This is a very full and somewhat complex week for us in English 2850. This week, we have two very different readings scheduled: Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, “Punishment” and T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” During our in-person class on Wednesday, Nov. 9th, we will divide our time between those two texts, so please be sure you’ve read both before class.
Part of the week’s complexity comes from the fact that with “Punishment”, we are completing our study of Literary Realism, and with “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, we are beginning our investigation of Modernism. You can find “Punishment” in volume “E” of your anthology and “Prufrock” in volume “F”.
In addition to reading both texts, your assignments for the week are as follows:
- Read Tagore’s “Punishment” and respond to one of the questions I’ve shared about the story in a separate post.
- To prepare for our conversation on Wednesday and for our investigation of Modernism, please watch a short video I recorded during the pandemic. Hopefully, this will give you a fuller picture of what is going on in intellectual history in the early 20th century and how that might affect the kind of artistic work being created.
You can watch the video using this LINK as well as the Passcode: ?Ste%H1r
Once you have watched the video, please make a comment on this post, sharing one observation that made an impression on you from the lecture or one thought that you have in response to it. Please share your comments by Wednesday, November 9th.
- Read Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and come to class ready to discuss the poem. Identify one line that you would like us to discuss – either because you think it’s important, you didn’t understand it, or because you simply liked it. Expect that you will be called upon to share your selection in class.
What are other forms of our sub consciousness?
With how many events or discoveries occurring during this time period, people’s sense of reality has drastically shifted. It would be logical if the literature of this time would be just as incoherent as people’s sense of understanding in the world and themselves.
During the beginning of the 20th century, people were losing their faith in humanity because of the catastrophes that occurred. Additionally, because of the Great War young people developed a cynical mood. That’s why there was shift to more realistic stories.
I find very interesting the way that literature has evolved to reflect changing ideas over the years. As mentioned within the video, the loss of faith during this time of modernism is very reflective in literature, specifically in the lack of faith in marriage and family structures.
In the 20th century a lot of events occurred that has shaped our world today two of them which were the industrialization (moving to the cities) and ww1. During this time I feel everyone had to adapt to the new events at a fast rate and a war which mostly had young people.
It was interesting to hear that dreams are the only time where our unconscious interacts with our conscious self. In addition I always never understood the difference between conscious and subconscious but now I get a better understanding.
World war I was called the great war or the great patriotic war. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the introduction of assembly line manufacturing, and at the same, the industrial revolution started. In 1905, Einstein published his theory of relativity.
The assembly line reminds me of Bartleby in many ways, because of how repetitive the tasks are when you are only assigned one part of making the entire shoe. You also mention how it was different from being a shoemaker, where the shoemaker can say he made the shoe and can be proud about it. But the worker at the assembly line can’t because they only contributed to part of the shoe. And just like in Bartleby it makes the work seem meaningless.
I found it interesting how during the 20th century, Einstein and Freud presented scientific theories that gave people two different perspectives. Einstein focused more on the physics of the planets and time, making people think about the world around them. Freud presented a theory about our psychology, giving people a different view of self. Especially with these two theories being published close together, it was probably a lot to take in altogether and may have made people reassess their reality.
I found it interesting that during this time period of Modernism when the Industrial Revolution is going on, the creation of the Soviet Union was happening in 1917. Not everyone was moving to a capitalist society.
One thing that stuck with me during listening to this video was the word, “cynical” it was more of a new word to me and it also stuck because of how it was used. The kids were drafted into the war and then a majority of them not returning and those who did not really listen to their parents when they come back. This just sat uneasily with me because if you just came back from war thankfully surviving who else do you have to listen to but your parents, the ones that raised you? Who can you come back home you are even luckier to have your family there? Why be suspicious of it and not just enjoy the time you have left?
I found really interesting how fast things were happening after you finished talking about world war one and you mentioned Einstein and Freud for some reason I thought that this has happened already or that it was still a long ways away.
I found it very cruel but interesting to know that these young kids were manipulated into thinking that they were being drafted into something that was “good” but meanwhile what the good really was, was a World War and was also patriotism.
What I found interesting was how it was young people being drafted into World War I and being told that participating in this war was something good on their behalf. I feel like this is ironic since it’s much easier to manipulate kids compared to adults. Giving the impression that they’re doing something beneficial it will make them forget all the danger, whereas adults that’s the first thing that will cross their minds. They will be hesitant regardless of fighting giving them a good image or reputation.
There was a revolution in values especially within the younger people who had questioned their patriotism and the values they were taught because of the atrocities of war.
One observation I made is that Einstein’s theory of relativity was published during this period and the idea behind this theory is that time and space are relative and not fixed.
It was really interesting to me how much the events of the early 20th century affected the younger generation. To have so much change and historical events happen right before your eyes must be so impactful in a way that, unless you went through it, you’ll never understand it.
The idea that they made young people think that going into the war to fight in, was something good that they should feel proud of, but in real life this war was taking all the young people opportunity to live a regular life.