Modernity The Term and Time frame n Modern

Modernity

The Term and Time frame n Modern or Modernity or Modernism used to refer to a particular time and attitude n Late 1800 s to around WWII

The Romantic Mindset—from Whitman’s Song of Myself (1855) I Celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belong to me, as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

The Modern Mindset—from Yeats’ “Second Coming” (1920) Things fall apart, the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

Technological developments that might be considered “Modern” n n n Industrial Revolution Electricity Transportation Modern conveniences Sense of PROGRESS

What happened to change the optimism? Or, what kinds of changes led Yeats to sound so different from Whitman?

World War I

Effects of Industrial Revolutions

Freud’s new understanding of the mind and unconscious Challenge to the concept of our rational selves n Raises a question of how much “control” we have over ourselves n

Developments in Physics Einstein’s Theory of Relativity n Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle n

Modern Christianity n Nietzsche’s “Death of God” n Challenges from science n Fundamentalist response

Developments in the arts Move from representational art a portion of Picasso’s Guernica

Virginia Woolf: “On or about December, 1910, human character changed. ” Key term: Solipsism Edvard Munch, The Scream