The seventeenth century :

The seventeenth century was one of the richest periods in the history of English literature, both in achievement and variety. it was also an age of conflict, resulting in civil war fought between king Charles I (1625-1649 ) and parliament ,whose chief commander was Oliver Cromwell (1599- 1658). The causes of the war were religious and economic. This conflict went along with a king of revolution which took place in the human mind bringing about a new spirit, different from the past and near to the modem. This was a scientific spirit one of observation and analysis whether of facts, feelings or ideas.

The poets of this period was very much influenced by this new spirit and the events of the age .broadly speaking, they could be divided in to three groups: the cavaliers poets, the metaphysical and the puritans .

The cavaliers, who were associated with court of Charles I, were gay spirit, light hearted, showing refinement of taste. The y found their happiest poetic expression in joyful, lively lyrics. They were the followers of ben Jonson, chief amongst these poets is Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674). he is the author of a volume of love lyrics and pastoral poems, hesperides which contains such memorable lyrics as “gather ye rosebuds while ye may “and “to daffodils “other noteworthy names include Thomas Carew (1595 – 1640) O, sir john suckling (1608 – 1642) and Richard Lovelace (1618 – 1658), author of such famous poems as “to lucasta” and “to althea, from prison “. All of these poets wrote very beautiful, graceful and melodious lyrics, polished in from and expression.

The metaphysical poets include john Donne (1572- 1631), George Herbert (1593 – 1632), Richard Crashaw (1612- 1650), Henry Vaughan (pronounced vo:n) , (1622- 95 ), Andrew Marvell (1621- 1678 ) and Abraham Cowley (1618 – 1667 ). The term ‘metaphysical’ was applied by Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) to Donne and his followers. Donne hold a special place amongst the metaphysical poets because of the vast influence he exerted over the writers of his century. He is the originator of the metaphysical school.

The poetry of Donne can be divided into two phases . the earlier phase is characterized by his love lyrics which are in strong contrast to much of

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the love poetry of the 1590’s as Spenser’s . They are strongly intellectual and dramatic, appealing not to the eye or the ear, but to the intellect. Their chief quality is the use of conceit (see glossary). In these poems Donne rejected the Petrarchan tradition so popular amongst the Elizabethan poets by treating love in a more realistic manner.

In the second phase Donne turns to religious themes. His religious poetry began in 1609. In 1615 he took orders in the church of England and became dean of st . Paul’s is religious poems are as metaphysical as his love poems, but their object is not a woman but god. Among his best religious poems are the two anniversaries and the holy sonnets he also wrote sermons, in prose .

Many of the characteristics of Donne’s poetry such as his wit the use of conceits, the intellectual quality, the dramatic force, the fusion of feeling and thought are evident, in various degrees, in the poems of the one metaphysical poet.

The chief example of puritan poet is john Milton (1608- 1674). He was a deeply religious man, and a great artist. He disapproved of the religious policy of Charles I and when the civil war broke out in 1642 he struggle against him by siding with parliament and Cromwell, identifying himself with the puritan casue . Unlike cavaliers , the puritans were more Serious restrained, highly religious and somber, opposing any kind of frivolity and licentiousness. Puritanism was very strong in the first half of the seventeenth century and reached its strongest power after the civil war.

After the defeat of Cromwell and the return of Charles II, the son Charles I, to England, a reaction was set against the puritans and the ideals. Milton found himself in disfavor and alone. He was neglected, loses his sight and lived in poverty and ill-health. Nevertheless, he devotes himself to the writing of one of the greatest epics of the world’s literature paradise lost (1667) and its sequel paradise regained (1671). In both these poems the events are drawn from the bible. The first deals with fate of man, the second, with the promise of regaining paradise man. Milton was equipped for writing on such lofty, serious themes. He had the learning, devotion, courage and inspiration. These qualities are reveals not only in

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the choice of the subject matter itself, but also in the grander and sublimity of his style which has come to be called the ‘grand style.’

John Dryden :

The period from 1660 to 1700 is called the restoration period because monarchy was restored in England with the return from exiled France of Charles II. It is also called the age of Dryden because Dryden was the most dominating literary figure of this period.

