Concetti Chiave
- The late 19th century saw the decline of Victorian values, leading to disillusionment following the First World War.
- Modernism emerged in the early 20th century, characterized by international artistic innovation and a break from traditional forms.
- Modernist writers, influenced by Freud, introduced techniques like the "stream of consciousness" to explore character psychology.
- Modern poetry, influenced by avant-garde groups, used unconventional themes and languages to depict the horrors of war.
- T.S. Eliot redefined poetry as an exploration of experience, focusing on complexity and analysis over emotion.
Age of anxiety: in the last 2 decades of the 19th century the system of Victorian values had already come to the end. The utilitarianism, the Victorian hypocrisy of morality,the consequence of the IWW led to disillusionment and left country in a cynical mood. Also the IWW left in soldier who participated a sort of sense of guilt for the horrors of thrench warfare (they became mad).
Modernism: the first decades of the 20th century were a period of extraordinary originality and vitality in the history of art.
Modern poetry: the period of the I WW was characterized by the spread of the avant-garde groups influenced by the Victorian Romantic tradition like the War poets, a generation of young poets specially soldier who wrote a unconventional poems in theme and explain in an anti-rhetorical way the horrors of the modern warfare (like trenches) and they tried t experiment a new languages (everyday languages,cruel and violent).
Modern poetry began with Imagine which movement flourished between 1912-1917 and that name was invented by the American poet Ezra Pound .
The main aesthetic features are (were influenced by the French symbolism of Baudelaire) :
-use of clear images;
-choice of any matter for subject;
-poems usually short without comment ;
-free verse to increase the sound and musicality of the words.
However T.S.Elliot explain the new poetic theory and practice. He said: “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality” vs the Wordsworth’s definition of poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquility”.
So the poet became an explorer of experience who used language to create something complex that is not easy to understand without an attempted analysis.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali fattori hanno portato alla fine dei valori vittoriani nel XIX secolo?
- Quali sono le caratteristiche principali del Modernismo nel contesto artistico del XX secolo?
- Come si differenzia la poesia moderna rispetto alla tradizione romantica vittoriana?
La fine dei valori vittoriani è stata causata dall'utilitarismo, dall'ipocrisia morale vittoriana e dalle conseguenze della Prima Guerra Mondiale, che hanno portato a disillusione e cinismo nel paese.
Il Modernismo si caratterizza per l'originalità e la vitalità, rompendo con le forme e i soggetti stabiliti, influenzato da Freud, con tecniche come il "flusso di coscienza" e il "monologo interiore" nei romanzi, e la mescolanza di registri e versi nella poesia.
La poesia moderna, influenzata dai simbolisti francesi, utilizza immagini chiare, sceglie qualsiasi argomento, è breve e senza commenti, e adotta il verso libero per aumentare la musicalità, in contrasto con la tradizione romantica vittoriana.