20TH CENTURY POETRY FEATURES

Variety of Themes: The modern poet finds inspiration on almost any subject from railway trains, telephone to
snake charmers and things of commonplace interest. The whole universe is the modern poet's experience. He writes
on the themes of real life as well as about the world of religion, mysticism and fairyland. There is a wide variety of
poems such as The Songs of Train by John Davidson, Good Train at Night by Kenneth Ashley, The Charcoal
Burner by Edmund Gosse, Machine Guns by Richard Aldington, Seekers by Masefield and Listeners by Walter de
la Mare.

Note of Humanitarianism: The modern poet is interested in the life of labourers, toilers and workers in the field.
Masefield, Gibson, Galsworthy are mainly interested in the common man and his sufferings. In their poetry there is
a note of sympathy for their miserable lot. The grim annals and dark horrors find an expression in their poetry. In
Consecration, Masefield brings out the modern poet's concern with the life of the common people. The modern
poet is interested not in the lives of old people but is equally inspired to treat sympathetically the lot of the animals.
In The Bells of Heaven, Hodgson invokes sympathy for "tamed, and shabby tigers and dancing dogs and bears". In
Stupidity Street, Galsworthy pleads for greater sympathy for birds.

Note of Realism: The modern poet sees life and paints it as it is with all its warts and ugliness. He tears the veil
which romanticists had hung between life and art. Robert Frost, Edmund Blunden, W.W. Gibson, John Masefield
are the poets of realism in modern poetry. Robert Frost in The Gum Gatherer, Gibson in The Stone, Rupert Brooke
in The Great Lover, Masefield in Cargoes are notable examples of poems with a striking note of realism. The best
expression of realism in modern poetry is found in the War poets. Sassoon in Counter Attack presented the grim
reality of war without any gloss or evasion.

Romantic Element: The spirit of romance is seen in poets like Walter De La Mare, W.B. Yeats Edward Thomas.
Walter De La Mare's poetry is saturated with the true romantic spirit of bordering on supernaturalism- in his poetry
we find themes of ghosts and fairies of the old world.
Pessimistic Note: There is a note of pessimism and disillusionment in the poetry. The modern has realised the
pettiness of human life and the tragedy and suffering of the downtrodden people have made him gloomy and
leaden eyed. Housman, Hardy, Huxley, T.S. Eliot are the poets of pessimism and disillusionment in modern poetry.
Their poetry is marked with their dissatisfaction with God and the increase of materialism in the modern world.

Complexity and Psychology in Modern Poetry: Some modern poets were interested in delving deep into the
recesses of the subconscious mind. Poets like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound are difficult to follow because of their
psychological complexity and difficult imagery.

Longingness: Longingness is the root of all poetry. W.B. Yeats' Lake Isle of Innisfree is the yearning of a
homesick heart. Masefield's Seekers is another example of the longing of man for God and the eternal city of light.

Thus, Modern poetry is the reflection of modern life. It is realistic in tone and it expresses the spirit of the age. The
poetry of 20th century is less vague(less unclear), less verbose(less rambling/flowery) and less eloquent(less
expressive) than most poetry of the Victorian Age. It is simple and sincere. They used a language that was more
accessible to the average person. After the formal, flowery and romantic era of the Victorian Age, Modernist
writers leaned towards experimentation. They commented on the degenerating state of the world and how to cope
with fragmented reality.

Rudyard Kipling: He was born in Mumbai, India. Later he went to England for his education. He was a poet of
the soldiers and sailors. He was in favour of imperialism and glorified Britain and the superiority of the British.
George Orwell called him the "Prophet of British Imperialism". He brought a new element to English poetry by
making the uneducated British man expressive and significant. He made the English conscious of their great
heritage and roused feelings of superiority over the backward and underdeveloped races. His poem Recessional: A
Victorian Ode, composed for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Celebration is a reminder of his inclination to
imperial power. His White Man's Burden is another poem where he justifies imperialism as a noble enterprise of
civilisation. He took pride in the achievements of his countrymen in the establishment of the Empire. His poetry
confidently promoted that the Englishmen were divinely charged with the duty of enlightening the world. In his
famous poem, For All We Have and We Are, he exhorted the people of his country to be patriotic and hail war with
enthusiasm.

