Stevens says that in earlier ages it was easier for the poetic mind to "find" meaning: "the scene was set; it repeated what / Was in the script." The thing is sort of like a... You can't really talk about Wallace Stevens without talking about spirituality. There have been blank verse poems, pictorial poems, remixed rhythms, and so on. One of the ideal effects of the modern poem, as described in the poem's middle section, is that the audience members listen to themselves and experience "an emotion as of two people, as of two / Emotions becoming one." According to Stevens, part of poetry's job, as much as it needs to give audiences emotional clarity and meaning, is to be honest and realistic about the world, not false or escapist. There is a reason why this poem is titled "Of Modern Poetry," and its first few lines give clues as to the importance of differentiating "modern poetry" (poetry of the 20th century) from what came before. Read the Study Guide for Of Modern Poetry…, The Australian Dream: Coastal Living in 'Breath' and 'Blue Hills 11'. Whereas poems such as "The Snow Man" and "The Idea of Order at Key West" primarily asserted the power of the mind to create, this later poem asserts that poetry also has a duty to meet the needs of the mind, the need for emotional and mental clarity. For instance, Dylan Thomas’s poem “This Bread I Break” is at the same time about … It means that some single poems are about many things at the same time. This kind of notion would have seemed essential to American readers in 1942, in some of the bleakest moments of World War II. Stevens' longing for a poem capable of "wholly / Containing the mind," and that thus does not "descend" below or "rise" beyond the level of the mind, emphasizes the importance of poetry as a vessel for the needs and struggles of the human mind as we seek meaning and satisfaction in life. Another important element of modernist poetry is the use of new and wide range of subjects, themes and issues. For Stevens' early writing, this new way was primarily to look within the mind itself and to cultivate the human powers of perception and creativity. In the form, style, stanza, rhythm and such other technical devices of poetry, old traditions have been demolished and new experiments are tested. Modernist poetry is characterized by themes of disillusionment, fragmentation and alienation from society. Traditional poetry had to be limited to subjects of universal significance, general human appeal, and so on, even when the poems were romantically personal on their surface. You've been inactive for a while, logging you out in a few seconds... "Of Modern Poetry" is about one thing: what poetry is supposed to be doing in the modern age. When it all comes down to it, Wallace Stevens doesn't want to write about beautiful things like flowers and love. This means, somewhat dismissively, that before the 20th century all poets had to do was follow established conventions in order to make good art. The first line tells us that a poem must reflect the "mind in the act of finding / What will suffice"—i.e., in the act of finding enough meaning and hope to make life worthwhile. Copyright © 1999 - 2020 GradeSaver LLC. Poetry's purpose, according to this poem, is to create meaning and order out of chaos, to give readers something true and right to hold on to. The best one can expect is to try and find logical support for the theme or themes that he ‘finds’ in the poem. That is why the reader has to work with many ‘possible’ themes and meanings in the same poem. The old metrical systems, rhyme-schemes, and traditional symbols and metaphors are no longer dominating. Modernism includes all such experimentations in the technique of expression. Rather, it can offer something unique and valuable to each person. Critic Mark Halliday notes that, especially in comparison with other Stevens work, "Of Modern Poetry" gives a definite "encouragement concerning interpersonal relationships." This is first done by acknowledging that the "theatre" of poetry has changed, and one cannot successfully appease readers with old-fashioned verses. The poem “Jellyfish” is also about the fish itself, the nature of human emotions and desires, the nature of women, as well as poetic expression. Besides being written on a large range of subjects and themes, modernist poems tend to be multiple in themes. Literature & Writing "Of Modern Poetry" is about one thing: what poetry is supposed to be doing in the modern age. In poetry, we can discuss the modernist elements in terms of four major subheadings: modern or new experiments in form and style, new themes and word-games, new modes of expression, and complex and open-ended nature of their themes and meaning. The most striking element of modernist poetry is the invention and experimentation of new modes of expression. Poets must find radically new ways of finding meaning and giving readers a way to make sense of the world, to "construct a new stage" for their art. There can be no single and fixed meaning of any poem. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Bedell, Rebecca. "It must be the finding of a satisfaction," the ending of the poem tells us. The poet never fully says, as in traditional poems, what the one and precise meaning of the poem is. In general, modernist literature is characterized by the radical break with the traditions of literary subjects, forms, concepts and styles. This sentiment is echoed in that the poem must tell its audience what "it wants to hear."

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