The Moderns

Important American Ideals:

  • optimism and self reliance

    • grew out of frontier experience

Three Underpinnings

  • belief in Eden (bountiful new land)

  • unwavering faith in progress

  • confidence in the triumph of the individual

American → new Eden

  • land of beauty

  • unlimited resources

  • endless opportunities

American Birthright: expect life to get better and better

  • trust in self → independent people will triumph

World War I and Great Depression were turning points

  • loss of innocence

  • strong disillusionment w/ tradition

  • Rise of Marxism and Psychoanalysis

  • breaking down traditional values

  • Lead to stream of consciousness narration (literary technique for the study of psychoanalysis

The Jazz Age

1919 → government prohibited manufacture, transport, and sale of alcohol

Rise of the rhythms of Jazz + Gangsters

  • bootlegger

  • speakeasy

  • cocktail

  • short skirted flapper

Many American authors left to Europe—France

Disillusionment

  • loss of the belief of the American Dream

  • New American Hero (literature)

    • men of action, warriors, tough competitors

    • code of honor → courage, endurance, “grace under pressure”

    • anti heros

Modern Poetry

  • post Whitman and Dickson’s deaths

  • Some liked symbolism and imagery

    • T.S. Elliot

    • Ezra Pound

  • Some stuck with traditional verse

    • Robert Frost

  • emphasis on bold style

  • reflected fragmentation in society

  • rejected traditional values

  • loss of faith in the American Dream

  • flawed heros but graceful under pressure

  • inner workings of the human mind