二十世纪英美文学.docVIP

第二周教案 Poetry Chief Characteristics of Modernist Poetry 1) Modernist poets insisted on direct treatment of things and on the avoidance of all words that do not contribute to the presentation. 2) Modernist poetry has freer metrical movement. 3)Modernism introduced into poetry a much higher degree of intellectual complexity because of the enthusiasm for metaphysical poetry. 4) The modernist poets frequently made use of symbolism 2 5)It brought poetic language and rhythm closer to that of conversation by the use of colloquial expressions and even slangs. 6) It employed irony and puns which had been banished from serious poetry for over two hundred years. 7) It was often international and urban in theme. B. W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin. His father was a lawyer turned to an Irish Pre-Raphaelite painter. In 1867 the family followed him to London and settled in Bedford Park. In 1881 they returned to Dublin, where Yeats studied the Metropolitan School of Art. He met there the poet, dramatist and painter George Russell (1867-1935), who was interested in mysticism. During the 1890’s he wrote chiefly in the tradition of romanticism. He was a leading member of the Aesthetic movement and, in some ways, a disciple of William Morris. Spencer, Shelley, and Blake were also important influences. His second period was influenced by the Irish nationalist movement and his passion for Maud Gonne. In this period, also, he worked with the Irish National Theatre, attempting to develop an Irish cultural revival to complement the political movement. By the second decade of the 20th century, Yeats was no longer a romantic. The poetry and criticism of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and all the varied influences of the modernist movement had affected his work. The fourth period, was the greatest of his poetic career. In his sixties, he attained full maturity as a realist-metaphysical poet with an uncanny power words and symbols. in the final few years of h