Kipling's poetry celebrated the strength and masculinity. his poems sing the songs of ordinary healthy manhood.
He preferred a courageous and dangerous way of living life. Kipling was also interested in Indian life. His poems
Shiva and Grasshopper and A Song of Kabir show his full understanding of the spirit of Hindu tradition. He has
composed poems on Indian people, Indian politics and religious thoughts. His poem If reflects on the teachings of
Bhagavat Gita and is written as a form of parental advice to his son John.

To the sensitive mind, Kipling often appears a little noisy and vulgar. His sense of racial superiority and aggressive
imperialism appears nauseating. He claims credit for reintroducing realism and racy vigour into the verse of 90s.
He writes genuine poetry but he is a ceaseless experimenter in verse forms and rhythms. Yet, his poetry is
animated with a zest for life and has vigorous enthusiasm for lively living.

War Poets:

During and after World War I, English poetry underwent significant changes in diction, style and subject matter.
The poets like Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Rupert Graves demonstrated a willingness to take up the grim
realities and corruptions of the society and culture. Rupert Brooke wrote about the early idealism of the war at its
beginnings. Sassoon's poetry was against war and expressed bitter anger about it. Isaac Rosenberg's verse was
consistently critical of the war. War poetry deals with the experience of war. The poets used the experiences of war
to situate and depict conditions of reality. Poets faced the trauma of the first World War and were engaged with the
experiences of wounds and deaths. They spoke about patriotism as well as the meaninglessness of the whole
experience of war. Millions of soldiers lost their lives during the World War I. The horror of the war and its
aftermath altered the world for decades and the poets responded to the brutalities and loses in different ways.
During the initial years, the poets enthusiastically praised the old virtues of honour, duty, heroism and glory.
During the later years, the poets approached these lofty abstractions with far greater skepticism and moral subtlety,
through realism and bitter irony. They often questioned the need for war, combing it with anti-war arguments.
They no longer romanticized or sentimentalized war and both physical and mental injury became the central theme
of the later war poets. While we hear laudatory verses coming out from elder poets who stayed at home, we are
shocked by a note of cynicism, satire and realism struck by poets who had actually been to war field and had
witnessed the horrors of warfare.

Rupert Brooke: He was quite influenced by the metaphysical poets. He was a young patriot who died early and as
such did not have enough experience of the brutal business of war. He was praised for his idealistic war sonnets.
His war sonnets brought him immediate fame. In his famous poem, The Soldier, he wrote on the themes of
nostalgia and romanticism and glorified the legitimacy of the British Empire. In The Soldier, he speaks in the guise
of an English soldier as he is leaving home to go to war. It represents the patriotic ideals that characterised pre war
England. It portrays death for one's country to be a sacrifice, a redemption. He concludes that life is the only thing
appropriate to give to his motherland in return for all the beautiful and great things she has given to him. The
Soldier suggests that Brooke’s passionate patriotism was driven more by a love of the English countryside.

Brooke's work, written in the early months of the war when success was still in sight, was full of cheerful
friendship and idealism, even when faced with potential death. The war sonnets swiftly became focal points for
patriotism. He projected the images and ideals of brave youth dying for his country. When war broke out in 1914,
he hailed it with enthusiasm. He wrote fine war sonnets exhibiting his enthusiasm and noble resolve to serve his
country. He looked upon war as a glorious adventure and welcomed the call to action with joy. Several critics
reacted against Brooke and called his verse foolishly naive and sentimental. The 'idealism' of the war sonnets is a
patriotic glorification of war, a carefree approach to death which ignored the bloodshed and brutality. Yet, he
occupies a secure place in English literature as a representative of the mood and character of England before World
War I.
The poem The Soldier was written at the beginning of the First World War in 1914, as part of a series of sonnets. It
deals with the death and accomplishments of a soldier. It establishes the speaker’s romantic attitude towards death
while in duty. He suggests that the reader should not mourn. Whichever “corner of a foreign field” becomes his
grave; it will also become “forever England”. The speaker implies that England is mother to him. His love for
England and his willingness to sacrifice is equivalent to a son’s love for his mother; but more than an ordinary son,
he can give his life to her.

