Presentation Topic: Define Modernism. Critically Justify the

major modern poets and their contribution to English Literature.

Presented for:Monir HossenLectureDepartment of English Uttara University

Presented by:Sayeda Khadiza Akter AnniID:F21433111013Batch: 35thDep.Of EnglishUttara University

Definition:Modernism is a literary and culture international movement which flourished in the first decades of the 20th century. Modernism is not a term to which a single meaning can be ascribed. It may be applied both to the content and to the form of a work or either in isolation. It reflects a sense of culture crisis which was both exciting and disquieting, is that it opened up a whole new vista of human possibilities at the same time as putting into question any previously accepted means of grounding and evaluating new ideas. Modernism is marked by experimentation, practically manipulation of form and by the realization that knowledge is not absolute.

★T. S. Eliot★Ezra Pound ★Wallace Stevens★W. B. Yeats★Paul Valér★H.D.★Emily Dickinsos

Modernist Poets

T.S.Eliot (1888 -1965)

Thomas Stearns Eliot was a British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary, social critic and one of the twentieth century's major poets. It best phrases are:

Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem " The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock " (1915), which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922).

"April is the cruellest month",

I will show you fear in a handful of dust"

and. "shantih shantih shantih"

W.B.Yeats (1865-1939)

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poetand one of the foremost figure of 20thcentury literature. A pillar of both theIrish and British literary establishments,he helped and found the Abbey Theatreand in his later years served as an IrishSenator for two terms.“The Second Coming” is superb exampleof Yeats modernism as in this poemYeats portrays the modern chaotic.

Ezra Pound(1885- 1972)

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an expatriate American poet and critic, as well as a major figure in the early modernist movement. His contribution to poetry began with his development of Imagism , a movement derived from classical Chinese and

Japanese poetry, stressing clarity, precision and economy of language. His works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) and the unfinished 120-section epic, The Cantos. He has been one of the most controversial.

Cathay as well as being one of the century's most important poets, Pound was also a scholar.

Paul Valery (1871-1945)

Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (/ vɑːleɪˈri/ ; [1]

French: [pɔl valeʁi] ; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist , and philosopher . In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events. Valéry was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 12 different years.

"The Great silence" valery is the best known as a poet and he is sometimes considered to be the last of the French symbolists.

Before La Jeune parque, Valery's only publication of note were dialogues, articles, some poems and a study of Leonardo da Vinci.

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania , educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and he spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance company inHartford, Connecticut . He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Collected Poems in 1955.

Some of his best poems include "The Emperor of Ice-cream", Sunday Morning, The show men etc.

"The Emperor of Ice- Cream" The Emperor of Ice-cream may well qualify for the accolade of most baffling poem of the enter twentieth century. "The Snow Man" it is about a rejection of the Romantic impulse to project your own feeling on to the natural world.

Conclusion :Modern poetry has to be about the act of writing poetry. More specifically, it has to be about making people feel better about their lives. In Stevens words, it has to be "the finding of a satisfaction. It's up to the poet to decide what that satisfaction is but in dark. Modern times poetry has to give its readers a sense of hope and purpose. It doesn't need poetry to make it any tougher. By studying early twentieth century poets, achieved their place among modern poets shortly before their death with complete poems.

Reference 1.Modernism ; en.m.Wikipedia.org

2.T.S.Eliot ; Www.Ukessays.com/; en.m.Wikipedia. org

3.W.B.Yeats ; Www.literary.articles.com/; en.m.Wikipedia.org/

4.Ezra Pound ; en.m.Wikipedia. org/; Www.poetryfoundation.org/; myopicopoets.blogspot.com/; Www.shmoop.com/; Googleweblight.com/;

5.Paul Valery ; en.m.Wikipedia.org/; Www.poetryfoundation.org/; Www.oxfordreference.com

6.Wallace Steven ; en.m.Wikipedia.org/;

Www.shmoop.com/; interestingliterature.com/;

7.Conclusion ; Www.shmoop.com/; www.poetryfoundation.org/;

Thank you