Realism/Modernism Quest

Background

• He was born to two formerly enslaved people from Kentucky 

• Dunbar idolized Frederick Douglass and the two men met once 

• Writing at a time when prejudice against AA was mounting in northern and southern regions. Dunbar was able to dispute the unflattering image of his people found in magazines and newspapers

• He was the only AA in his class

• He wanted to have a career in law and tried to apply to various different jobs but was rejected because of his rae 

• Poems elaborated upon the hardships of Black life before and after slavery (Post slavery life)

• Harlem Renaissance Poet

Literary Analysis 

• Formal verse: poetry that follows a fixed structure 

• Rhyme Scheme: pattern of rhyming words at the ends of the lines 

We Wear the Mask 

• Stanza 1: mask of happiness = actually sad through 

• Stanza 2: the world should only see the mask

• Stanza 3: extended metaphor 

  • Walking while singing (celebrates journey they are still on) 

“I Will Fight No More Forever” (Chief Joseph)

• Pathos Argument 

• Chief Joseph telling General Howard (his chief) that they don’t want to fight anymore 

• Younger people left to fight 

• Directs his speech to his own ppl- because he is trying to unify all chiefs in tribe = “WE” can’t fight anymore 

• He surrendered because he can’t go through with this anymore 

  • Too many people dying (including his own children)

“Richard Cory” (Edwin Arlington Robinson)

• Everyone looking “up” at him on the pavement 

  • He was above us in rank/wealth/etc

  • He was handsome 

• He was not obnoxious & actually relatable 

• He gave you butterflies (extremely handsome) 

• He was rich 

• It seemed that he had everything so ppl wanted to be in place 

  • rich/put together/handsome 

• One normal day, everyone worked (no meat, only bread)

• Richard Cory shot himself in the head 

• People wanted to be like him, but he is internally suffering

Modernism 

1900-1940s 

Challenges in America produce the Modern Age

• Cities grew: immigration and land development increased. Businesses thrived with technological advances. This also meant cities faced poverty, overcrowding, crime, and racism

• The Harlem Renaissance was a new literary age that developed in northern Manhattan, in Harlem, New York 

New attitudes, values, & ideas grew in the Modern Era

• Modernist writers looked for new ways to tell stories and present poetry

• In general, the new approaches demanded more from readers than earlier works 

  • Art & literature were shared globally & allowed many cultures to contribute to Modernism 

  • More writers: women and AA

  • Literature was creative and presented new styles

  • Reading was popular and contributed to pop culture; paperback books allowed everyone to have a copy!

New Literary Focus

Some differences from Realism

1. Authors focused on HOW stories were told; would leave out transitions and long explanations to allow readers to interpret on their own

2. Themes included broken people after WWI, disillusionment, loss of faith in the American Dream and left readers with ironic and pessimistic tones in stories 

3. Stories contained on updated style: snappy dialogue, less description, everyday vocabulary and diction

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

• Started from humble beginnings and supported himself by working as a laborer

• He learned the true life of a migrant worker in the 1930s 

• His stories capture the poverty, desperation, and social injustice experience by many working-class Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s

• Characters struggle with forces out of their control

• The Grapes of Wrath is considered his finest novel (1939). It tells the story of the Joad Family who travels the 1500 miles from Oklahoma to CA to become migrant workers

“The Turtle” 

• Background: Great Depression

  • Drought → dust storms taking farmland (destroyed crops)

• Allegory: story about symbolism; family’s struggles

• Dust/Branches/Little plant parts trying to become part of plant life

  • Symbolism: life is always going to evolve 

•  Turtle comes in 

  • He is slow, and the barley beads/ clover burrs are getting in his shell 

  • Climb on embankment (growing steeper) → he fell down it

  • Struggle with feet

    • Falls until encounters parapet (small wall) → shell gets stuck on wall → strains with hands/feet to get off wall

    • Rested as he was tired 

    • Then red ant comes into the shell (can cause damage) 

    • Kills the ant with shell

    • Finally gets out of wall & shakes out of beards/dust 

• Sedan comes along with 40 yr old female driver → turtle almost got hit 

  • Turtle went on road, then cement BUT it was burning hot so needed to escape 

• Then a truck driver comes and intentionally tries to kill the turtle, but the turtle survived 

  • He spun off in the air 

  • Waved legs in the air to turn itself over

•  Turtle entered dust road → creating trench in the fust 

  • Symbolizes that he unknowingly created a new patch for life/land 

    • Didn’t realize he achieved his goal of creating plant life

A Rose for Emily 

 (William Faulkner)

William Faulkner

• Wealthy beginnings in Mississippi

• High school and college dropout

• After slavery was abolished, many wealthy Southern families lost their primary source of agricultural wealth (Grierson family)

• Short story was published in 1930

Background Imagism 

• Imagism was a literary movement in the early 1900s by poets such as Ezra Pound

• Concentrated on the direct presentation of images on word pictures 

• Imagist poem expressed the essence of an object, person, or incident without explanation 

• Imagists were influenced by traditional Chinese and Japanese poetry (haikus)

In a Station of the Metro

Ezra Pound)

Ezra Pound 

• He was influenced by ancient culture and are filled with allusions 

In a Station of the Metro

• Apparitions 

• Comparing faces & petals 

The Red Wheelbarrow (William Carlos Williams)

William Carlos Williams

• He thought his experiences as a doctor provided him with experiences to influence his poetry 

• He loved to write about ordinary people, moments, and objects

The Red Wheelbarrow

• Red wheelbarrow symbolizes gardening 

• Chickens symbolize a farm 

• So much depends on the wheelbarrow 

  • Farming depends on it 

  • No farm w/o the wheelbarrow & it is emphasized because it is so simple but necessary/effective

• Uses imagery