Modernism Webquest

Use the links to answer the corresponding questions. If you do not finish in class, complete on your own time and hand in on test day (10/17)!

http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php

1. When is the modernist period?

2. What was the “cultural shock” that caused this movement to take place?

3. What is the central preoccupation with modernism? How is it different from Romanticism?

4. How did the modernists feel about Victorian art and values?

5. In America, what major renaissance took place at this time?

6. What is universal for all modernist poets?

7. Who produced some of the greatest poetry and criticism of the last century? What is the distinguishing characteristic of his style?

8. Who is the “lost generation?” Name some of these writers.

9. Describe James Joyce’s Ulysses.

10. What changes in the mood of the art world by mid-century?

Modernist Novel

Characterized by the radical disruption of linear flow of narrative; the frustration of conventional expectations concerning unity and coherence of plot and character. 

http://www.biography.com/people/william-golding-9314523#synopsis

When was William Golding born? Where did he find an outlet as a frustrated

child? Write down his statement about this. What did Golding learn as a result of his

experiences in WWII? What is the simile he uses?

How many times was Lord of the Flies rejected for publication?

What is the premise of this book?

http://www.egs.edu/library/aldous-huxley/biography

What are the dates of Aldous Huxley’s birth and death?

Huxley’s family was famous for its connection to what field of study?

What was his grandfather’s nickname?Describe some of Huxley’s early personal tragedies. How long did it take to write Brave New World?Describe the society that Huxley imagined in this

novel. What are it main characteristics?The society in this book looks like a democracy, but

what is it really?Where did Huxley get the title?

http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/James_Joyce

Who served as the model for Joyce’s famous character Stephen Daedalus?

What did Joyce reject about Catholicism? What is the date of Blooms day? What does this

date commemorate? Why was Dubliners considered obscene? Write down T.S. Eliot’s quote on Ulysses.How much of Ulysses is stream of

consciousness?What is unusual about some of the chapters in

Ulysses?

Characteristics of Modernist Poetry

The speaker (person talking in the poem) wrestles with questions of identity, often feeling fragmented and alienated from the world around him.

Sometimes there are even multiple speakers in one poem.

Poets experiment with form. Often there is no rhyme or rhythm at all.

Click on this link and read the poem to answer corresponding questions!

http://allpoetry.com/The-Hollow-Men

“The Hollow Men”

How does the speaker say that he and others like him are remembered by those “with direct eyes”?

In “death’s dream kingdom” what disguise will the speaker wear? What do the hollow men do in the “hollow valley…this last of

meeting places”? What is it that forever falls between idea and achievement,

preventing the hollow men from accomplishing anything? According to the speaker, how does the world end? Although Kurtz was a “hollow sham” and Guy Fawkes was a

traitor, the speaker suggests that they were superior to the hollow men. Why?

What do you think “the shadow” could be in part V? How does the message of this poem compare to those of the

short stories we read this marking period?

The Short Story

Click on the link in the next slide. Read the short story “The Singing Lesson” by Katherine Mansfield and answer the corresponding questions.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mansfield/garden/garden.html#lesson

In one paragraph summarize the plot of this story. How does the teacher’s interaction with the children change as a result of her love interest?

Mansfield argued that people do not change as a result of their experiences. What pattern is Miss Meadows likely to repeat after she leaves this class?

What does this story have in common with “A Dill Pickle?” What similarities do you see between Vera and Miss Meadows?