Modernism and its

embedded
Movements
PRESENTED BY: SADAF NAHEED HASHMI.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH(MS.LIT) :
FOUNDATION UNIVERSITY(RWP
.CAMPUS) ISLAMABAD
Agenda
Symbolism Vorticism
Modernism

Scenario Imagism Expressionism

Ideas for
Incompatibility new CONCLUSION
expression
Modernism:
It refers to the reforming movement in art and literature.
Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North
America, and is characterized by a very self-conscious break with
traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose
fiction. Modernists experimented with literary form and
expression, as exemplified by Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it
new."This literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to
overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new
sensibilities of their time.

Prominent writers:T,S.Eliot,Ezra pound & James Joyce.

SCENERIO:

The era changed after the WW-I.The war changed the attitude of

man towards western culture and society.

There was industrialization/urbanization.

Disillusionment was every where.

Incompatibility:

i.The literary artists of modernism felt antagonistic to

the previous impulse .

ii.There was victorion culture and aesthetic work of art.

iii.Marginilization of the poor,gender discrimination and

class distinction was a common trend.

Need for a new Expression:
1-Arnold was not ready to give a new direction to the

poetry.

2-Browning was not ready to understand the complexities

of modern life.

3-It was essential that a new technique of communicating

meanings be discovered.
Characteristics of Modernism:
• Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break

includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and

social views.

•Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is,

the world is what we say it is.

•There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative.No

connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of

alienation, loss, and despair.

•Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength.

•Little care for nature.

The term modernism covers a number of related,

and overlapping, artistic and literary movements,

including Imagism, Symbolism, Vorticism, Cubism, S

urrealism, Expressionism, and Dada.Details of them

are as follow:
IMAGISM:

•It remained active for 10 years.

•Rejected 19th century form and thought..

•The movement started in 20 th century.

•Literature was written as piece of art not as an emotional piece.

•It had common language.

•Exact word were used to express thought

•Leaders of the movement were Ezra Pound ans James Joyes.

Symbolism:
i. A loosely organized literary and artistic movement .
ii. originated with a group of French poets in the late
19th century.
iii. spread to painting and the theatre, and influenced
the European and American literatures of the 20th
century to varying degrees.
iv.Symbolist artists expressed individual emotional
experience through the subtle and suggestive use of
highly symbolized language.
Vorticism was:
• a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of
the early 20th century, partly inspired by Cubism.
•The movement was announced in 1914 in the first issue
of BLAST, which contained its manifesto and the movement's
rejection of landscapeand nudes in favour of a geometric style
tending towards abstraction.
•Ultimately, it was their witnessing of unfolding human disaster
in World War I that "drained these artists of their Vorticist
zeal".
•Vorticism was based in London but was international in make-
up and ambition.
Expressionism was :
•a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting.
• originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century.
•Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective
perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to
evoke moods or ideas.
• Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of emotional
experience rather than physical reality,
•It was developed as an avant-garde style before the First World
War. It remained popular in Berlin. The style extended to a wide
range of the arts, including expressionist architecture, painting,
literature, theatre, dance, film and music.
CONCLUSION:

Literary movements

including imagism, symbolism, vorticism, cubism,

surrealism, expressionism, and dada brought

variety,liveliness,vigour ,new dimension to think about life and

writing literature y .The literary artist like T.S.Eliot,ezra pound

and james joyce played their significant role in developement of

thought and form of literature.