Modernism In literature, we don’t mean the same thing by the Modern period that they mean in philosophy or history. THEY mean when science replaced religion as the source of knowledge for most people—back when Galileo’s revolution took hold. In Literature, WE mean the first half of the 20 th century, when artists called themselves Modernists. What does Modernist mean, though? That takes a little explaining.

When it arrived. Virginia Woolf suggested 1910 as the beginning, largely because poets were theorizing about the changes already. In American Literature, we mean approximately 1912 to There’s no definite starting moment, but you can use the major texts of the period as reference points: Tender Buttons in 1914 and Three Lives (Gertrude Stein), Robert Frost’s A Boy’s Will 1913, Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson)1919. The Waste Land (1922, T.S. Eliot). Dubliners 1916; Ulysses 1922, James Joyce). Poetry magazine began publishing in 1912, with Pound’s manifestoes.

How it Arrived. Artists got sick of the familiar routines, and wanted to reflect new knowledge, such as Freudian theory or scientific rediscovery. They were shocked by the decline of spiritual confidence. They wanted to “make it new,” to embrace radical change.

What caused the shock:The Wars The world powers were complacent after colonizing the world (and getting rich doing so), then finding themselves in a massive war that undermined their confidence in humanity and in God. Please visit: propaganda-cards.com/

World War I lasted for four years, cost 167 billion dollars (in 1918 dollars), involved 32 countries, and caused 37,000,000 casualties. Another 10,000,000 civilians died. Mustard gas and other causes devastated many of the survivors.

By comparison, the U.S. lost almost 660,000 in the Civil War, its costliest. In the Viet Nam War, the U. S. lost 53,000 men. In World War I, France lost 6,160,080; the Russians had 9,150,000 killed wounded or missing; Great Britain had 3,190,000, and the U. S. had 364,000. Think of how unsettling it is to the United States to have an attack on a building on its on soil in an important city, with the loss of 3,000 lives, think for a minute about what the above casualties would be like for the world to assimilate.

In Flanders Fields by Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D. ( ) Canadian Army In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Where, then, is hope? Modernism demanded a re-visioning of the world and sought potential in a completely new way of looking at the world. s.org/encyclopedia/20thCe nturyMovements.htmlhttp:// s.org/encyclopedia/20thCe nturyMovements.html edu/~afilreis/88/gelpi.html