Siegfried Sassoon: Siegfried Sassoon is best remembered for his angry and compassionate poems of the First
World War. He rejected the sentimentality and patriotism of many war poets and wrote about the horrors and
brutality of warfare and scornfully satirized generals, politicians, and churchmen for their incompetence and blind
support of the war. He criticized war throughout his poetry and his memoirs. The images of dead and broken
bodies are found scattered throughout his poems. Counter Attack opens with:

"The place was rotten with dead; green clumsy legs"

The poem is full of emotive language and powerful description. He creates a gloomy atmosphere by using words
such as “choked”, or “crumpled and spun him sideways”. When he says “bleeding to death” it adds to the effect of
torture and gives melancholy to the reader. Attack by Siegfried Sassoon is a haunting poem which discusses the
reality of war and what happens when a soldier is out on the battlefield. War may be glorified and described as a
noble duty, but in reality it feels and is essentially nothing more than an attack. He compares the soldiers to the
flounder fish stuck in mud and thereby having very less chances of survival. According to him, going to war is like
a suicide attempt.

He sees war almost entirely in terms of its injuries and injustices and not the politics of nations or territories. In his
Diaries, he described war as inflicting "useless suffering" and expressed his incredulity at women being "thrilled"
to hear that these soldiers have "shed the blood of Germans". Much of his work is a rejection of glory, heroism and
even patriotism. His famous phrase: "rant, stench of bodies" captures much of the themes and tone of his poetry.
Sassoon was the first great soldier poet who revealed the horrors and ugliness of war. He presented in his verse
ghastly and terrible realities of the trenches, and recounting his own experiences, admonished the people to stop
war. He failed to convince the war lords the futility of war. In general, his mood was to convey the bitter truth, to
tear off mask from the ugly face of reality and to wreck his anger on the heartless and the hypocrites. Once he
wrote a letter of protest to the war department in which he said that the war was being deliberately and
unnecessarily prolonged by the government and refused to fight anymore. Robert Graves saved him from being
court martialled by saying that Sassoon was suffering from shell shock and needed treatment. Public reacted
fiercely to Sassoon's poetry. Some readers complained that the poet displayed little patriotism, while others found
his shockingly realistic depiction of war to be too extreme. Most poems glamorized war and made fighting seem
like a heroic feat that all young men should desire. Sassoon puts a different spin on war by depicting its harsh
reality.

Wilfred Owen: The best known and most anthologized of the war poets is Owen, who was influenced by Sassoon
to write war poems. In his preface to Collected Poems, he wrote: "I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is
war and the pity of war". In his poems, the pity is poignantly and touchingly presented. This pity of war is the pity
generated by the deaths and injuries of its young men and women. No cause justifies the extinction of human life
on such a massive scale. His poems are full of sharp satire but he never loses his artistic poise and even his most
bitter work has a truly great dignity. In Strange Meeting, two soldiers belonging to opposite sides meet after death
and they both deplore the barbarism and tragic waste of warfare. The enemy soldier remarks how he too has similar
ambitions for his life. His Anthem for Doomed Youth captures his disillusionment with the idea of war as heroic. In
Disabled, a disabled soldier who has lost his legs and one arm looks at young men and women and recalls his
youth when he was handsome and "whole". He has also lost his colour and girls touch him "like some queer
disease". His real days of glory were not in the trenches but on the football fields and in dances. The speaker
contrasts those triumphant days with his present days and thinks about what the future holds for him. In his poetry
there are no heroes, only derelicts and the haunted. His figures are maimed characters, coping with physical
disability and horrific memories. His poetry does not have any mention of patriotism or nationalism.

Owen was an apostle of peace and humanity in a world which was torn down by war and devastations. He sang
about the truth of war through his poems and warned people against it. His poems are concerned with the fate of
the soldiers who kill and are killed in the battlefield, who are blissfully ignorant of what they do. He wanted to
rectify the blunders caused by wars, to rectify a world which has sunk into the swamp of blood, bullets and bombs.

Owen had a good command over rhythm and he experimented with various verse techniques. He also introduced
para-rhyme in his war poems to create a situation of "remoteness, darkness, emptiness and shock".

In 1915 Owen enlisted in the British army. He is noted for his anger at the cruelty and waste of war and his pity for
its victims. The experience of trench warfare brought him to rapid maturity; the poems written after January 1917
are full of anger at war’s brutality, an melancholic pity for “those who die as cattle”. In June 1917 he was wounded
and sent home. While in a hospital near Edinburgh he met the poet Siegfried Sassoon, who shared his feelings
about the war and who became interested in his work. Reading Sassoon’s poems and discussing his work with
Sassoon revolutionized Owen’s style and his conception of poetry. His poetry often graphically illustrated the
horrors of warfare, the physical landscapes that surrounded him, and the human body in relation to those
landscapes. His verses stand in stark contrast to the patriotic poems of war written by earlier poets of Great Britain,
such as Rupert Brooke.