When Charles II returned from exile to England he brought with him from France French manners and French literary tastes. He opened the theatres which were closed by the puritans and in doing so many second-rate writers were encouraged to produce second-rate material both in verse and in the theatres, the romantic spirit of the Elizabethans and the moral discipline of the puritans became things of the past

As reaction against this lowering spirit of literary activity, a new type of writing flourished to become the pre-eminent quality of the restoration period, which is satire. The chief exponent of satire was Dryden. Its aim, as Dryden himself has said, was “the amendment of vices by correction. Along with satire, the writers of the period made two other important contributions to English poetry by emphasizing realism and precision in writing. This developed into a style which is clear, precise, concise, formal and elegant, which is called the classical style. It was Dryden who laid the foundation of the classical school of poetry in England.

Besides being a poet, Dryden was a critic and a dramastist as well as a poet, his outstanding achievement was his verse satires of which Absolom and Achitophel (1681-2) and MacFlechnow (1682) are the best known. The first is a political satire, in heroic couplets (the heroic couplet was a favorite verse form during this period); the second, a more personal satire is an attack against a contemporary poet, Shadwell by name, whom Dryden disliked. Dryden is also famous for two long didactic poems: Religio Laici (1682) and The Hind and the Panther (1687) his “song for St. Cecilias Day” is a beautiful ode. It was set to music by the famous composer, George F. Handel (1685- 1759).

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The Eighteenth Century: The Augustan Age:-

The chief poet of this period was Alexander pope (1688-1744).He was Dryden’s disciple, bringing to perfection many of the artistic ideals set up by Dryden. In his hands of heroic couplet became highly refined and imposing, and his style retained the same qualities of clarity, balance and elegance which characterized Dryden’s style. Like the restoration period, the spirit of this period was

classical too.

Pope and his contemporaries referred to themselves as Augustans they tried to imitate the works of classical writers who were writing the region of Emperor Augustus Caesor, ruler of Rome. Hence, besides being called the Augustan Age, this period is sometimes refereed to Neo classical and sometimes as the Age of reason since the writer's was to reflect life through the reason and not through imagination.

The poetry of this period concentrated on the mind rather than emotions, on the problem sand follies of society rather than the individual and on the city rather than the country side. The poet's aim was to order and harmony and they believed that Nature was the best symbol order, correctness and permanence. Their principle was to

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follow nature as the ancients have followed the rules of nature.

Pope is essentially the poet of order and harmony. His initma knowledge of his society is best reflected in such masterpieces as Rape of The Lock (1714),which is perhaps the finest example of mock-heroic in English literature. Ln this poem pope combines the sorts of writing the age was most interested in. epic and satire. His however is not directed against a particular person but against a flaw human nature that of pride. In his other masterpiece, The Dunc (divided into four books, published together in 1743),he is more person in this verse satire written in heroic couplets ,he is ridiculing his enemies the dunces in the form of mock-epic. Pope had written many notable poems, namely: Essay on Criticism, Essay on man and the Mo Essays. Toward the middle of the Eighteenth century, anew tendency developed. The writers of this period moved away from pope and disciples, both in theme and in expression. They wrote of nature, not a rule or law, but for its own sake, they spoke of love and feelings described the countryside and its people. These poets came to be known as the Pre-Romantics. They were the precursors of a great movement, is the Romantic Movement: they prepared for its flowering in the Nineteen century. Chief among these poets is James Thomson (1700-1748).poem The Seasons, written in black verse, is rich with natural description and feelings. Another notable poet is Thomas Gray (1716-1771), wrote the famous Elegy written in the

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country churchyard(1750),in which he reflects on the death of the poor and the humble. still another who followed the same line of thought and expression is William Collins(1721-1559).Also famous for his extremely musical pieces and his portrayal of country life as well as his rebellious spirit is the scots poet, Robert Burns (1759-1786).

The Eighteenth century closed with a prominent poet, William Blake (1757-1827) who was also an engraver and a mystic. His poetry is visionary and symbolic. His peculiarities of thought and imaginative vision have placed him more among the Romantics than his own contemporaries, His most famous poems are song of innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), which form a group of short lyrics, simple in their diction but profound in their meaning. His other works include a series of prophetic books.

The Nineteenth centuryThe nineteenth century includes both the Romantic and the Victorians. The Romantics were writing between 1790 and 1830. From 1830 to around the end of the Nineteenth century the scene was dominated by the Victorians.

