MODERN ERA

AND

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Alexi Anderson, Kaylin Kozesky, Jason Poruznik, Bekah Schultz

TWENTIETH CENTURY/ AKA

MODERN ERA

•

AUTHORS’ INFORMATION

Siegfried SassonBackground:

•Born into a high level English society class• Lived the life of a country gentleman until WWI started• He was a patriot and an idealist but after 2yrs his view were stark and savage depicting trench warfare.•Diagnosed with shellshock and was put in a hospital where he met Wilfred Owen

Works:- Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928)- The Rear-Guard (1917)

(1886-1967)

Wilfred Owen

(1893-1918)

Background:

• Was interested in experimental techniques and mastered the half rhyme•His model was John Keats and he studied the French poets•His poetry progress was made in the war trenches and military hospitals

Work:• Dulce et Decorum Est

Graham GreeneBackground:

• Wrote serious idealistic novels dealing with moral dilemmas and his light entertainments and thrillers•His intention was to always tell the truth•His Catholic faith later in life was an important factor to his writing

Works:-The Man Within (1929) - his first novel -Stamboul Train (1932)-Brighton Rock (1938)-The Power and the Glory (1940)-The Destroyers

(1904-1991)

Ted Hughes(1930-1998)

Background:

•Used violent nature imagery to symbolize the human condition• Was married to Sylvia Plath•Was accused of being responsible for her death•To him, nature represented the darkest impulses of the human heart

Work:-Hawk Roosting

James JoyceBackground:

• Ulysses was originally thought too scandalous to be printed•Influenced modern writers by portraying the flow of thought•Used stream of consciousness- attempt to portray the thinking mind directly

Works:- Ulysses (1922)- Araby

(1882-1941)

D.H. LawrenceBackground:

• Began publishing poems when he was a teacher• Traveled to Italy and while there he began to see industrialized England as corrosive and oppressive•Believed in “blood knowledge”- balancing one’s animal sense with one’s intellect

Works:-The Rocking-Horse Winner

(1885-1930)

Dylan ThomasBackground:

• Wrote most of his most famous works before he was 20• As a child he was continually torn between a wish to live up to the expectations of his father and the impulse to please his mother• His poems are a mix of intricate complication and preacher-like eloquence

Works:- “Fern Hill”- “In my craft or sullen art”-“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

(1914-1953)

Aldous HuxleyBackground:

• • • •

Works:- Brave New World (1931)

(1894-1963)

LITERATURE STUDIED

“The Rear-Guard”-Siegfried Sassoon

Summary:

• This poem tells or the horrors of a man stumbling through trenches during WWI. He findshimself upon the corpse of a soldier.

“The Rear-Guard”-Siegfried Sassoon

Literary Terms:

Trench Poet- Poets who wrote “war poetry” but hoped their work would survive and continue to serve as a warning.

(EX: Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen)

Oxymoron- a figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory ideas.

“The Rear-Guard”-Siegfried Sassoon

Analysis:

•Imagery: helps the audience see the action and feel the emotions better in the poem.

• Irony: Tell the dead soldier to guide him through the tunnel

•Oxymoron: rosy gloom

Summary:

• This poem is about the consequences that happen to a soldier who does not get his mask on promptly.

“Dulce et Decorum”-Wilfred Owen

Literary Terms:

Hyperbole – a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion or create a comic effect.

Simile- A figure of speech that makes a comparison betweenbetween two seeminglyunlike things by using a connective world such aslike, as, than, or resembles.

Tone- The attitude a writer takes toward a reader, a subject,

or a character.

“Dulce et Decorum”-Wilfred Owen

Analysis:• Oxymoron:

- Ecstasy of fumbling- Desperate glory

•Simile: -flound’ring like a man in fire or lime-obscene as cancer-bitter as the end of vile

•Tone:-disgusted

•Hyperbole:- “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling fro the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-” (lns20-24).

“Dulce et Decorum”-Wilfred Owen

Summary:

• This story is about a gang of young boys who are led by a new leader named T. Their old leader, Blackie suggests they sneak free bus rides, but T. wants to destroy Mr. Thomas' house. The only house that survived the bombing from World War II.

“The Destructors”-Graham Greene

“The Destructors”-Graham Greene

Literary Terms:

Irony– a contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality- • between what is said and what is really meant • between what is expected and what really happens • between what appears to be true and what really is true

Analysis:

•Irony: -The house that didn’t get destroyed by bombs got

destroyed by children-T.'s father is an architect and T. ends up destroying a

house -T. is supposed to lead to build, but leads to

destroy -The horoscope warned Mr. Thomas, "Danger of serious crash" and his house ends up being destroyed •Theme: -War destroys innocence.

“The Destructors”-Graham Greene

Summary:

• This poem is about a hawk seeking after its prey and its' thoughts during the process

“Hawk Roosting”-Ted Hughes

Literary Terms:

Personification- giving a creature or object characteristics akin to human consciousness, desire, and will.

“Hawk Roosting”-Ted Hughes

Analysis:• Personification:

The hawk is introspective and reflective. The hawk knows what is his and no one can deny him his right to his prey.

“Hawk Roosting”-Ted Hughes

Summary:

• This poem is about Sylvia Plath reciting Chaucer in a field.

“Chaucer”-Ted Hughes

Literary Terms:

• Imagery- language that appeals to the sense

“Chaucer”-Ted Hughes

Analysis:

• Imagery: -spring sky, flying laundry, new emerald of the thorns

“Chaucer”-Ted Hughes

Summary:

• A boy falls in love with a young neighbor girl. Eventually he speaks to her and finds out she is unable to attend the Araby she wanted to go to. He promises to go to the carnival and get her a gift. Unfortunately he is unable to obtain her a gift and has a treacherous realization.

