1.

Explain the interest of Modernist literary authors in mythology and illustrate this
interest in myths with two of the set literary works of the program.
In the 20th century, literary modernism decisively breaks with the traditions of the 19th
century, rejecting sociologism and historicism in order to reveal the eternal principles of
human life. That turn was prepared by Freud's psychoanalysis and Jung's analytical
psychology. In parallel with that rejection, there was a "rehabilitation" of mythology as an
eternal symbolic expression of the foundations of human existence and the human psyche,
regardless of historical circumstances and specific characters. In addition, literature, having
abandoned the socio-historical determinants of the form of the novel, tried to use the appeal
to mythology as a means of structuring the narrative. Thus, the ancient myths are used to
describe the situation of a lonely, abandoned individual, a victim of social alienation in the
society of the 20th century. This essay aims at analysing this phenomenon in two literary
genres: poetry (T.S Eliot´s “The Hollow Man”) and drama (Desire Under the Elms, by
Eugene O´Neill).
T.S Eliot’s vast knowledge and excellent education permitted him to master intertextuality as
few other writers could. “The Hollow Man” is a great example of a poem, where allusions
and references are omnipresent, so it is hard to distinguish his metaphors from references to
Ancient texts, including myths. To start with, T.S. Eliot draws from the Fisher King myth to
write the poem, which tells a story of the King who is wounded and needs someone to restore
the fertility of his land.
Furthermore, in the poem we can see multiple allusions to the mythological texts. For
example, “Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom” as a
reference to Charon in Greek mythology, or “Gathered on this beach of the tumid river”, as a
reference to the River Styx that souls must cross into death.
Not only did T.S. Eliot make mythological allusions, but he also used a study of Frazer’s
work The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion as a source of inspiration. Frazer
pointed out that death ritual, followed by a burial and a resurrection is one of the cornerstones
of the mythologies all around the world. T.S. Eliot revisited this idea as a central plot of the
poem.
Desire Under the Elms, by Eugene O´Neill is another example of the interest of Modernist
writers in mythology. The 1920s-1925s was the period of the most active aesthetic search of
the playwright, and his achievement of maturity was expressed in a complication of the
artistic experiments, for example, turning to myths. Love Under the Elms can be considered
as a link between classical ancient tragedy and modern drama. In this regard, O'Neill's
tragedy is closest to the myths about Phaedra and Medea. However, the play was by no
means a dramatic adaptation of an ancient myth. It is a realistic play that recreates American
reality in the fullness of its tragic life, torn apart by contradictions rooted in the social nature
of American society. Mythological motifs, found in the depths of its artistic structure, reveal
the versatility inherent in the play in its interpretation of human relations, and also act as one
of the means of poetic interpretation of the material.
2. Explain the rhythmical devices used in the excerpt to create its particular cadence.
What elements in the excerpt evoke the sense of fragmentariness? Briefly discuss
the representation of nature in the excerpt and in the complete poem.

This is the dead land

This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Unlike The Waste Land, the text of the poem «Hollow Men» is extremely concise and
formally laconic. It is characterized by repetitions - not only rhymes, rhythm and images, but
also words. Despite the seeming "versatility", the poem is very subtly instrumented. So, in all
parts, except for the fifth, the last line of the stanza rhymes with one of the previous ones.
The rhythm is built mainly on the alternation of two-beat and three-beat lines. Free verse and
end rhyme can be observed in the same poem.1 In the excerpt we can perceive T.S. Eliot´s
famous use of fragmentation in terms of the rhythm. The first two verses and the fifth are
rhymed, while the rhythm of the other parts depends more on the alliteration: (“s”, “r” “d”
sounds).
The nature in the excerpt and the poem itself is gloomy and deserted. The speaker calls it "the
cactus land", the desert. It is a hopeless place, “the valley of dying stars". It is full of ruins
and misery ("broken glass" and "hollow valley"). These ruins are the scenery for the
European culture and the hollow human soul itself. However, the desert is not completely
dry: there is also a "tumid river" and cacti. Therefore, two potent contrasting images are
drawn by T.S. Eliot: desert waste land and overflowing river, as a symbol of hope.

1
Study guide. Unit 1