ISSN 1923-1555[Print]
ISSN 1923-1563[Online]
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Studies in Literature and Language
Vol. 13, No. 6, 2016, pp. 1-5
DOI:10.3968/9093
1
Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture
Modernism in the Eyes of T. S. Eliot: Break From Traditional Writings With
Literary Forms and Movements
Muhammad Ehsan
[a],*
; Muhammad Zohaib Khalil
[b]
; Muhammad Ahsin Ayub
[c]
; Muhammad
Mohsin Ayub
[c]
; Bilal Atta
[c]
; AsifIqbal Gill
[d]
[a]
PhM Scholar, Department of English Language and Literature, The
University of Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
[b]
M. Phill Student, The University of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
[c]
Department of Entomology University of Agriculture Faisalabad-
Pakistan.
[d]
Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences University of Agriculture
Faisalabad-Pakistan.
*
Corresponding author.
Received 9 September 2016; accepted 12 November 2016
Published online 26 December 2016
Abstract
This paper owes to uncover the modern aspects in the
writings of T. S. Eliot. Modernism, a movement which
erupts from philosophy and has a “self-conscious” break
from traditional writings and worked with literary forms
and movements. As a modernist he portrays about the
standard of love, money minded people and self centered
people. The research is entirely based on T. S. Eliot’s
poetry and generalizing its work entirely which required
depth study of his work and citation of the critic who
entitled T. S. Eliot as a “modernist-poet”. This study is
retro-spective which requires depth study in order to relate
by the previous work done on generalizing T. S. Eliot as a
modernist poet.
Key words: Modernism; T. S. Eliot, Societal change;
Modernist theory
Ehsan, M., Khalil, M. Z., Ayub, M. A., Ayub, M. M., Atta, B.,
& Gill, A. (2016). Modernism in the Eyes of T. S. Eliot: Break
From Traditional Writings With Literary Forms and Movements.
Studies in Literature and Language, 13 (6), 1-5. Available
from: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/9093
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/9093
INTRODUCTION
This piece of work is based upon the concept of
modernism or modernist theory. The scope of this work
is to show the modernist viewpoint, so T. S. Eliot has a
massive and dominating person of that time. He is also
known as pioneer of modernist poetry. We know that
modernism is a philosophical movement that started in
the late 19 century, and this theory changed the life of
the people. Through this movement people changes their
habits as well as the standard of life also. Intellectual
life was rapidly changing at that time so Eliot shows
how modernism effects the people of 20
th
century. This
research also shows how life of modernist is changed and
what are the qualities and characteristics have modernist.
Through his writings we highlight the real face of modern
man and modern existence. The study wants to show
that modern man does not have any kind of hope even
they do not believe in the religious concept. The society
is pervaded by a sense of alienation and breaks down in
communication.
Modernism is also known as “the lost generation”, in
1920s American writer brought modernism in the United
States. British contemporaries and American’s Modernists
excluded the forms and traditional values (Fitzgerald,
1940). The modernist movement totally converted the late
nineteenth and early twentieth-century, and its effects are
still touched in today.
“Modernism is a style or a movement in the
literature or art that’s aim to detract from the traditional
or classical values and come across with the new latest
social values on a wide scale (Peter child, Modernism,
second edition )”. The age of modernism is the era
that began with illumination (1687 to 1798). In the
era of modernity Political leaders also supported the
reasons in social changes, they believe with reason and
equal social order. Such beliefs nourished the French
and American democratic upheaval. Some major
events and movements of modernity are urbanization,
capitalism, democracy, industrialization, and science.
The supporting flags of modernity are individual and
freedom (Terry, 1997).