Modernism Project

Anderson, George Parker. "modernism." In Anderson, George P., Judith S. Baughman, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and Carl Rollyson, eds.Encyclopedia of American Literature, Revised Edition: Into the Modern: 1896–1945, Volume 3. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1234&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 17, 2011).

Faulkner, William. "William Faulkner "A Rose for Emily"" LitWeb. W.W. Norton and Company, 2005. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.
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Gaydosik, Victoria. "modernism." Facts On File Companion to the British Novel: 20th Century, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= GCBNII371&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 17, 2011).

Howe, Irving. William Faulkner: A Critical Study. (New York: Vintage Books, 1962): p. 265. Quoted as "The Limitations of 'A Rose for Emily'" in Harold Bloom, ed. William Faulkner, Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1998. (Updated 2007.) Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMSSWF09&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 25, 2011).

Kurtz, Elizabeth Carney. "Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" The Explicator 44, no. 2 (Winter 1986): p. 40. Quoted as "'A Rose for Emily'" in Harold Bloom, ed. William Faulkner, Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1998. (Updated 2007.) Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMSSWF13&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 25, 2011).

Werlock, Abby H. P. "modernism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CASS589&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 17, 2011).

"William Faulkner - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 26 Apr 2011 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-bio.html

John Coltrane's Blue Train

Well when I hear this song the imagery that I being to visualize is that of a band playing the song in a low lit bar. This is all that I can imagine happening during this song. Just kidding. But in all seriousness I do see a lot more to this song. At the beginning of the song I picture a man walking down a street. I would imagine that it is somewhere in the south like in Georgia or Alabama or somewhere like that. He is walking down a very hoppin part of town and there are people all over the place. As he is walking he can hear the jazz music being played at all of the different bars and restaurants. He finds a bar that he wants to go into and he does just that. He sits down at the bar and orders a drink. Then a lovely lady comes over and asks him to dance. He agrees and as the music picks up you can tell that they are on the dance floor. They both are enjoying the dance very much, but another man cuts in and kind of steals her away from him. He returns to the bar and watched the two dancing, never leaving the gaze of the woman that he has just lost. When the music slows down, she comes over to the bar to talk with the man. They begin talking and move over to a booth and order some drinks. As the music speeds up again, this is like their hearts beating because they are kind of nervous around each other. They have really seemed to hit it off and they finish their drinks. As the song ends it goes back to the same very smooth introduction that was used and I picture them walking out of the bar together at dawn towards the sunrise. That is the image that I saw when listening to John Coltrane's Blue Train.

Modernism and Realism

Realism and Modernism are both very important literary genres from our country. There was a lot that happened historically to spark the change to each genre. There are many differences, but also similarities in these two literary genres. A theme relating to the wars of the time is a common characteristic while the actual style in which they are written differ greatly.

Realism was a very different style of literature from its predecessor of Romanticism. For the first time authors were depicting a setting and the story as how it would be in the real world, rather than what they wanted it to be. This was caused by the increase in scientific and rationalist thoughts after the Civil War. The style became less about an artistic style and shifted more to a more simple telling of the story. The middle class hero became the main protagonist for most works of Realism.

Historically there were many events that caused the shift to Modernism. There was the Great Depression, the Roaring Twenties, The Great War, and many other changes in culture. Black culture was also on the rise with new African Amercian artists and musicians surfacing in the popular culture of the nation. This is what is commonly refereed to as the Harlem Renaissance. It was these cultural changes that caused the change to modernist literature from the previous realism.

One major difference in the literary genres is the actual style in which the stories and poems are written in. Oftentimes there is a connection to the characters in a modernist work and the author that wrote it. The writing style is obviously different, because Modernist writers wanted to avoid the simple and rather use very deep words with significant meanings.

One characteristic that the two genres share is the depressing nature of some of the works. This comes from the time period that each genre occurred during. Realism began shortly after the Civil War, and the war was a topic of many works. There was a lot of reflection on what the soldiers went through, and also about the feelings of a country that had been divided. Modernism on the other had began during the Great War. This was a very depressing time, as people had never really seen such a war before. There was a lot of violence and this caused there to be the same depressing theme appear in some works of Modernism. This is not to say that all modernist works were like this because with the great cultural expansion of the country, there were more happy topics to write about.

Both of these genres are similar and different in many ways. What was going on during the time that they started had a drastic impact on the principals of each respective genre. The common factor of a war going on makes some characteristics of the genres very similar, but the writing style still remains very differed from each literary group. These are obviously two of the most important and influential genres in American literature.

Job Shadowing Experience

I did learn a lot from my experience job shadowing at CMT. I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it very much, but still it was a good opportunity. Everyone was talking about basically the same thing over and over again. They might not have known that, but it still got kind of annoying. They were working on a big project of turning a cloverleaf intersection into what is known as a single point intersection. When I saw the plan I thought it was kind of dumb because all of the traffic had to go through one intersection. But hey, what do I know, I'm no engineer, just a concerned motorist. The one really cool thing was that we were able to view pictures of the new Scheel's store. The guy that showed them to us was pretty laid back and seemed to be the coolest of all of the people. We also got to see so pictures and designs of the new waste management center off of Veterans. Lunch was pretty cool because we went to Lime Street Cafe. I have always liked that restaurant so I enjoyed lunch there. It was interesting because the main person we were shadowing said his boss's daughter went to Butler where is where my brother goes. I don't think that I really want to be a civil engineer. I knew this before the shadowing, but still this was kind of a bad day. I'm not saying that I am turned off to engineering as a whole, but there is no way that I ever want to be a civil engineer. The end.

