Tradition and Experiment in Modern Poetry
It is difficult to decide exactly as to when the modern age began and the Victorian age ended. In literature there can be no water-tight compartments and no definite lines of demarcation separating the past from the present. However, the year 1890 may be taken to be the turning point, for t\by this date most of the great Victorians were either dead or had practically ceased to create. Much that is traditional and Victorian still persists and will continue to influence 20th century poetry, but the new, revolutionary forces become more and more prominent, and it is clear that the future lies with them. Twentieth century poetry is a curious mixture of the traditional and experimental, of the old and the new. It is complex and many-sided.
Abundance of Output : Fall in Quality
One of the leading characteristics of the poetry of the new era is the abundance of its output. The variety and quantity of modern publications is bewildering, and one is baffled by the variety of names and labels which are used. This abundance of output has naturally resulted in the lowering of quality. Much that is published fails to achieve the highest standards. Moreover, modern poetry is a poetry of revolt against tradition, and as such there is much in it that is experimental, ephemeral, and puerile. That is why Roy Campbell describes modern poetry as, “an epidemic of intellectual and emotional diarrhea”, and A.C. Ward finds it, “eccentric, wayward, puerile and commonplace”. There is, no doubt, the standards of poetic composition have gone down and there is much eccentricity and whimsicality, but there can be no denying the fact that some of the modern poets are outstanding excellence, and the poems produced by them are of permanent and universal significance. It is an age of great poetry, but not of such dominating poets as Tennyson or Browning. The modern temper is too individualistic for such domination. There can be no masters in the modern era. Each writes according to his own mood and temper, producing poems of merit along with much that is worthless. It is an age of anthologies which bring together the select works of several hands for the delight of the readers.
Note of Revolt : Realism
The new poetry is a poetry of revolt, resulting largely from the impact of science. This revolt is to be seen both in the form and content of poetry. Increasingly, the poet turns away from the decadent romantic tradition : a tradition which still persists in Georgian poetry. This revolt is best exemplified in the poetry of T.S. Eliot. The poet sees life in its naked realism, and even the most prosaic and common place subjects are considered suitable. The heavy thud of bus traffic, the creaking of tramcars, the rattling noise of railway trains, the drone of an aeroplane, all these find their echo in modern poetry. The squalor and dinginess of an industrial civilization are reflected everywhere in the works of poets, like T.S. Eliot. After the great war poems appear in an ever increasing number on the destructive means of warfare, the imagery and vocabulary of the modern poet reflect the influence of science and scientific inventions. Realism in subject matter has led the modern poet to reject the highly ornate and artificial poetic style of the romantics in favour of a language which resembles closely the language of everyday life. Modern poetry is characterized by the use of colloquial diction, speech rhythms and prosaic words. This realism in diction and versification and in subject matter is a marked feature of the poetry of T.S. Eliot.
Delight in the Sensuous Beauty of Nature
But this does not mean that the ugliness and murkiness of the machine age have lessened man’s joy in the beauty of nature. For the modern poet nature is a box of toy which delights his heart and which is very dear to him. A deep feeling of love and joy in nature is a prominent characteristic of such poets as W.H. Davies, Walter Es La Mare, Edmund Blunden, etc. But the modern poet does not spiritualise nature, like Wordsworth, nor does he intellectualise her, like Shelly. Rather, he is content to render her through the sense, and his rendering of her remarkable for its realism and precision in detail. However, Eliot does not write of nature or the countryside. His poetry is strictly urban.
The Humanitarian Spirit
Nor does the modern poet love nature alone; he also loves and feels for the lower animals living in the lap of nature. He is moved by their suffering and makes a forceful plea for a more humane treatment of the dumb creation. Indeed, humanitarianism-a deepened sense of pity for the poor and the suffering-is a leading characteristic of modern poetry. The spread of democracy has made the poet more and more conscious of the dignity of man, and he perceives, “in the daily struggle of the poor the same potentialities of a spiritual conflict that the older poets found in those of exalted rank”. Gibson in particular is the champion of the under-dog and the downtrodden. Even such outcasts of society as criminals, suicides, prostitutes, drunkards etc., find a sympathetic treatment. Attention is focused on the in problems and society is held responsible for their degeneracy. Davidson, Masefield, etc., are other poets who take pains to glorify and reveal the heroism of the mean, obscure, and squalid existence of the have-nots. Even the flesh, the body, and the physical is glorified. Thus D.H. Lawrence considers “the flesh as being wiser than the intellect.”
Disillusionment

The new poetry is realistic and the poet’s consciousness of the grim realities of life has shattered all illusions and romantic dreams. The tragedy of everyday life has induced in the poet a mood of disillusionment and so the poetry today is bitter and pessimistic. The pessimism of the modern poet is more poignant and heart-rending, even more than the pessimism of Hardy, because it arises out of the contemplation of the stark realities of life, and there is nothing sentimental about it. Thus Housman considers that the wages of man is ‘dust’, Eliot regards man as ‘hollow’ and ‘stuffed’ and in the Crazy-Jane Poems of W.B. Yeats, “human sorrow becomes an elemental passion, profound, eternal and burning like a flame”. The great war was a nerve shattering experience, man lost faith in accepted values and as a consequence this note of bitterness is even more pronounced after the war. The Waste Land reflects the tragic gloom and despair of the post-war world. However, this does not mean that 20th century poetry is a poetry of despair. As a matter of fact, the modern poet sees life as a whole, wants to face it squarely, and has no wish to escape from it into a world of dreams. He looks at life without the spectacle of romance, and paints it as he finds it in all its ugliness, and in all its misery and headache. Nor has he lost his capacity for laughter. Even the works of the most pessimistic of poets, we find wit, satire, humour, grim jests and jokes. Sometimes, even serious subjects are treated in the poetry of Eliot and others in a tone of levity and flippancy.