Planes, (subway) trains, automobiles and World War I—A dramatic shift in sensibilities ocurred as a result of these factors of modern life.
Images courtesy of American Memory
Subject Areas
History and Social Studies
U.S. History - World War I
Literature and Language Arts
American
British
Poetry
Time Required
1-2 class periods
Skills
close reading of a text
critical analysis and interpretation
comparison and contrast
using primary sources
“The English novelist Virginia Woolf declared that human nature
underwent a fundamental change "on or about December 1910." The
statement testifies to the modern writer's fervent desire to break with the
past, rejecting literary traditions that seemed outmoded and diction that
seemed too genteel to suit an era of technological breakthroughs and global
violence.”
Modernist poetry often is difficult for students to analyze and understand.
A primary reason students feel a bit disoriented when reading a modernist poem
is that the speaker himself is uncertain about his or her own ontological bearings.
Indeed, the speaker of modernist poems characteristically wrestles with the
fundamental question of “self,” often feeling fragmented and alienated
from the world around him. In other words, a coherent speaker with a clear sense
of himself/herself is hard to find in modernist poetry, often leaving students
confused and “lost.”
Such ontological feelings of fragmentation and alienation, which often led
to a more pessimistic and bleak outlook on life as manifested in representative
modernist poems such as T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock” (1917), were prompted by fundamental and far-reaching historical,
social, cultural, and economic changes in the early 1900s. These changes transformed
the world from one that seemed ordered and stable to one that felt futile and
chaotic.
In this lesson, students will explore the role of the individual in the modern
world by closely reading and analyzing T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song
of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Guiding Questions
What are several key characteristics of literary modernism? What were the
effects of these influential factors?
What are several historical, social, and cultural forces that prompted
the modernist movement?
Learning Objectives
Students will understand the literary context of modernism.
Students will be able to define and understand in context common poetic
devices.
Students will be able to analyze several modernist poems, including T.S.
Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Students will understand the historical, social, and cultural context of
modernism at large.
Preparing to Teach This Lesson
Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other
useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate
copies as necessary for student viewing.
If you wish students to complete the worksheet at home, hand out the Prufrock
Analysis Worksheet for students to complete as they are reading T.S.
Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in preparation
for Lesson Three. Otherwise, make copies for students to complete during
in-class individual or group work.
An effective way for students to think about the modernist subject and corresponding
individual feelings of fragmentation and alienation is to examine avant-garde
paintings from the same period.
Have students read the Introduction to the 1913 Armory Show. While the whole of the article is informative,
if time is short the first introductory paragraphs and the last five paragraphs
are quite important for the purposes of this lesson plan. The final paragraphs
discuss the influence the Amory Show had within the literary community,
with particular attention on William
Carlos Williams and other American modernist poets
Ask students to pay particular attention to Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude
Descending a Staircase.” Ask students the following questions,
writing down their responses on a blackboard/whiteboard:
Can you identify the subject of Duchamp’s painting? Do you
have problems identifying the subject? Why or why not?
What adjectives can be used to describe the subject of the painting?
How are time, space, and movement depicted in this painting?
Pre-Modern
World (e.g., Romantic, Victorian Periods)
Modern World
(early 20th century)
Ordered
Chaos
Meaningful
Futile
Optimistic
Pessimistic
Stable
Unstable
Faith
Loss of
Faith
Morality/Values
Collapse
of Morality/Values
Clear Sense
of Identity
Confused
Sense of Identity and Place in World
2. A Modernist Subject in Love
Before analyzing “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” ask
students to recall Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet
from the Portuguese 43: How Do I Love Thee?” from Lesson
Two. Ask students the following question: “Why is this poem a
love poem?”
Now ask students how they defined the term “modern” in Lesson
One. Ask students, “Is Browning’s sonnet a modern poem?”
Ask students for precise reasons why the poem is not a modern poem. Point
out that the poem was published in 1850.
Point out to students that the poetic term “stanza” also means
a “room” or “habitation.” Before reviewing “The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” with students, mention that they should
spend some time in each “room” to gain their footing before attempting
to analyze the poem at large.
Ask each student to access the Prufrock
Analysis Worksheet they completed while reading “The Love Song
of J. Alfred Prufrock” prior to this class period. Alternatively, pass
out the Prufrock Analysis
Worksheet and ask them to re-read the poem carefully and answer the
questions, either individually or in groups.
Lead a full class discussion on the poem, using the guiding questions on
the worksheet to walk through each stanza/”room” of the poem.
After closely reading the poem as a class, ask students the following wrap-up
questions:
Recall Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude
Descending a Staircase” and the following stanza from “The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”:
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
How are the subject of Duchamp’s painting and Prufrock similar?
Consider the adjectives you used to describe the subject of Duchamp’s
painting. In other words, how is your experience viewing the painting
(and others from the Armory Show) similar to your experience reading “The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). How can you account for these similarities
(e.g., sometimes you may not know exactly what you are viewing/reading)?
Ask students to compare Browning’s love poem to Eliot’s
“love poem.” Now ask students the following questions: Is
“Prufrock” really a love poem? What elements get in the way
of Prufrock’s “love”? Students might suggest any of
the following: his digressions, his fear of socializing, his bitterness
toward the social world, his linguistic impotence, his self-questioning,
his repetition, his social paralysis, his fear of aging, his self-doubt,
his fear of women, and so forth.
Assessment
Assessment options include the following exercises:
Collect each student’s copy of the completed reading analysis worksheet
for “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Ask students to write a typed, one-page personal ad that describes J. Alfred
Prufrock as an individual seeking love. The ad should be rooted in the poem
itself, and you should use descriptive adjectives.
Ask students to write a character sketch of J. Alfred Prufrock. How do they
picture him, and why? How would they describe his relationships with other
people?
Write a typed, three-page paper on the following topic, “Describe
modernist poetry as you understand it, using concrete examples from T.S. Eliot’s
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Extending the Lesson
Continue analyze T.S. Eliot’s poetry by reading “The
Waste-Land.” Resources include the following:
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