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Postmodernism criticism in literature
Postmodernism criticism in literature
The analysis of mirror by Sylvia Plath
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In the era after World War II, literature enters a new age - postmodernism. The new movement challenged the previous views of modernism (hence the name “post-modernism”) and often presented the raw and absurd side of reality. Postmodern literature does not seek for meaning in life, but rather mocks the truth. Two representative pieces of poetry, “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath and “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell, display the three representative qualities of postmodern literature: symbolism, irony, and paranoia. In “Mirror,” the narrator is the animated mirror, who tells the story of how the woman looks into it everyday with fears of aging. In Jarrell’s poem, the narrator is a World War II ball turret gunner, who describes his own …show more content…
Irony is the most obvious and most absurd element in postmodernism. In “Mirror,” the woman’s action is portrayed as ironic. The woman “bends over” the mirror, “searching for what she really is.” The mirror “reflect[s] it faithfully”, yet the woman burst into “tears and an agitation of hands.” The woman is disappointed by the fact that she is no longer young, and is depressed by that every single time she looks into the mirror. Ironically, she returns to the mirror everyday, and it is “her face that replaces the darkness” every morning. The irony is presented with a light and playful tone, yet it leads readers to think about their personal experiences, because everyone looks at themselves in the mirror and judge themselves without even realising it. The subtle irony in the poem points out the seemingly normal occurrence in life and hints the readers of the raw truth that humans often
Poetry has been used for centuries as a means to explore emotions and complex ideas through language, though individuals express similar ideas in wholly different forms. One such idea that has been explored through poetry in numerous ways is that of war and the associated loss, grief, and suffering. Two noted Australian poets shown to have accomplished this are Kenneth Slessor with his work ‘Beach Burial’ and John Schumann’s ‘I Was Only Nineteen’. Both of these works examine the complexities of conflict, but with somewhat different attitudes.
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner is a poem about many different subjects. In just it’s short five lines one can see that it has depth far beyond the actual length of the poem. The author Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee on May 6, 1914. He went on to teach at the University of Texas just before joining the US Air Force. Jarrell did write some before he joined to military but his most popular works (including this poem) were written after his service in the Air Force and his work was heavily influenced by it.
When reading the short stories A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger, and How to Tell A True War Story by Tim O’Brien, one is at first taken with their very unique styles of writing. Although each author’s style differs due to being from distinct eras within literature, the modern and postmodern respectively; we see a commonality that ties them together in that each describes situations that arise from traumatic experiences through conflict. As both stories feature protagonists who have encountered conflict as seen through war, we can perceive insights into its effects upon the mental state of these characters.
Postmodern authors were not the first to use irony and humour in their writing, however for some authors this became their style of writing. Postmodern irony is mocked and not taken seriously, and the song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag” is an example of postmodern irony. Making fun of and being cold towards a serious subject are postmodernism characteristics. The song makes fun of the possible humankind total nuclear destruction by saying “Just hope and pray that they drop the bomb/ they drop it on the Viet Cong” (McDonald, verses 19-20). However, the poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” has imagism in it in comparison to the postmodernist song. Imagism was a movement in early 20th century Anglo-American poetry that favoured precision of imagery with a clear and sharp language. The poem itself has a series of images starting with the line, “a red wheel/ barrow” (Williams, lines 3-4). The author adds details for the reader to visualize the image in their mind. Without the colour red added to the text the reader wouldn’t have an accurate image of the poem. With the author adding specific details to the poem the reader is able to make conclusions and add meaning to the story. Imagery and irony are two of the different characteristics of modernism and
The setting of the poem is a day at the ocean with the family that goes terribly awry. This could be considered an example of irony, in that one would normally view a day at the beach as a happy and carefree time. In “Feared Drowned,” Olds paints a very different scenario, using dark imagery to create the setting: “…suit black as seaweed / Rocks sticks out near shore like heads.” The poem illuminates moments of intense fear, anxiety and the element of a foreseen sense of doom. Written as a direct, free-style verse using the first-person narrative, the poem opens with the narrator suspecting that her husband may have drowned. When Olds writes in her opening line: “Suddenly nobody knows where you are,” this signals to the reader that we are with the narrator as she makes this fearful discovery.
The two classic war novels ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ by Erich Maria Remarque and ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller both provide a graphic insight into the life of soldiers serving their country in the historic world wars. One distinct theme of interest found in both books, is the way in which war has physically and mentally re-shaped the characters. Remarque creates the character Paul Baümer, a young soldier who exposes anxiety and PTSD (commonly known as Shellshock) through his accounts of WW1’s German army. ‘Catch 22’ however, is written in the third person and omnisciently explores insanity and bureaucracy in an American Bombardier Squadron through its utter lack of logic. The two novels use their structure, characters, symbolism and setting to make a spectacle of the way war re-shapes the soldiers.
