1. American Modernism 1914-1945

2. Historical Setting  The period in between wars where many yearned for a modern, urban life  Postwar, the economy flourished and the middle class prospered. During the “Roaring Twenties” people enjoyed modern entertainments: movies, radio, dancing, automobile touring.  The 1930—post Great Depression—was seen as a punishment for the sins of excessive materialism and loose living.

3. Modernism  Expressed a sense of modern life through art as a sharp break from the past and Western civilization's past traditions.  Modernism embraced the changes of scientific and technological advancements, as well as a faster- paced society.  Technological innovations in factories and machines inspired a new focus in the arts. Ex’s: electrical light, photography, viewpoint, form.  The guiding principle of Modernistic art and literature was to be new and different; forces readers to participate and draw their own conclusions.  The founder of modernism is considered to be poet Ezra Pound, whose mantra was “Make it new”

4. Movements in Modernism  Imagism—writing which offered a sharp, clear, highly visual presentation using ordinary language and free verse. Ex: modern art  Objectivism—a movement concerned with the importance of concrete, visual objects  Realism—Americans wrote more realistically than Europeans; emphasized the importance of facing reality.  New Criticism—an approach to understanding literature through close readings and attentiveness to formal patterns (imagery, metaphors, sounds, symbols, etc) as opposed to old methods of history and biography.

5. Ezra Pound L’Art Green arsenic smeared on an egg-white cloth, Crushed strawberries! Come, let us feast our eyes.

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