Journal 42 Whitman is my boy.

Once again, Walt Whitman is my boy. I don't even know who would want to read that poetry of Emily Dickinson. I mean really, that girl was crazy. Who's poetry do I want to read... the lady who is reclusive and won't talk to anyone or the guy who's poetry actually has somewhat of a deeper meaning. I either can read about a chick who lost love and felt that society banished her for understanding that there was something wrong with it or about God and his significance in the world. I am not saying that I enjoy being preached to about religion, by no means do I, but I don't mind hearing about it when someone can make the beautiful comparisons that Walt Whitman does. I am not overly religious, but when someone is truly passionate about their beliefs, its not so bad. Also when they can present a new idea about religions that has some philosophical meaning to it, it is even better. The guy came up with a way to say that everyone is God because collectively, humanity is God, so if you break of a part of a whole the part still holds the same characteristics. This means that we are all God. I love when there is a theory like this that can just absolutely blow my mind. Of course no crazy lady that lives by herself could come up with such a brilliant idea such at that. She was too busy being crazy. Although she actually did have some poetic devices and style, the content is more important to me. Overall, Walt Whitman is just a champ and Emily Dickinson is some old crazy lady. If I had to read one of their poetry during the time that they wrote it, I think that the choice is obvious to pick my boy Whitman. Well actually, I'd rather not read poetry at all (or for that matter, read in general), but if I'm going to be reading some, it would be Walt Whitman all day.

I'm nobody! Who are you?" Analysis

“I’m nobody! Who are you?” is one of Emily Dickinson’s most important works from her poetry career. This poem addresses the idea of being accepted in society, or as some critics see it, a coming of age and transformation into the adult world. The speaker is seen as an outcast almost calling out the society that they are in. The aspect of Dickinson’s reclusiveness in her life is shown by this poem with her pointing out the wrongs of a society that everyone is supposed to be a part of. There is also a strong selection of diction used to create the imagery and the tone of the work. This is one characteristic that can be seen in almost all of the works of Emily Dickinson. Although there are many interpretations and many disagreements to the meaning of this poem, it still remains on of Dickinson’s most popular of all time.

The first line of the poem reads “I’m nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody too? (Dickinson)” This is the first testimony that the author is separating themselves from regular society. Rather than claiming to have an identity and individuality, the author says that they are nobody. Then they go on to question whether the reader is also nobody. This leads the reader to believe that there is no true identity for people and the society is simple a created thing. This logic serves as an explanation for the strangeness of Emily Dickinson and her life. There is a strong possibility that this is how she actually felt about the world and in turn this caused her to seclude herself from everyone else because she felt that she was nobody (Leiter). She then says that if there is a pair of people who have made the conclusion that the society is not right, that they must not let it be known because they would be outcast (Dickinson). This is almost a call to the reader to question their society.

Along with the idea of banishment from society, another interpretation is that this is a poem about coming of age and the confusion of adolescents (Leiter). This is reasonable because oftentimes youth feel disconnected from society and struggle to find their place. If they fail to find an acceptable path in life they are banished from society for being different. It all comes down to the way that the reader views the words in the poem.

Diction is a very important part of the woks of Emily Dickinson. This poem is no different with a strong word selection to create the tone that she wanted the reader to experience when she wrote this poem. The simple word selection in the first stanza makes the reader feel as if she is talking directly to them, calling them out to inform them of her realization (Dickinson).

This is one of Dickinson’s most popular poems of all time and for good reason. There are many interpretations, but any way that the reader views the poem it still presents a very strong idea for each interpretation. It is clear that Dickinson’s life had a strong impact on the context of this work, but it caused the poems message to be all the stronger.



Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "I'm nobody! Who are you?" Part One: Life. Bartleby.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

Leiter, Sharon. "'I'm Nobody! Who are you?'." Critical Companion to Emily Dickinson: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCED064&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 22, 2011).

Journal 41 "When I hoped I feared" Analysis

This short work by Emily Dickinson addresses the idea of religion and a fear of God. The main theme of this poem is that without a fear of God, one can not truly have faith and belief in God. It is all about telling people the importance of being God fearing in their lives. The opening lines explain that the writer hoped to God and then had fear of Him, but this caused them to dare. This is a daring to test their faith. There is clear reference to the bible in the serpent trying to charm the writer. This could be referring to either the Garden of Eden or to Jesus being tempted in the desert, or more generally be a symbol for the Devil as a whole. The world choice is very interesting in this poem with many descriptive words. The word charm to describe the what the serpent is doing has a very strong impact on the meaning of the poem. Most often, charm is indicated to be a good thing, but when paired with a serpent it seems almost evil and diabolical. This creates an image of the snake and this is very strong as snakes are very scary for most people. Doom is also strong for the diction of this work. Doom is almost the ultimate way to describe something that is extremely evil in nature and bad all around. The final lie of "Who hath suffered him" goes back to the idea of Jesus in the desert and all of the tests that were given. These tests are what show the strength of our faith, and this is what Dickinson was most likely trying to point out with this poem. There is varied diction to give a powerful tone and imagery to this work, which Dickinson did in all of her works. She also presented an idea about the importance of religion and a fear of God to have a true belief in God.