capitalist, and antagonistic to the artistic impulse. War most certainly had a great deal of influence on such ways of approaching the world.
1. T. E. Hulme The Embankment
(The fantasia of a fallen gentleman on a cold, bitter night)
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.
The poet walking in the street of london and he find ecstasy in blithering kind of thing, he remembers his happy days of his past life as he included in his poem 'Flash of gold heels'. The poet suggests the art for life sake because the modern writers concentrate on the problems of modern society. Poet also pays attention to poor condition of people. Another metaphor 'blanket of the sky'.
2. 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.
The poem is described in just four lines. Poet is looking at the stars and thinks that the 'The star no longer' it shows the fall of star. Poet indicates 'Darkness' in the sky because the star was passed away.
3. Edward Storer, ‘Image’
Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon,
Upon strange pyres of loneliness and drought.
The poem tells the loneliness of foresake lovers. 'Moon' as connection between two lovers but, poet says lovers are burning to white moon. If we read this poem our imagination leads towards loneliness and isolation.
4. Ezra Pound, ‘In a station of the Matro
THE apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The title shows city life and hasty life style of modern society. Petals on a wet, black bough. Through this lines poet connects nature with modern life. Bough means branch but poet uses 'black bough' it means dead branch of a tree, poet described it ina negative way.
5. H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), ‘The Pool'
Are you alive?
I touch you.
You quiver like a sea-fish.
I cover you with my net.
What are you—banded one?
'Pool' through the word any one can imagine about water. Poem begins with the question 'are you alive?', poet is asked about existence. Water is stored in pool, it shows flawlessness. Starfish as metaphor of restless life which is more accurate example of modern life.
6. Richard Aldington, ‘Incouscious'
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.
The first metaphor is dreary teachers means dark hole and trudging cheerily means a person drag him self empathatically. So, poet shows both side of human life which can be negative and positive. Here poet uses the example of Dove which is flie away from himself.
7. T. S. Eliot, Morning at the window
They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at 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.
The poem draws a picture of morning with the lots of work and poet uses the metaphor and imagery like 'damp souls of housemaids', also shows poverty of modern life with the different examples, muddy skirts, twisted faces.
8. William Carlos Williams, 'The red wheelbarrow'
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Wheelbarrow means one type of cart, imagery of nature, village life. The things depends upon wheel which is used to carrying things. Different metaphors like rain, cart white chickens.
9. Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar
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.
The poem focuses on the Jar, some kind of object. Tennessee is the state of America, poet tells us that the Jar was upon the hill but, then jar was round upon the ground. So he suggested that how one owned the place, It took dominion everywhere this line tells us that jar was dominion over there.
10. E. E. Cummings, 'I-a
l(a le af fa ll s) one l
It is very short poem, the first line
suggests the loneliness and solitude, it is
a separation from the world as the poet
uses the correctly metaphor of leaf
which is falls from its branch.
So, here I tries to given my interpretation about these modern poems......
Thank you.....
Here I'm given my interpretation on these ten short modern poems.
Modernism was set in motion, in one sense, through a series of cultural shocks. Modernism is with the inner self and consciousness. Modern society is perceived as impersonal, capitalist, and antagonistic to the artistic impulse. War most certainly had a great deal of influence on such ways of approaching the world.
1. T. E. Hulme The Embankment
(The fantasia of a fallen gentleman on a cold, bitter night)
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.
The poet walking in the street of london and he find ecstasy in blithering kind of thing, he remembers his happy days of his past life as he included in his poem 'Flash of gold heels'. The poet suggests the art for life sake because the modern writers concentrate on the problems of modern society. Poet also pays attention to poor condition of people. Another metaphor 'blanket of the sky'.
2. 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.
The poem is described in just four lines. Poet is looking at the stars and thinks that the 'The star no longer' it shows the fall of star. Poet indicates 'Darkness' in the sky because the star was passed away.
3. Edward Storer, ‘Image’
Forsaken lovers,
Burning to a chaste white moon,
Upon strange pyres of loneliness and drought.
The poem tells the loneliness of foresake lovers. 'Moon' as connection between two lovers but, poet says lovers are burning to white moon. If we read this poem our imagination leads towards loneliness and isolation.
4. Ezra Pound, ‘In a station of the Matro
THE apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The title shows city life and hasty life style of modern society. Petals on a wet, black bough. Through this lines poet connects nature with modern life. Bough means branch but poet uses 'black bough' it means dead branch of a tree, poet described it ina negative way.
5. H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), ‘The Pool'
Are you alive?
I touch you.
You quiver like a sea-fish.
I cover you with my net.
What are you—banded one?
'Pool' through the word any one can imagine about water. Poem begins with the question 'are you alive?', poet is asked about existence. Water is stored in pool, it shows flawlessness. Starfish as metaphor of restless life which is more accurate example of modern life.
6. Richard Aldington, ‘Incouscious'
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.
The first metaphor is dreary teachers means dark hole and trudging cheerily means a person drag him self empathatically. So, poet shows both side of human life which can be negative and positive. Here poet uses the example of Dove which is flie away from himself.
7. T. S. Eliot, Morning at the window
They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at 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.
The poem draws a picture of morning with the lots of work and poet uses the metaphor and imagery like 'damp souls of housemaids', also shows poverty of modern life with the different examples, muddy skirts, twisted faces.
8. William Carlos Williams, 'The red wheelbarrow'
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Wheelbarrow means one type of cart, imagery of nature, village life. The things depends upon wheel which is used to carrying things. Different metaphors like rain, cart white chickens.
9. Wallace Stevens, Anecdote of the Jar
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.
The poem focuses on the Jar, some kind of object. Tennessee is the state of America, poet tells us that the Jar was upon the hill but, then jar was round upon the ground. So he suggested that how one owned the place, It took dominion everywhere this line tells us that jar was dominion over there.
10. E. E. Cummings, 'I-a
l(a le af fa ll s) one l
It is very short poem, the first line
suggests the loneliness and solitude, it is
a separation from the world as the poet
uses the correctly metaphor of leaf
which is falls from its branch.
So, here I tries to given my interpretation about these modern poems......
Thank you.....
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