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Similarities between Modernism in American
literature(1914-1945) and English literature(1901-1939)
Good afternoon everyone! Today, our group is going to talk about the similarities
between Modernism in American literature (1914-1945) and English literature (1901-
1939). Next, In our presentation, we will focus on 3 parts. Firstly, the definition and the
historical background of modernism. Secondly, we will show you about the similar
features and examples that demonstrate the similarities between modernism in
American literature and English literature. And the last one is the conclusion. I, Overview:(Hà)
- Modernism: According to Cambride dictionary, modernism is defined as
modern thinking and methods. Additionally, according to the research of
Toledo university, modernism is considered as a literary and artistic
renewal movement that took place mainly in the West (Europe and
America) on a large scale during the period from the end of the 19th
century to early twentieth century and it it rebelled against the conservative
values of realism and took place in the fields of literature, visual arts, music, film and architecture.
- Historical backgrounds:
+Modernism period is a period in literary history -started around the
early 1900s and continued until the early 1940s.
+In general, in the history of art and literature, the modernist movements
that appeared in the early twentieth century have been considered a
revolution in art and literature and are often referred to as "initial literature movements' '.
+Modernist literature came into its own due to the increasing
industrialization and globalization after the honors of World War 1.
II, Similarities and examples (Hoa + Huyền) Hoa
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Hoa. Now, I will present the second part of
our presentation: Similar features and examples in British modernism literature and
American modernism literature. We compare them based on two criteria: theme and
writing techniques… In terms of theme, modernism literature in the UK and America
shared some themes. However, due to limited time, we will present two similar themes lOMoARcPSD|44744371
which are classism and alienation.
The first one: classism. There are two main characteristics of classicism in
modernism. Firstly, characters have negative opinions on lower social class and treat
others unfairly based on their social class. Additionally, social distance becomes one of
the challenges to the characters’ journey - the journey to find who they are and find their happiness.
To help you understand more deeply, I will give two examples: one from British
modernism literature and the other from American one. The example for British literature
is the novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by Lawrence. The story is about a romantic
relationship between a working class man - Mellors and an upper class woman - Lady
Chatterley due to social class distance. This love becomes controversial because of social
distance between them - they come from two different social classes. Lady Chatterley’s
husband, even only lets her have an affair with a man when he belongs to the upper class.
The second example is a famous novel (I think many of you heard about it) - The
Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. The novel is about Jay Gatsby who was born poor and
fell in love with a rich girl named Daisy. No matter how rich Gatsby became, Daisy
always saw him as the poor kid. That also affected how Gatsby saw himself.
That’s all about classism. Now, my teammate - Ngọc Huyền will share about another similar theme. Sửa: ●
Alienation: - Alienation occurs when characters become isolated from their environment or from their ppl
● - Alienation is mainly caused by 3 factors in this era:
● + the increased reliance on technology and science
● + the gradual removal of the individual from rural community into urban isolation
● + the conflict between idividual and society
- Example 1: The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (American literature)
+ Jay Gatsby, born Jay Gatz, has cut himself off from his past, thus alienating himself
from what might be called his natural place in the world. He has done this so that he
may enter Daisy Buchanan’s world—a world of wealth, society, and superficiality.
Yet despite making this transfer, he remains alienated, as Daisy’s circle see him as
foreign and out of place. He yearns to be a part of her world, but he does so because
he thinks that is the way to win her love. Because he moves along this route, which
is unnatural to him, his attempt is doomed to fail. lOMoARcPSD|44744371
- Example 2: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” - T. S. Eliot (British literature)
+ + the inner monologue of a city gentleman who is stricken by feelings of isolation
and incapability of taking decisive action.
+ + Prufrock is addressing a lover. But he cannot “dare” an approach to the woman:
He starts hearing the remarks others make about his weaknesses. He becomes
conscious of his growing age and messy clothing. He does not have the courage
to do anything in life except thinking and thinking 1. Free Verse in Poetry
- To continue our group presentation, I’ll talk about one writing technique, which
is free verse in writing poems.
- In the modernist period, literature has a number of different experimental(or
new) writing techniques that broke the traditional rules.
- Experimentation is defined as the new techniques in writing that are presented in an “irregular” way
- In poetry, the experimentation is shown by the free verse. The free verse in poetry
breaks the old forms of traditional poetry writing techniques. The new features of free verse poetry + No consistent rhyme schemes + No musical form
+ No metrical pattern (nhịp điệu)
Example 1: The Waste Land - T.S. Eliot (British literature)
April is the cruellest month, breeding (9 syllables)
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing (7)
Memory and desire, stirring (8)
Dull roots with spring rain. (5)
Winter kept us warm, covering (8)
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding (8)
A little life with dried tubers. (8)
- The numbers of syllables are different between each line —> follow no
rules, unlike traditional poetry writing techniques.
- Five of the seven lines end with a single verb in participle form, following a
comma —> this marks a pause in the poem’s rhythm—> create new rhythm
Example 2: The Return - Ezra Pound (1917)
See, they return; ah, see the tentative(7 words)
Movements, and the slow feet,(5)
The trouble in the pace and the uncertain(8) lOMoARcPSD|44744371 Wavering!(1)
- The lengths of the lines vary—> which is different from traditional poetry writing techniques
- The last sentence is cut off before its natural stopping point: The words
“uncertain” and “wavering” are separated by a line break —>which is
unusual and rarely seen in traditional poetry writing techniques III, Conclusion (Hà)
In this presentation, we have three main parts which are the overview of modernism, the
similarities and the conclusion. I’ll give you a brief review about the similarities of
modernism between American literature and British literature. We have themes
including classism and alienation, writing techniques including free verse in poetry Q&A: Tài liệu tham khảo:
https://artificial yawake.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/classism-the-haves-and-have-nots- o f- a merican-modernism/
https://literacle.com/literary-themes-alienation/
https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/modernism-and-experimentation- 1914- 1945/#poe try
Experimental Literature In The 21st Century | The Curious Reader.