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The RomanticsThe Romantic Movement did not happen all of the sudden. In the last few decades of the Eighteenth century, Neo-classicism in England was dying slowly and Romanticism was growing stronger and stronger until it began to take its final shape under certain influences which changed many of the ideals of society. Of these the influence of the French revolution(1789) was one and the growing effects of the industrial revolution was another. These events, especially the French revolution made such concepts as democracy, Freedom, equality and brotherhood, popular and inspired many poets to write about them. Almost all the Romantic poets were deeply influenced by the French revolution. They all started as warm revolutionary sympathizers, but were disillusioned by its aftermath.

The six most outstanding Romantic poets are: William Blake, William Worth (1770- 1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Geo Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) John Keats (1795-1821). These poets were individualists and did not a coherent school: but they had many things in common. They wrote great enthusiasm of liberty beauty and imagination. They discuss reason and all of them, except Black, responded vividly to nature, treating not as a law or a rule but as a symbol of beauty, purity

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cleanliness. They were interested in expressing the feelings of man solitude as opposed to those of man in society .They used language more freedom than the Eighteenth century, They rejected the use of diction , so popular in the Eighteenth century, seeing it as unnatural artificial: and instead of the heroic couplet, they revied black verse, balled measure and lyrical forms of all types.

Wordsworth and Coleridge with another associate, Robert Southe (1774-1843) are known as the Lake Poets, so called because they lived in the mountainous Lake District in the North West of England, one of most beautiful districts in England. Wordsworth and Coleridge worked together on an important book which they published in 1798 under name of Lyrical Ballads and Other Poems. The book introduced principles for writing poetry, which at the time caused a controversy clarify matters, Wordsworth wrote a famous Preface in the second edition of the book in 1800 which was further enlarged in the third edition of 1802.

Wordsworth stressed the need to write poetry which is simple, to use the language of ordinary people, that which is really used by men, chief in " humble and rustic life ". But while Wordsworth,s love was for the mysterious and the supernatural.

Wordsworth,s main contribution to English poetry lies in his original treatment of nature. He sees new meanings in nature, relating it to the mind of man. Nature is a

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moral teacher, a guide because God resides in Nature. Nature therefore is a power lifting man to moral heights. Many his poems show the influence of natural surroundings on the formation the mind, poems such as Tintern Abbey, Intimations of Immortality Michael, The Prelude and others. Besides these poems, he has written many sonnets and short lyrics which have attiend permanence.

Coleridge was a writer of a quite different sort. He wrote a much smaller amount of poetry which is more intense than Wordsworth,s in its psychological treatment, visuality of detail and complex symbolism. Of his supernatural poems, the most famous are The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christabel and Kubla Khan. Of the "conversation" poems, the best known are Frost at Midnight and Deiection: an Ode, The conversation poem is especially associated with Coleridge it is a reflective poem, usually in black verse, in which the poet meditates aloud, as it talking to a friend.

The younger Romantic poets include Shelley, Byron and Keats. Shelley and Byron were lovers of freedom, champions of love and brotherhood: and Keats was a lover of beauty. All three died while still very young.

Shelley was an idealist who believed that man was naturally good but social institutions make him bad. He believed that love is a great power that could eradicate all kinds of evil from the world. He reflects these views in poems that are passionate and rich in language and

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music, such as Ode to the West Wind (1819). Prometheus Unbound (1819),his masterpiece, in which he expounds his philosophy of revolution, The Cenci(1819), a verse drama, which is a study of evil, Episychidion (1820),which describes his doctrine of love ,Adonis, written in Spenserian stanzas, in which he laments the death of Keats, and many others.

Shelley,s most distinguished piece of prose in his Defence of Poetry written in answer to Thomas love peacock's Four Ages of Poetry (1820)which argued that poetry was an obsolete art.

Byron was more popular in Europe than in England. His name was usually associated with the liberation movements of Italy and Greece, where he died in 1824. He had become a symbol of the defiant spirit, fighting oppression and injustice, He made popular the legend of the Byronic hero, a type of hero who proud, passionate, defying gloomy, nursing a secret guilt and cherishing the love of one woman only, though showing promiscuity. This is the Romantic side of Byron. The other side is the Augustan Byron, which is revealed in his admiration for the classicism of pope, and in his satirical work in which, like the Augustans, he attacks false feeling and hypocrisy.

