Modernism
Modernist poetry refers to poetry written, mainly in Europe and North America, between 1890 and 1950. The Modernist movement was shaped by the scientific, political, and ideological changes that followed the Industrial Revolution; it was also a reaction to the Romantic rejection of Enlightenment thinking. Modernist poets such as H.D.( Hilda Dolittle), T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound moved away from Romantic Period ideas and cliches and became "skeptical on language and its claim on coherence." Many Modernist writers sought to establish a new and edgy form of poetry that would bring about an innovated and enlightened way of thinking. Click the button below to read an inspiring poem by modernist poet Walt Whitman.
Poem Analysis
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/4/9/19495933/484175315.jpg)
Walt Whitman's O Captain! My Captain! is an example of an extended metaphor,Whitman wrote the poem about the death of president Abraham Lincoln. When I was reading O Captain! My Captain! I envisioned a crew returning home from sea, they were welcomed by their families and friends, and everyone was elated. As the commotion settled, everyone was anticipating the captains speech, but he never showed. After a while a crew member went back into the ship to find the captain. When the crew member returned he had tears streaming down his face, the captain was dead. The captain's family, friends, and crew give him a funeral and everyone mourns the death of their beloved captain, but life goes on for everyone except the crew member that found the captain dead. While everyone else remembers the legacy the captain left behind, but the one crew member that found his extraordinary captain dead, will always remember his captain in death. I am certain that there were many citizens that were able to move on after president Lincoln's assassination, but I am sure there were plenty of people that were unable to cope with the death of their beloved president.
Literary Devices
- In Walt Whitman's poem O Captain! My Captain!, one of the literary devices used is alliteration. In line 5 of the poem the repeated consonant sound is the "h" in the word heart. Whitman uses alliteration to change the tone of the poem from joy to grief. In the beginning of the poem the mood is cheery and optimistic, but after the use of alliteration the mood is solemn and grief.
- In line 10 of O Captain! My Captain! Whitman uses the device consonance. This is an example of consonance because of the ending "g" sound in the words flag and flung. The use of consonance in this line was to describe the honor and respect that this captain deserved in life and death.