"Modernist" metaphors in ten short poems: Thinking activity

" Identification of Modern metaphors, images, and symbols from the poem " Blog Task

Hello readers,
  This blog is one of the activities of our academics. And this time it is based on Modernist Literature. Here I have tried to interpret ten Modern poems according to my understanding.
      

• Before proceeding forward here I put a brief description of what is Modernism??

        ->Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism was the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to World War I. Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious belief.

1: The Embankment by T.E. Hulme

Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,
In a flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.
Now see I
That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy.
Oh, God, make small
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.
                 

• This poem is about a fallen man, who falls down and lost his luxurious pleasure. He was sleeping on the street, that's why he is asking God to make small the blanket of sky, He becomes that much poor that he didn't find a blanket to cover his body. 

• Modern Metaphors:-
• i) Imagism- There are a common speech pattern and clarity of expression, through the use of precise visual image like:-
•  "The Old star-eaten blanket of the sky"

• ii) Stream of consciousness
• In this poem, there is a flow of thoughts in the mind of the characters, who is thinking about past and present, contrasting situations.

                             
2: 'Darkness' by Joseph Campbell
        I stop to watch a star shine
        in the bog hole -
        A star no longer, but a silver
         ribbon of light.
        I look at it and pass on.

                         

•  When we read the title Darkness, we feel something negative or the feeling of downfall.  Stars is a symbol of brightness and success, but the silver ribbon of light which suggests broken stars, means success or brightness maybe not stay for a long time. And it will pass suddenly.  So, the title Darkness symbolizes many things. Here we find modernist metaphors like star shine in big hole and silver ribbon etc.

3: ' Image' by Edward storer

     Forsaken lovers,
       Burning to a chaste white moon
       Upon strange Pyres of loneliness and
       drought.
                   

• The title itself present the image of modern people and their lifestyle and also present the people of civilization. Here is the word 'forsaken lovers', burning to chaste, strange etc. are the modernist metaphor used by the poet. white moon used as a symbol.

4: 'In a Station of the Metro' by Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the Crowd;
  Petals on a wet, black bough

                     

• Metro station is the modernist metaphor. In this poem, the poet also shows the relationship between people and machines. it also shows the way of living life of modern people. petals, black bough etc. the words are used as a symbol.

5: 'The Pool' by Hilda Doolittle

  Are you alive?
       I touch you
       You quiver trembling like a sea-fish
       I cover you with my net
       What are you- banded one?

•  Water is not free moving but stored at one particular place, and the water became spoil so same way the life of is not free and that's why poet ask a question that ' Are you alive?'. people live with a lot of fears. " Sea fish " means people, it's a modern metaphor, and fish is covered with the net same way people also under the dark impact of war and Victorian time so they controlled not free. They trapped under social, political and religious rules and regulation. On the other side, we can say that poet talked about the women condition also, and that's why she ask " Are you alive"?

6: 'Insouciance' by Richard Aldington

  In and out of the dreary trenches
       Trudging cheerily under the stars
       I make for myself little poems
       Delicate as a flock of doves
       They fly away like white-winged
        Doves.

• This poem writing in the trenches, the horror of world war 1. The trauma of modern trench warfare affected him deeply. Addington ' s pessimism and negativity about life in trenches and how poverty kept him live and happy.
• Personification: White whinged doves  means to fly away

7: 'Morning at the window' by T.S. Eliot

They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaid
Sprouting despondently at area gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
 And vanishes along the level of the roofs.
    

• The present poem about the modern view of England. The main idea of the poem is poverty, it presents a picture of poor people. who have to face several hardships from morning to the late night. There are vivid images that make the poem imagist one for e.g- "Rattling breakfast plates", "Damp souls", "brown waves", "Twisted faces", "Muddy Skirts", "Aimless smile".

8: 'The Red Wheelbarrow' by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
 upon
a red wheel
barrow
 glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chicken.

• Poem is quite confusing as we see it in a normal way  it give the  picture of a rural scene where the Rainwater, chicken, and cart are found but its different from it that it talks about dependence and independence that we depend on many things here red wheel barrow suggested it carrying loads of different things, white Chicken suggests the pure and peaceful atmosphere.

9: 'Anecdote of the Jar' by Wallace Stevens

I placed a jar in Tennessee,    
And round it was, upon a hill.  
It made the slovenly wilderness  
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.  
The jar was round upon the ground  
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion everywhere.  
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,  
Like nothing else in Tennessee.

• This poem is about Jar, which was in the state "Tennessee" in the United States of America. 'jar' means that war and, Anecdote means a small story.

10: 'I' (a'- E.E.Cummings)

l(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

                 

• The title of the poem “A leaf falls on loneliness” shows itself the state of being alone and solitude. There is a word “fall” which represents the state of dullness. It can be a fall of civilization, individual’s hope or fall of anything else. If a leaf falls from a tree then the fallen leaf become lonely. In Modernist Literature we can see fall of spirituality and also fall of hope. Loneliness represents the separation from the entire world. So here we can say that this poem represents the state of separation from the entire world and also represents the state of self-centeredness.