Byron,s work ,perhaps even more his personality, became influential throughout Europe .people were fascinated by his poems, such Childe Harold , s Pilgrimage (1812-1818),which is an autobiography poem, written in

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Spenserian stanzas, and in which he introduces Byronic hero, who is very much like Byron himself. His Oriental caused a sensation. These were exotic tales inspired by the East which has visited. Of his satirical poems Don Juan (1819-24)is the outstanding one.

Unlike Byron and Shelley, Keats was not radical in his polite views. He indulged himself in art and beauty, being deeply influenced the poetry of Spenser and Shakespeare. His poetry is rich with sensu images and musical delight. His great year was 1819 during which produced all the work on which he reputation now trusts: the poems like The Eve of St Agnes, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, lzabe Hyperion and the wonderful odes; to A Nightingale, On a Grecian Urn Melancholy, To Autumn and to Psyche.

Keats like the other Romantic poets used varied verse forms them he was a lover of Nature but was more interested in the physical aspects of nature, its charm and beauty. He was particularly skillful using imagery and colour. Shelley immortalized him in his famous poem Adonis.

The Victorians

By 1830, most of the Romantic poets were dead . Wordsworth lives until 1850, but his poetic abilities were already exhausted. With the death most of the Romantic poets, the spirit of Romanticism lost its vitality vigor. This change coincided with a wave of great reforms

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brought abo with the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832. This Bill opened a chapter in the life of the Victorian society and, together with other influences, gradually led to the appearance of a new style in literature poetry included. Though coloured with Romanticism in its earliest phase the poetry of this period moved towards realism.

Because the Victorian period is so long, it is often divided into periods the early Victorian period, The middle Victorian period and the late Victorian period. The early period witnessed many changes which, on one hand, brought progress in many fields: education, science, industry…, but, on the other, they caused conflict between the old and the new. New scientific ideas contradicted well-established religious beliefs. Recently invented machinery made some people very rich and others very poor. Spiritual values were being influenced by growing material values.

The poets of the period could not remain indifferent to what was happening in their society. They reacted vigorously, some with great optimism: others were pessimistic; still others tried to find an escape from the problems of their age. But they were all serious in their aims, using their poetry almost always as a mirror of their society.

The most representative poet of this period is Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). His poetry is a record of the social, intellectual and spiritual life of the time. In almost

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all his poems he reflects a certain issue of the age. In "Locksley Hall"(1842), he is pointing to the danger of living by false ideals in the materialistic society. In "The princess"(1847), he is trying to establish the proper relationship between men and women which should not be based on the master/ slave ideal but on love and understanding, each for each. In "In Memoriam"(1850), he is not only lamenting the death of his close friend,Aithur Hallam, but also treating the conflict between science and religion which came as a result of the spread of evolutionary ideas, long before Charles Darwin(1809-1892) expounded his theory of evolution in his Origin of Species (1859). In "idylls of the king", he is encouraging society to maintain the chivalrous ideals, or else it will collapse as the court of king Arthur has collapsed.

Tennyson was the poet of law and order, both in the social and moral sense. His poetry is varied in form and content: but he remains one of the most original of the lyric poets of England.

Robert Browning (1812-1889) is the other important poet of the early Victorian period. Unlike Tennyson his genius is mainly dramatic not lyrical. He is chiefly known for his optimism and for his boundless energy…the same qualities that have mode his poetry rich with vitality.

Being chiefly interested in the study and psychology of the human soul, Browning treats the problems of life in

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the form of the dramatic . He did not invent this form, but he made it specially his own and became its master. He wrote many poems in this form, of which "My Last Duchess"(1842) is one example.

Browning is also known as one of the great poets of love. His treatment of love is original. In his love poetry he does not talk about idealized emotions but about more real experiences. He sees in love a principle that harmonizes and unifies all beings; hence the theme of unfulfilled love, so common in Victorian poetry, is not one of his.

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) is another great poet of the early Victorian period. He was a poet and a critic. As a poet, he looked for, high seriousness, in poetry. The various conflicts of the age distressed him and therefore he longed for simple faith, true love and simplicity as remedies for the, diseases, of the age.

