British Poetry in the Age of Modernism

An informative and inspiring account of the themes and debates that have shaped British poetry of the last century.

Peter Howarth (Author)

9780521115759, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 July 2009

236 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.35 kg

'British Poetry in the Age of Modernism is, in short, in every respect a valuable study, and it has the additional advantage of having been written with remarkable lucidity.' Robert Schweik, SUNY Fredonia

If Modernist poetry dominated the early twentieth century, what did it mean for British poets like Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas and Wilfred Owen not to be Modernist? This is the first critical account of how non-Modernist poetry responded to the Modernist revolution. Peter Howarth uncovers the origins of the battles over poetic style still being fought today, and connects the early twentieth-century controversy about poetic form with contemporary social and political developments and the trauma of the First World War. Howarth argues that at the heart of the division between modern and traditional poetic form are different ideas of freedom, power and individuality. Scholars and students of twentieth-century poetry will find this an informative and inspiring account of the themes and debates that have shaped British poetry of the last hundred years.

Acknowledgements
Introduction: The poetry wars
1. Inside and outside modernism
2. Edward Thomas in ecstasy
3. Walter de la Mare's ideal reader
4. The simplicity of W. H. Davies
5. Hardy's indifference
6. Going over the top: the passions of Wilfred Owen
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: from c 1900 - [DSBH]