Modern Poetry

Introduction
Just when did the modern age begin is a matter of controversy. For
while some regard the renaissance as the beginning of modernity, others
trace it back in the nineteenth century. A third opinion, however, confine
the term to the twentieth century. From a literary point of view modernity
begins with the last two decades of the nineteenth century. This
revolutionary age is the age of war, technological progress, materialism
and spiritual aridity. Through this background the modern poetry takes
its form. Modern poetry had a technical revolution that was going side by
side with shifts in attitude. Therefore, the twentieth century witnessed a
poetic diversity which differs from all those which have gone before in
both the quantity and quality. The modern poets can be divided into two
groups , the ( formalists) whose poems are worked in an established
traditions and the (informalists) for whom traditions is suspect, they are
.largely guided by poetic instinct

:The main characteristics of modern poetry

Modern poetry is universal in spirit. It transgresses the boundaries of .1
place, religion, culture and language. It addresses man everywhere on this
.planet

It relies heavily on symbols and images to such an extent that a modern .2

.poet speaks more in pictures than in words

Modern poetry is essentially free verse written mostly in an informal .3

language. The poets found a need to bring poetic language and rhythms
.closer to those of common language

Modern poets employ irony and satire less for humorous ends than as .4
.weapons to diagnose and ridicule the follies and evils of modern life

Modern poetry presents mythology. Myths are used by modern poets .5

for metaphorical and positive meanings like fertility, nature that modern
.man begins to lose it

Modern poetry is aggressively realistic confronting modern problems .6

directly. There is criticism of normal attitudes and an open treatment of
such themes as related to sex, politics and religion which were taboos
.previously

The style of modern poetry is conversational. Besides the realistic .7

language, the modern poets employ dialogue, characterization and
.narrative technique

In modern poetry there is noticeable interest in psychology and .8

.therefore the dramatic monologue becomes the major poetic form

The major themes of modern poetry

Modern poets used their technical innovations and free expressions to
depict a world disturbed by the horrible effects of war and technology.
Thus war becomes a modern motif in modern poetry; the twentieth
century opened with the Boer war (1899-1902), fought by the British to
establish political and economic control over the Bore republic of South
Africa. This was followed by World War I, World War II and the Cold
war. The modern poets also criticized the materialistic spirit of the age
and the loss of spiritual values and used the city as a symbol for this
.purpose

One of the major themes of modern poetry is that of alienation, the

spiritual vacuum and the lack of communication. When the traditions and
moral values that used to bring people together disappeared, each,
metaphorically, lived in a small island. Modern poets also depicted the
feeling of loss and uncertainty and the fear of future resulted from that
.feeling

The most famous schools of modern poetry are the Symbolist

movement, The Imagist movement, the Socialist movement, and the war
.poets