A New Light In Modernism

During the past few class periods, we have transitioned from the Victorian era to Modernism in English literature...and  I must admit that this was a transition that I completely had a misconception about. While I love literature, I have never examined it through different time periods in such a way that these survey classes offer; so it is really awesome to see the progression of literature and the changes that it took as the time and society challenged writers. I am maybe a bit hesitant and embarrassed to confess that I had always thought modernistic writing during that era would be more positive, when instead it is quite the opposite. We come to college to learn and this is definitely a fact in which my notions have been corrected. After discussing in class through lecture and the power point, as well as reading just the few poems we have looked at, I was surprised by how truly negative and pessimistic the tones are. 

The Crisis of Faith was beginning to emerge as the Victorian age came to a close, but as far as I can tell l we are seeing more repercussions of it now that we have entered Modernism writing. For instance, we determined as a class that Thomas Hardy wrote direct reflections of the crisis in his poem "Hap". The tone he takes is very negative and uses such words as "crass" to make his point. This concept was interesting to read and then discuss as a class because of the prior notions I had, but now that we have closely examined a few works it makes more sense; the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. 

As the PowerPoint suggested, Modernism brought the idea that "people make their own meaning in the world" (Slide #3) and the chart on Slide #2 suggested that this time period was thought to be chaotic, futile, pessimistic, fluctuating (instead of  stable), that there was a loss of faith, confused sense if identity, and that there was a collapse of mortality and values. All of these markers of the Modern age are strongly displayed in all of the pieces we have looked at thus far, and it is so intriguing to read such works that created such a negative and also hopeless messages to readers. As readers of the American 21st century, we read countless amounts of different types of literature but nothing that is consistently negative. Out of the three poems that we have read, Thomas Hardy's writing speaks most loudly to me. Just in his writing it seems as though he just hated or was disgusted with life. It makes me wonder what it would be like to life during this time and have been able to be around such people as Hardy or William Yeats; would they be as depressing in life as in their works?

I am very fascinated by Modernism already and am excited to read further into the literature from this time. Maybe this is because I have been enlightened to that fact that I was wrong in thinking (for some reason) that  there would be positive thinking and vibes, but whatever the case, I think that between Romanticism and Victorianism, this period is most distinguishable as well as the most interesting. Also, it will be exciting to see what Postmodernism brings to the table. :) 

Just to add one side note in relation to all of this: it has been really fun to learn "in order" so to speak. Survey classes are so enjoyable because there is a sense of start to finish, and in my mind, makes me feel as if nothing has been left out. Why can't all college courses explain a subject in chronological order? In learning about English literature from the earliest stuff to the later, it is so interesting to see how much it has all progressed; and helping lead us to what we read today!