Transcript 20th Century Poetry

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20 Century Poetry
By: Sarah Bell, Brooke Cheeks, Rebecca Tobin, and Kieran Tompkins
Themes in Literature
• War
• Poverty
• The Great Depression
• Naturalism
• Emergence of new nations
• Women’s Rights
• Politics
Important Events
• World War 1
• Stock Market Crash of 1929
• The Great Depression
• World War 2
• The Holocaust
• Vietnam War
• Cold War
• Chernobyl
Society
• In the early decades of the 20th century the American people
benefited from industrial growth while also experiencing its
adverse effects.
• Poverty was a big issue during this time, with many people
struggling to get by.
• Throughout the 20th century there were severe recessions
and horrible wars, but there were also an abundant of new
inventions and the standard of living improved .
• Another important change that happened was the status of
women. Over the century, women gained the right to vote,
the right to choose, and the right to not be discriminated
against in employment, education, and training.
Education
• The 20th century was had the idea of education for all.
• Kindergartens were in most public school programs by 1910.
State controlled free public education was the rule. School
attendance was mandatory.
• Private schools were an option aside from public school(which
was ore popular).
• All racial, religious and ethnic groups should have access to
the same type of education in the same type of setting.
• Education in the early preschool years had early childhood
development programs and education after high school
became more attainable for many.
Religion/Family Structure
• Early in the 20th century the church and the African American
community became intertwined.
• Practices in Christianity were growing rapidly.
• The Roman Catholic Church instituted many reforms in order
to modernize. Catholic missionaries also made inroads in the
Far East, establishing further followings in China, Taiwan, and
Japan
• In the second half of the 20th century, divorce and single
parent families became more popular.
• Women were gradually becoming more dominant in the
household
Politics
• The United States and much of Europe gained political rights
in the beinning of the 20th Century.
• During the 20th century was World War 1, several civil wars,
World War 2, and also the Cold war. These were the outcomes
of politics between countries.
• The civil rights movement was also a factor in politics of the
20th century, it challenged racial segregation in the United
States.
Derek Walcott
23 January 1930-Present
Derek Walcott is a Saint
Lucian poet,playwright,writer,
and visual artist. He won the
1992 Nobel Prize in Literature.
His works often display the
themes of Methodism and
spirituality. His poems often
feature important events from
the 20th century, such as the
emergence of new nations after
the European colonial rule, and
the conflicts that came along
with it.
A Far Cry From Africa
By: Derek Walcott
A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt
Of Africa, Kikuyu, quick as flies,
Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt.
Corpses are scattered through a paradise.
Only the worm, colonel of carrion, cries:
Again brutish necessity wipes its hands
'Waste no compassion on these separate
Upon the napkin of a dirty cause, again
dead!'
A waste of our compassion, as with Spain,
Statistics justify and scholars seize
The gorilla wrestles with the superman.
The salients of colonial policy.
What is that to the white child hacked in bed? I who am poisoned with the blood of both,
Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?
To savages, expendable as Jews?
I who have cursed
Threshed out by beaters, the long rushes
The drunken officer of British rule, how
break
choose
In a white dust of ibises whose cries
Between this Africa and the English tongue I
Have wheeled since civilizations dawn
love?
From the parched river or beast-teeming
Betray them both, or give back what they
plain.
give?
The violence of beast on beast is read
How can I face such slaughter and be cool?
As natural law, but upright man
How can I turn from Africa and live?
Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain.
Delirious as these worried beasts, his wars
Dance to the tightened carcass of a drum,
While he calls courage still that native dread
Of the white peace contracted by the dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK3pPU-2luI
Summary
‘‘A Far Cry from Africa’’ discusses the events of the Mau Mau
Uprising in Kenya in the early 1950s and is a painful and jarring
depiction of ethnic conflict and divided loyalties. In the midtwentieth century, British colonialism was a fading but still
potent force in the world.
Walcott has a mixed heritage, with his grandmothers both
black, and his grandfathers both white. Also, during this time his
birth place of St.Lucia was still under colonial rule of Great
Britain. Because of these things, Walcott is split in two on his
views of the uprising. While he opposes colonialism, he is also
against the violence of the Mau Mau.
Thomas Hardy
2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928
Thomas Hardy was an English
novelist and poet. He had a fascination
with the supernatural, with several of
his poems displaying elements from
the Romantic and Enlightenment
periods of literature, however, typically
his works presented ideas that belong
to the Naturalism movement.
Naturalism
1880- 1940
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s
to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social
conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in
shaping human character.
It deferred from other literary movements such as Romanticism
or Surrealism in way that it tried to represent believable
everyday reality as opposed to symbolic, idealistic, or
supernatural ideals.
Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including
poverty, racism, violence, prejudice, disease, corruption,
prostitution, and filth. Because of this, Naturalist writers were
accused of focusing too much on the misery of life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcNxjXS5XVA
The Man He Killed
By: Thomas Hardy
Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like—just as I—
Was out of work—had sold his traps—
No other reason why.
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.
I shot him dead because—
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PgU7RvyTc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG3QvWx9rnU&feature=related
Summary
• Thomas Hardy's poem 'The Man He Killed' focuses on the
senselessness and futility of war, where a man has killed
another quite simply because they were fighting on
opposing sides in a war.
• It expresses the idea that if the two men had met at a
bar, they might have shared a few drinks and become
friends. However, this was not the case, and because
they were on opposing side of a war they were enemies,
and therefore one had to die. The narrator is trying to
convince himself that his action was inevitable, but you
can see that he never comes to ease with the fact.
Bob Dylan
24 May 1941-Present
Bob Dylan is an American
singer-songwriter, musician
and artist that wrote a lot of
music based on the events
of the era, including songs
like “Chimes of Freedom”
and “Masters of War”.
Dylan's lyrics incorporated a
variety of political, social,
philosophical, and literary
influences.
Masters of War
By: Bob Dylan
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.
You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets
higher
You hide in your mansion'
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins.
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're
lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaMz8pgua_0
Poetry Analysis
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Title: Masters of War
Poet: Bob Dylan
Point of View: First person as if speaking to someone
Significance of Title: The “masters” of war decide
everything but do nothing. The whole song is criticizing
them because they stand back and watch while others
die from their idea/inventions.
• Speaker: Someone against war.
• Audience: People being affected by the conflicts and
hardships of war.
Poetry Analysis
• Type of rhyme: ABCB
• Sound Devices (onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance,
consonance, anaphora):
• Anaphora- “ You that build…You that build…”, “ I see though…I
see though…”, “ You might say…You might say…”
• Alliteration: “ A world war won”, “Unborn, Unnamed”, Build
big bombs”
• Imagery: “As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud”
• Irony/Paradox: “ You never done nothing but build to destroy”
• Tone: Criticizing
• Themes: Anti-war, Protesting, Criticizing war
Poems to Analyze
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A Far Cry From Africa- Derek Walcott
A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall- Bob Dylan
The Man He Killed-Thomas Hardy
The Dead Man Walking- Thomas Hardy
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1derxgmEPoY
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ox9soMozJ4