How Did Ww1 Influenced Modernism

Influence of WWI on the Development of Modernism in Literature and Art World War I had a major influence on the development of Modernism in literature and art by great artists depicting catastrophe into beautiful art form.

Johnson wrote: From the fiction of Hemingway, Virginia Woolf and John Dos Passos to the savagely critical paintings and etchings of George Grosz and Otto Dix, World War I reshaped the notion of what art is, just as it forever altered the perception of what war is. Although World War II racked up more catastrophic losses in blood and treasure, World War I remains the paradigmatic conflict of the modern age, not only politically but also culturally (1) The influence of World War I was also seen in Eliot’s work. According to Johnson, “…artists clung to the shards of classical culture as a buffer against nihilistic disillusionment. "These fragments I have shored against my ruins," T.S. Eliot wrote in "The Waste Land" (1922)” (1). Eliot’s writing in “The Waste Land” depicts scenes of war and also ties into the destruction of western culture.

Throughout my searches, I found his work is viewed as arguably the greatest work of all modernist literature ever written. Rahn says, “Literary critics often single out The Waste Land as the definitive sample of Modernist literature” (1). Further reading describes Modernism as changing the way artists viewed the old way of thinking. My thoughts are solidified by the following line, “In contrast to the Romantic world view, the Modernist cares rather little for Nature, Being, or the overarching structures of history. Instead of progress and growth, the Modernist intelligentsia sees decay and a growing alienation of the individual” (Rahn 1). Rahn’s point of view proves true when comparing his opinion to our forum