Modern Poetry

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A word that can be heard in every day conversation is the word “modern”. Everything has to be modern in the 21st century: modern technology and books and clothes, nobody wants the old stuff anymore because it is not worth as much as what is around now. Modern poetry is: “For artists and writers, the Modernist project was a re-evaluation of the assumptions and aesthetic values of their predecessors” (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/glossary-term/Modernism). Even poetry that has been around for centuries has a new twist and can be considered modern now. Everyone seems to want to move on and up in the world and to have the best, most influential things in their life for their future.

Modern poetry really puts a spin on what has been out there and redone in the past. Three things that make modern poetry modern are: the use of symbols, the use of imagism and the use of disillusionment. In Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, he uses those characteristics of poetry together to create a modern poem that speaks to the heart of its readers, whether they have experienced what the poem is about, or not.

The poem is about a man’s son who has died in the war, so the only way the son will ever come home again is when his body is shipped to his family for a memorial service. Owen himself fought in World War I so what he expresses through his path of his modern poem hits home and is a very personal battle for him. He discusses how solemn the subject of war is and to those around him who have had the experiences of war under their belts. He was able to successfully get his message of how unfair war is across to his readers through the anger and sadness he uses from beginning to the end of the poem.

One important thing to no...

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... and what goes on behind the scenes after the death or deaths of loved ones. His use of imagism is so vivid that anybody can picture exactly what is being said in the poem instead of having to guess what is going on. His use of disillusionment is amazing as well when he relates religion into war and the young men and women who go fight in the war to protect their country. In “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, Owen really outdoes himself with his take on modern poetry.

Works Cited

"disillusionment." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 10 Feb. 2014. .

"Glossary Terms." Glossary of Poetic Terms : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"Glossary Terms." Modernism : Glossary Term : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation. Poetry Magazine, 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
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