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Modernism in american literature essay
Modernism in american literature essay
Modernism in american literature essay
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The famous poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay once said, “Life is a quest and love a quarrel”. In this quote, Millay explains how one can spend their entire life trying to discover the true meaning of life, while love is simply a continuing series of disagreements. The remarkable life of Edna St. Vincent Millay is extremely important to understand in order to fully appreciate her works. Throughout Millay’s life, she remained true to herself and her beliefs, and this dedication was translated through her stimulating and inspiring poems and plays. Edna St. Vincent Millay thoroughly expresses both the influences of the Modernism Era as well as her life experiences in the sonnet collection, Fatal Interview, and the poems Justice Denied in Massachusettes and Huntsman, What Quarry? which presents a confident, yet insecure theme of the tragedies and bliss that love brings.
Modernism is a style of literature that was increasing in popularity in the years of 1915 to 1946. Modernism poets defied the styles of straightforward and standard writings that were popular in the 19th century. Instead, they chose to tell fragmented stories and poems that reflected society in the era of World War I and challenge popular beliefs. (Dugan). They were experimental and unique while they also demonstrated a poetic license. When she first started writing, Millay was clearly a modernist. She acted as a bohemian figure that was active in the problems of society, which was displayed in the various events in which she protested. Millay felt strongly about the Sacco-Vanzetti case, which involved two Italian immigrants who were accused of robbery and murder. Millay expresses what happened in the poem, Justice Denied in Massachusettes:
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...ric Poet." Case Western Reserve University. Web. 12 Feb. 2010. .
Cone, Temple. ""Love is Not All. It is Not Meat Nor Drink."" Bloom's Literary Referance. Facts On File. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. .
Newcomb, John T., and Elizabeth Majerus. "On "Justice Denied in Massachusettes"" Welcome to English. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. .
Gale, Robert L. "Edna St. Vincent Millay's Life." Welcome to English. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. .
Patton, John J. "Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)." Georgetown University: Web hosting. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. .
Delbanco, Andrew. "The Half-Life of Edna Pontellier." New Essays on The Awakening. Ed. Wendy Martin. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. 89-106.
In the book, “The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler,” Irene Quenzler Brown and Richard D. Brown tell the story of Ephraim Wheeler, a man from Lennox, Massachusetts, who is 1806, was accused of raping his daughter. In “The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler” the Browns present the case to the reader, and without bias, allow the reader to form their own conclusion on Ephraim’s guiltiness. The Browns argue, not on Ephraim’s guilt, but on the impact of his trial. In order to present the case without any bias the Brown’s utilized the long term effects of the trial, but failed to provide any real evaluation of the event.
Almost every society in the history of the world has had some form of a judicial court system, but there are obviously major differences in the various court systems. One of the most outlandish court systems has to belong to Salem, Massachusetts in the 1690’s. The court system of Salem, Massachusetts is so memorable because of the events of the Salem Witch Trials. When you compare the Salem courts from the 1690s to present-day America, it will become quite evident all the freedoms that you get today. The Salem courts from the late seventeenth century and the present-day American courts differ in the freedoms and privileges a person was given, public opinion, and religious bias.
Brooks, Rebecca . "The Salem Witch Trials." History of Massachusetts. N.p., 18 Aug. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .
Edna St. Vincent Millay grew up in a small town in Maine. She was always encouraged by her mother to pursue her writing and musical talents. She finished college and moved to New York City where she lived a fast pace life pursuing acting and play writing. Her liveliness, independence, and sexuality inspired her writing styles and gave her poetry a freshness that no others had. She is famous for writing sonnets like “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why.” This poem holds many metaphors and symbols pertaining to how certain seasons make people feel. She compares the feeling of nature with her personal feelings of being alone after having so many lovers.
Gwen Harwood is a well renowned poet for her poems written during the 1950’s-90’s as she explores the realm of universal human concerns which are the source of her poetic inspiration, these include; love, friendship and memory. Today these concerns are still relevant in our society and are what connects us to each other and immortalises our sprit. Throughout many of Harwood poems she exposes her life in writing to create an intimate relationship with the paper. These documents create a personal account of the struggles and the love a woman feels in moments in changing times. This becomes evident in Harwood’s interpretation of marriage, motherhood and love. She uses symbolism and tone to hint to the undelaying meaning of the poems and the importance of them to her.
Worchester, . "John Marshall’s Decision on Worcester v. Georgia." PBS. Community Television of Southern California, 18 Mar 2010. Web. 15 Jan 2014. .
When her husband and children are gone, she moves out of the house and purses her own ambitions. She starts painting and feeling happier. “There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day” (Chopin 69). Her sacrifice greatly contributed to her disobedient actions. Since she wanted to be free from a societal rule of a mother-woman that she never wanted to be in, she emphasizes her need for expression of her own passions. Her needs reflect the meaning of the work and other women too. The character of Edna conveys that women are also people who have dreams and desires they want to accomplish and not be pinned down by a stereotype.
We are told there are days when she "was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with sunlight.." On such days Edna "found it good to be alone and unmolested." Yet on other days, she is molested by despondencies so severe that "...
Hobson, Charles F. The Great Chief Justice, John Marshall And the Rule Of Law. University Press Of Kansas: Wison Garey McWilliams & Lance Banning, 1996.
There are constant boundaries and restrictions imposed on Edna Pontellier that ignite Edna’s struggle for freedom. Edna is a young Creole wife and mother in a high-class society. Leonce Pontellier, her husband is declared “…the best husband in the world”, while Edna sits and feels unsatisfied with her marriage. Edna did not respect her husband as the other women did. Leonce condemned Edna for neglecting their children. Edna’s mind was at rest concerning the present material needs of her children. Edna’s thoughts are clouded with her unhappiness, one night she awakes and sits in the night air and cries. She does not know how to explain her crying, but the reader is able to understand that it is because she is unhappy with her life.
Hall, Kermit L, eds. The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Marianne Moore’s most popular poem, which is also her most ambiguously titled poem, is called “Poetry.” In this poem Moore decisively strayed away from her conventional writing style of contrariety and the bizarre, but it does seem to share other characteristics of her earlier poetry. Moore’s apparent purpose in writing “Poetry” was to criticize the present social outlook on the entire idea of poetry, to come up with a universal definition of poetry and of genuine poetry, and ultimately to convince those who dislike poetry of its benefits. She attempted to present this criticism and definition by means of blatant irony, and even though she desperately wants to describe the seemingly trivial activity of poetry, she fails to provide a definition that is not caught up in the negative.
St. Vincent Millay, Edna. "Time Does Not Bring Relief." 1917. Renascence and Other Poems. Kessinger, 2005. 1-52. Print.
Love is the ubiquitous force that drives all people in life. If people did not want, give, or receive love, they would never experience life because it is the force that completes a person. People rely on this seemingly absent force although it is ever-present. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is an influential poet who describes the necessity of love in her poems from her book Sonnets from the Portuguese. She writes about love based on her relationship with her husband. Her life is dependent on him, and she expresses this same reliance of love in her poetry. She uses literary devices to strengthen her argument for the necessity of love. The necessity of love is a major theme in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 14,” “Sonnet 43,” and “Sonnet 29.”