Theorists of Modernist Poetry

Modernist poetry heralded a radical new aesthetic of experimentation, individualism and anti-realism. This volume examines T.S. Eliot, T.E. Hulme and Ezra Pound, three of the most influential figures of the modernist movement, and argues that we cannot dissociate their bold, inventive poetic forms from their profoundly engaged theories of social and political reform. Tracing the complex theoretical foundations of modernist poetics, Rebecca Beasley examines: the aesthetic modes and theories that formed a context for modernism the influence of contemporary philosophical movements; modernist views on classicism and the critique of democracy; and, the importance of the Great War in relation to poetry modernism's concept of the 'ideal society'. Examining the thought rather than simply the poetry of Eliot, Hulme and Pound, the volume offers invaluable insight into the modernist movement, as well as demonstrating the deep influence of the three theorists on the shape and values of the discipline of English Literature itself. In this way, "Theorists of Modernist Poetry" is relevant not only to students of modernism, but to all those with an interest in why we study, teach, read and evaluate literature the way we do.