Arnold's poetry is characterized by deep melancholy and the elegiac tone pervades his poetry from beginning to end, even when he is not writing elegies. The idea of alienation is one of his basic themes. Most of his poems give expression to these feelings: Dover Beach (1867-perhaps written much earlier). Rugby Chapel (1867). Empedocles on Etna (1852), The Buried Life (1852), Thrsis (1867) and many others.

Among the Victorian poets there were two outstanding women: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61), wife of

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Robert Browning, and chnsting Rossetti (1830-1894) Mrs. Browning is most famous for her Sonnets From the Portuguese (1845 – 50), in which she expresses very simply and realistically her deep love for Robert Browning, unlike the artificial manner of the Elizabeth and in their sonnet sequences. She has also written poems on social and political themes, such as The Cry of the Children (1843), in which she is protesting against the social evils of the factory system, particularly the employment of small children in factories. In A Curse for a Nation (1860), she attacks the system of slavery in America: and in Casa Guide Windows (1851), she encourages the Italians to fight for independence.

Christina Rossetti was a member of a cultured family which included her two brothers, William Rossetti and Dante G .Rossetti. Her poems are characterized by colour, music and meditation and, a rare quality among the Victorian poets, a distinct sense of humor. She is famous for her sonnet- sequence Mona Innominata (1882). The title means "My Nameless Lady". These are fourteen love sonnets in which she gives expression to her love for Charles Cayley whom she loved but refused to marry because of his unconventional religious views. She also wrote beautiful lyrics, entitled Sing-Song (1872), as well as poems for children. But above all , she is noted for her religious poetry. In her later poetry she became increasingly preoccupied with religious thoughts, revealing her simple but deep faith and devout nature.

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Dante G. Rossetti (1822-1882), was the son of an Italian refugee, who was a scholar. Rossetti was a poet and a painter and leader of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement. This was a mind – Victorian movement which tried to revive the Romantic tradition, by following the principles of the Romantics and the style of primitive Italian painters.

In his poetry, as well as in his paintings, Rossetti, and his followers wished to create an idealized worid of beauty in contrast to the ugliness of a commercialized society. He wishes to write poetry for poetr,s sake, not for didactic reasons, poetry that is vivid, colorful, musical and passionate. He was particularly fond of using the sonnet and the ballad forms. He is noted for his sonnet sequences The House of Life, Written during a period of thirty three years 1848-1881, and addressed to his wife, Elizabeth Siddal. Among his many other poems, The Blessed Damozal (1847)is well-known for its imaginative and courtly setting.

Another noted Victorian poet is William Morris (1834- 1890) whose poetry is rich with a harmonious and musical allow , recalling the style of Spenser. Like the pre-Raphaelite poets, his poetry is written in reaction against the ugliness of the real world. He was a great admirer of the middle Age swhich inspired him to write many of his poems, of which the stories in The Earthly Paradise (1868- 70) are an example. He also wrote a series of narrative poems which forms the bulk of his contribution to literature.

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The other noteworthy Victorian poet is Alegernon Charles Swinburne (1873- 1909). Swinburne was the Victorian Shelley. Like Shelley (and Byron) his family background was aristocratic. He too had a revolutionary spirit and hated conventions and repressions of any kind. Like Shelley, he was an ardent champion of Freedom. He was ascholar and a prolific writer whose literary sympathies were very wide.

Swinburne's poetry is a record of his opinions and beliefs, written in a style which is very distinctive. His themes are passionate and intense unlike the conventional Victorian poets. He about freedom, love ,hatred of tyranny and conventional morality. This passion is revealed in many of his poems, among which are his Poems and Ballads (1866),which created great excitement at its appearance, and Songs Before Sunrise (1871),where he gives full expression to his passion for freedom.

Swinburne had great technical skill, capable of imitating different rhythms ,not only those of English poets, but also those of the ltalian, the Greek and the French. Above all, he was a great lyrical poet.

Around the end of the Nineteenth Century, the names of two poets were of specific importance mainly because of the influence they exerted on modern English poetry. These were G. M.Hopkins(1844- 1889) and Thomas Hardy (1840- 1928).

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Hopkins was a Jesuit priest and poet, whose poetry was not published until 1918, almost thirty years after his death, due to the strangeness of his style. He wrote a deeply religious man which explains why almost all his poetry is religious, recalling the devotional poets of the early 17th century, particularly John Donna and George Herbert.