“Araby”-James Joyce

Literary Terms:

Epiphany- a moment of sudden insight or revelation experienced by a character

“Araby”-James Joyce

Analysis:

•Irony: -He went on a quest to get her a gift anddoesn't get it - His love for the girl is overblown and in the end he getsnothing in return

•Epiphany:-He realizes his "love" was for nothing “I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity: and my eyes burnedwith anguish and anger” (Probst ,990).

“Araby”-James Joyce

Summary:

•A young English woman marries a man with no "luck". She is constantly haunted by her failures and her children notice it. Paul, her son wants to help his mother obtain luck. His childhood rocking horse gives Paul knowledge of horses that will win the Derby. In the end, Paul tries to obtain luck and dies in the process.

“The Rocking-Horse Winner” -D.H. Lawrence

Literary Terms:

Theme – the central idea or insight of a work of literature

“The Rocking-Horse Winner” -D.H. Lawrence

Literary Terms:

•Theme: - Materialism leads to the exclusion of more important things such as love.

“The Rocking-Horse Winner” -D.H. Lawrence

Summary:• This poem is a memory of Dylan Thomas' childhood and his enchanted life in the Welsh countryside.

“Fern Hill” -Dylan Thomas

Literary Terms:Paradox- An apparent contradiction that is actually true.

Lyric Poetry- Poetry that focuses on expressing emotions or thoughts, rather than on telling a story.

“Fern Hill” -Dylan Thomas

Analysis:•Personification:

- Time is personified when it lets him hail and climb and play and be

•Paradox:- He's saying that the lovers are his audience and who he writes poetry

for but, they don't directly support him. •Imagery: -wanderer white with the dew - spellbound horses walking warm out of the whinnying green stable •Lyric poem:

- Focuses on his thoughts and emotions about his memories of his childhood.

“Fern Hill” -Dylan Thomas

Summary:

“In My Craft or Sullen Art” -Dylan Thomas

Literary Terms:

Theme-

“In My Craft or Sullen Art” -Dylan Thomas

Analysis:

•Theme: -

“In My Craft or Sullen Art” -Dylan Thomas

Summary:

• This poem is an elegy telling a dying man not to surrender to death, but to challenge it.

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” -Dylan Thomas

Literary Terms:

Elegy- a poem that mourns death of a person or laments something lost.

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” -Dylan Thomas

Analysis:

•Metaphors: - good night being compared to death - light compared to life

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” -Dylan Thomas

Summary (Part 1):• Brave New World begins in the year 2495 in the central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre where the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, Thomas, is explaining the decanting process and how people are produced in their society. The society creates these children and then conditions them to seek out sex and entertainment, but not to like nature or read books. Children are also taught to stay within their caste system. The caste system (in descending order) consists of the Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. This society also worships their god, Ford and is controlled emotionally by the drug named Soma.

Brave New World-Aldous Huxley

Summary (Part 2):• As the plot moves on, it focuses on the flaws of the “utopian” society. Bernard Marx is scrutinized for being shorter than the average alpha which begins his questioning about the society. While his friend, Helmholtz Watson feels he should show emotion in his writing which is considered blasphemy in the new society. Also, Lenina is participating in a monogamous relationship. When Lenina and Bernard go on a date they both talk about how they would like to go to the reservation and see the savages. When they do go there they realize a boy named John is the son of the D.H.C. John is taken to the New Society and taught their ways. The story continues with his struggle to figure out where he fits in; in the Reservation or the New Society. In the end, the burdens are too much and he ends his life.

Brave New World-Aldous Huxley

Analysis:• Utopian society and Dystopian society•The novel is a satirical novel. Showing how horrible a future could be with complete government control.• Advancement of technology can lead to the destruction of a society.•Henry Ford- Allusion

Symbols:• Soma- government’s control over emotions•Malthusian belt- Promiscuity and consumerism •John’s Death- compass; cant find direction in life, doesn’t belong anywhere

Heroes:• Bernard Marx- anti-hero•John the Savage- Epic hero

Brave New World-Aldous Huxley

ELEMENTS OF A MODERNSHORT STORY

Edgar Allan Poe created the most influential theoretical foundations for the

short story.

-read in one sitting= more effective and unified-people in extreme states both physically or emotionally

ELEMENTS OF A MODERNSHORT STORY

Literary Terms (1):

Closure- the feeling that one has reached a satisfactory conclusion

Trick ending- surprising twist ending

Realism- a literary movement that developed in the latter part of the 19th century; portrayed life as it really was and not what

they wished or feared it to be

A realist painting- depicting apples as they are not as they wished or feared

ELEMENTS OF A MODERNSHORT STORY

Literary Terms (2):

Slice of life- snapshots of a variety of places and social class

Psychological realism- character’s perceptions and motivations in a story

Dramatic irony- readers knowing more than the character in a story

ELEMENTS OF A MODERNSHORT STORY

3 Concepts:1. It is more likely to concerned with nuances of character than with

construction of fast paced plot

2. It is more apt to imply important facts and psychological truths than to state directly

3. It is more to apt to move toward a revelation of truth than to an effect

• Probst, Robert E., Robert Anderson, and John Leggett. Elements of Literature. Literature of Britain with World Classics. Sixth Course ed. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2000. Print.

WORKS CITED