English 12 / Unit 6: Modern and Postcolonial Literature
6.2 Modernism
Notes
Modernism (about 1900 to 1940s) broke from Victorian traditions in response to war, rapid change and doubts about old certainties.
- Fragmentation: broken, shifting structures that reflect a broken world.
- Free verse and experiments with form; allusion to many earlier works and languages.
- Stream of consciousness: narrative that follows a character's flow of thoughts.
- Disillusionment, alienation and the search for meaning.
- Ezra Pound's slogan: "Make it new."
- Key writers: T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf.
Practice
Which feature is most typical of modernist writing?
Modernists broke with tradition and used new forms.
Why did many modernists feel alienated?
The war and social changes led to disillusionment.
Which phrase best describes stream of consciousness?
It records thoughts as they arise, often without ordinary structure.
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