This new movement expressed the feelings of people after war, when it showed “... Mixing and blending of cultures, ... a plurality or parallelism of intellectual and spiritual worlds … all consistent value systems collapse...” (Postmodernism). Struggles during post-war period, ideas about nuclear war and achieving stability and order had a tremendous effect on authors and their subject matter. Postmodern literature described author’s position in a society and other personal views. Kurt Vonnegut’s works displayed ideas about future and critiques of moral
One of Emily Dickinson’s greatest skills is taking the familiar and making it unfamiliar. In this sense, she reshapes how her readers view her subjects and the meaning that they have in the world. She also has the ability to assign a word to abstractness, making her poems seemingly vague and unclear on the surface. Her poems are so carefully crafted that each word can be dissected and the reader is able to uncover intense meanings and images. Often focusing on more gothic themes, Dickinson shows an appreciation for the natural world in a handful of poems. Although Dickinson’s poem #1489 seems disoriented, it produces a parallelism of experience between the speaker and the audience that encompasses the abstractness and unexpectedness of an event.
‘Poetry can challenge the reader to think about the world in new ways.’ It provokes the readers to consider events, issues and people with revised understanding and perspectives. The poems Dulce Et Decorum Est (Wilfred Owen, 1917) and Suicide in the Trenches (Siegfried Sassoon, 1917), were composed during World War One and represented the poets’ point of views in regards to the glorification of war and encouraged readers to challenge their perspectives and reflect upon the real consequences behind the fabrications of the glory and pride of fighting for one’s nation.
Mirrors are first introduced in part one of the novel where Clarisse is describes as a mirror by Montag. Also presented by Granger towards the end of the novel, the mirror is a symbol of the lacking self-reflection but also it cure. Mirrors reflect a perfect image of a person back at them – an image that is neither tarnished nor beautified. Mirror here are a symbol of seeing within one’s soul in pursuit of rebirth, and are a tool to be used in the search what has gone terribly wrong in such an empty society. In a society that lives without living, thinking or feeling like Montag’s looking into a mirror ma spark a thought, and a thought may spark that internal rebellion. Furthermore, metaphorical mirrors are of equal significance when understanding this symbol. Clarisse is Montag’s inner mirror; she reflects the personality and life of Montag back at him, allowing him to learn and question what he sees. Montag is also Faber’s mirror – he reflects Faber’s recent emptiness and his cowardice at not attempting release society from its suffering. Mirrors are a great symbol of self-actualization that leads to rebirth in the novel Fahrenheit
In the 1950s, authors tended to follow common themes, these themes were summed up in an art called postmodernism. Postmodernism took place after the Cold War, themes changed drastically, and boundaries were broken down. Postmodern authors defined themselves by “avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations” (Postmodernism). Postmodernism tends to play with the mind, and give a new meaning to things, “Postmodern art often makes it a point of demonstrating in an obvious way the instability of meaning (Clayton)”. What makes postmodernism most unique is its unpredictable nature and “think o...
The poem, “After Great Pain”, by Emily Dickinson, is one that conveys an inner struggle of emotion and the process that a person goes through after experiencing suffering or pain. Through this poem, Dickinson utilizes physical reactions to allude to the emotional pain that can make people feel numb and empty. Included in this poem is an array of literary devices, such as oxymorons, similes, and personification. These devices help show how death and grief can be confronted, whether it be by giving into the pain or by regaining emotional strength, letting go, and moving on with life. As we work on the project, we discuss multiple aspects of the poem and how the structure and diction alludes the meaning of the poem.
The author applies sight and personification to accentuate the mirror’s roles. The declaimer of the poem says “I am silver and exact [and] whatever I see I swallow” (1, 20). The purpose of these devices is to convey the position of the mirror in the poem. As an inanimate object, the mirror is incapable of consuming anything but the appearances of entities. Furthermore, the glass’ role accentuates an inner mirror, the human mirror which does not forget instances of misery and contentment. According to Freedman, the mimicking image emulated by the mirror elicits “… a look for oneself inside” as observed from the life of the elderly woman in the sonnet (153). Moreover, as the woman looks into the lake, she commemorates her appealing and attractive and pleasant figure as a young girl. As time passes, the inevitability of old age knocks on the door of the woman, readily waiting to change the sterling rapturous lady perceived by many. One’s appearance can change; it is up to an individual to embrace it or reject it.
The post World War II period had an enormous impact on American society and literature. Many important events occurred and affected directly the movement of American literature. During this period, American Literature reflected the movement of disillusionment, and portrayed the lost generation. Many WWII writers adapted new approaches and philosophies in writing their novels. They portrayed the lost generation, an anti-war perspective and explored the true meaning of “war hero”.