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Big Idea Overview and ResourcesBig Idea 3: The Harlem Renaissance Overview Each generation of writers reacts to the philosophies and attitudes of the previous generation. The Realists reacted to the more mysterious Romanticists, and the Modernists responded and reacted to the Realists. Poets of the Modernist era yearned to create something new. They experimented with new forms of writing and used unconventional punctuation, capitalization, rhythm, diction, and vocabulary. Modernists were also influenced by contemporary French symbolist poets, abstract artists such as Pablo Picasso, and even Japanese and Chinese poetry. After 1910, the Imagist movement, founded primarily by Ezra Pound, set out to reform poetry. Pound and fellow Imagists Richard Aldington and Hilda Doolittle believed that the rhyming, describing, and generalizing associated with traditional poetry was a waste of energy. The Imagists influenced a whole new wave of poets, including William Carlos Williams, who relied more on imagery than literal expression. Poet T. S. Eliot made an enormous contribution to the Modernist period. His poetic style utilizes allusions—references to literature, art, and history. His pessimistic view of civilization is reflected in The Waste Land, which is considered the most influential poem of the Modernist era. Many spell E. E. Cummings's first and last name in lower-case letters, perhaps as a tribute to his unconventional uses of typography. Cummings approached poetry as an artist, incorporating unusual methods of punctuation, grammar, line spacing, and design to reflect his individualistic ideas. Cummings wrote, "Poetry is being, not doing." Another poet, Robert Frost, rose to fame during the Modernist period but stayed true to the conventional uses of rhyme and meter. Frost's poetry was known for its colloquial language and its themes of isolation and loneliness. Web Resources T. S. Eliot–Biography A Brief Guide to Modernism The Imagists Overview In the same way that modern poets broke away from conventional methods of poetry, modern fiction writers shunned traditional ways of storytelling. Rather than relying on established formats, these writers produced short stories and novels that reflected the complex, unstructured ways people think. After World War I, Americans felt disillusioned and bitter. Many writers and artists moved to Europe after the war to escape what they felt was a ravaged land. Their world, they believed, had been shattered. It was during this time that the phrase "lost generation" was coined. In his novel, A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway quoted American poet Gertrude Stein as saying to him, "That's what you are. All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation." F. Scott Fitzgerald, who also rose to fame during the period between the end of World War I and the Great Depression, referred to this time as the "Jazz Age." Despite the apparent wealth and wide availability of material goods after the war, Fitzgerald believed the United States was in disarray. His dismay over this rampant materialism is reflected in his novel The Great Gatsby, where the characters, despite their wealth and success, cannot find happiness. Hemingway, who had worked as a newspaper reporter, perfected a stark writing style that contrasted starkly with the flowery prose of the 1800s. His minimalist style left much to the imagination. Hemingway said his method was based on the principle of the iceberg, meaning, that "there is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows." The lost generation was the focus of his novel The Sun Also Rises. Web Resources Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure: A Timeline of the Life of Ernest Hemingway Roaring Twenties: History in the Key of Jazz Big Idea 3: The Harlem Renaissance Overview Harlem, a neighborhood in Manhattan in New York City, became a major destination for writers, artists, and musicians in the 1920s. African Americans migrated to Harlem during this time to escape the oppressive South and to experience a vibrant, growing community that celebrated African American culture. This coming-of-age of African American culture came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance. Blues music was an outgrowth of the traditional African American spiritual. Jazz, which combined West African rhythms and ragtime and was mostly improvised, was born later in New Orleans. Jazz was a major influence on writers and artists of this time. Langston Hughes incorporated elements from jazz and blues into his poetry. Much of his work dealt with the strength and oppression of African Americans. The stock market crash of 1929 and its aftermath brought an end to the Harlem Renaissance. However, the spirit of this time continued to inspire African American writers such as Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison during the 1930s and 1940s. Racial identity became a major issue for writers of this period. Writer Countee Cullen believed that race should not be a factor in a writer's subject matter, while one of her contemporaries, Arna Bontemps, saw race and a writer's work as inseparable. W. E. B. Du Bois, who lived from 1868 to 1963, was the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University. He founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as the editor for its magazine, The Crisis. He is considered to be one of the most influential African Americans in history. Web Resources Drop Me Off in Harlem: Exploring the Intersections Langston Hughes National Poetry Project: Speaking of Rivers: Taking Poetry to the People African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Log InThe resource you requested requires you to enter a username and password below: | ||
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