Considering the WORD Post-Modern

What do you mean postmodern? The confusion is advertised by the “post” prefixed to “modern”. Postmodernism identifies itself by something it isn’t. It isn’t modern anymore. But in what sense exactly is it post…

As a result of modernism? The afterbirth of modernism? The aftermath of modernism? The development of modernism? The denial of modernism? The rejection of modernism?

Postmodern has been used in a mix and match of some or all of these meanings. Postmodernism is a confusion of meanings stemming from two riddles… -it resists and obscures the sense of modernism -it implies a complete knowledge of the modern which has been surpassed by a new age

A new age? An age, any age, is defined by the evidence of historic changes in the way we see, think and produce. We can identify these changes as belonging to the spheres of art, theory and economic history, and explore them for a practical definition of postmodernism.

What’s Modern? Modern comes from the Latin word modo, meaning “just now”. Since when have we been modern? For a surprisingly long time.

Dialectical Antagonism At least since medieval times, there has been a motivating sense of antagonism between “then” and “now”, between ancient and modern. Historical periods in the West have followed one another in disaffinity with what has gone before. A rejection of one’s immediate predecessors seems almost instinctively generational. The result of this historical dialectic (from the Greek, debate or discourse) is that Western culture recognizes no single tradition.

Medieval Renaissance Baroque Romantic History is carved up into conceptual periods – Medieval Renaissance Baroque Romantic And so on…. These antagonistic period are Western culture's sets of tradition, a sort of “periodic table” of tradition.

Medieval The Middle Ages Era of the crusades, Robin Hood, and fat, lecherous (but good hearted) friars. Also home to dragons, wizards, knights in shining armor, beautiful princesses with big headdresses and tall, spirally gothic architecture. Expect to see a Corrupt Churchman or two wandering the landscape burning witches, heretics, and pretty much anyone who doesn't agree with them. Also expect to see people comically dropping left and right from the Black Death.

the Middle Ages, or Medieval period, lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the early modern period. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the traditional division of Western history into Antiquity, Medieval, and Modern periods. The period is subdivided into the Early, the High, and the Late Middle Ages.

The Renaissance A reawakening of Europe to the arts and sciences. was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Though availability of paper and the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe.

As a cultural movement, it encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting, and gradual but widespread educational reform.

In politics, the Renaissance contributed the development of the conventions of diplomacy, and in science an increased reliance on observation. Historians often argue this intellectual transformation was a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man".

Baroque The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe.

The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided to the Protestant Reformation, that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement. The aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and expressing triumphant, power and control. Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence.

Baroque style featured "exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism". Baroque art did not really depict the life style of the people at that time; however, "closely tied to the Counter-Reformation, this style melodramatically reaffirmed the emotional depths of the Catholic faith and glorified both church and monarchy" of their power and influence.

Romantic It was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. 

It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education and the natural sciences. Its effect on politics was considerable and complex; while for much of the peak Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, in the long term its effect on the growth of nationalism was probably more significant.