Hopkins is specially noted for his unusual style: his use of condensed images, alliteration, compound-words and "sprung rhythm". This type of rhythm differs from the conventional one by combining the usual regular patterns with free and varied numbers of syllables in each line. In using this rhythm, Hopkins was able to bring the language of poetry closer to spoken language or natural speech and thus establishing a relationship between poetry and living experience. This technique was not new, but Hopkins gave it force and distinction. He used it in many of his poems , the first of which was his greatest: The Wreck of the Deutschland (written in 1875,but not published until 1918). In its own time this technique was not appreciated and seemed strange, but among 20th century poets it was found to be very invigorating ,encouraging many of them to write there works on comparable principles.

Thomas Hards was a novelist and a poet. His poetry is as distinguished as his novels and the best of it was written in his Iater years when he had stopped writing novels. His themes are traditional, but in his technique he was

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not conventional. His poems are sharp, dramatic, ironic, compressed, and though he shows a pessimistic tendency, he gives a true picture of human experience. Some of his most admired poems are the ones he wrote to his dead first wife, included in Satires of Circumstances (1914). Hardy was the poet of disillusionment- - a much recurrent theme in modern poetry.

The Modern Period

Modern poetry is very different from either the Romantic or Victorian traditions. The conditions of modern life were not only different but very complex. Radical changes had taken place and various influences were at work which resulted in new attitudes and tendencies both in life and in literature. The 29th century needed poets who were fully alive to what was happening around them, and who had the courage and technique to express it.

To find the right expression the modern poets experimented with a variety of verse- forms. The traditional forms did not serve their purpose any more, they were no longer adequate or they had to be modified to suit the new age. A more suitable technique was ,irregular verse , and ,free verse, (or vers libre). Free verse is a kind of verse which disregards the traditional rules of rhyme and metre and follows the cadences of spoken language. Rather than being based on actual metre, it is based on cadence. By employing this type of

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verse, the modern poets made the rhythm of their poems closer to natural speech- - or, speech rhythm,

Another distinctive quality of modern poetry is its language. Lt is highly compressed, symbolic, suggestive and intellectual. It is difficult to grasp despite its simplicity. The poets use language in a realistic manner for realistic purposes, treating the pleasant and the unpleasant aspects of life alike.

Modern poetry was written under various influences: social intellectual and political, of these influences was the Great War of 1914-1918 which gave rise to what has come to be known as War poetry and to a group of poets, known as the war or trench poets. This was the Second World War and long years of Economic Depression, as well as advanced technology and the impact of new theories in Psychology. Literary, the modern poets came under the influence of two movements: The Symbolist Movement and Imagism. The Symbolist movement emphasized the use of suggestive language, to be achieved by allusion to earlier literature or to myth. It stressed that poets should treat the ugly as well as the beautiful in their works. Imagism aimed of common speech, to create new rhythms and allow freedom in the choice of subject. Symbolism came from France and Imagism from America.

The modern poets are numerous and their literary output is varied, but they all seem to share a feeling of disillusionment in a world that has gone wrong. Their

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aim in writing poetry was not to find solutions but to worn , explore, discover and illuminate.

Some of the most reprehensive modern poets are: W.B. Yeats (1865-1939). T.S. Eliot (1888- 1065), W.H Auden (1907- 1973), Dylan Thomas (1914- 1953), Philip Larkin (1922- 1985), Ted Hughes (1930) and many others.

Of these poets, T.S. Eliot is the greatest. He has influenced modern poetry more than any other poet of the 20th Century. His style is uniquely his. To reflect the complexity of modern life, he used a very complex style: indirect, symbolic, compressed, based on the use of allusion and myth(after the Symbolist poets) and the use of starting images and extended comparisons, as in Metaphysical use of conceits. In his poetry he brings the past, present and future together to reflect not only the problem of modern man, but of humanity at large.

Eliot like many other modern poets, was deeply concerned about the decaying state of modern civilization. This is clearly revealed in many of his poems, of which The Waste Land (1922) is a prominent example. The importance of this poem lies both in its theme, which is decay and fragmentation of Western civilization, and its technique. It is often considered to mark the beginning of a distinctively 20th century kind of verse.

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