The Modern Period 1914-1945

By: Alex Clement, Ashley Pluckter, Jennifer Sohl

Harlem Renaissance

• During the 1920’s• Increased awareness of and

pride in African-American Heritage

• Appreciation of African-American artistic talents and literary and musical contributions

• Trace the African-American experience through perseverance to spiritual insight

Modernist Poetry

• Mixes everyday language with elegant phrases and short quotations from earlier poems

• Places contradictory feelings and events side-by-side to evoke the discontentedness of modern life

• Leaves out the explanations and narrative connections that provide unity and clarity in traditional writing

The Lost Generation

• Writers who went to Paris after WWI • Experimented wit rhythm, fractured sentence

structure, and disconnected narrative• Believed America as in a desperate search for

something to believe in after the destruction of war

• Questioned the values of the American Dream • Believed materialism and class divisions

corrupted the American Dream

History

• Stock Market Crash• Crashed in October 1929• Began Great Depression

• The Great Depression • By 1932 ¼ of Americans had lost their jobs.• Later in 1932 President Roosevelt was elected.• Roosevelt created the New Deal• New Deal made great economic changes, which

strengthened the economy.

History

• World Wars 1 and 2World Wars 1 and 2

• World War 1 was one of the bloodiest World War 1 was one of the bloodiest events in history.events in history.

• Treaty of Versailles ended war in 1918.Treaty of Versailles ended war in 1918.

• World War 2 began around 20 years World War 2 began around 20 years after.after.

• Allies defeated Nazi Germany Allies defeated Nazi Germany

• Japan surrendered three months later.Japan surrendered three months later.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)• Born in San Francisco,

California• Father died when he was

eleven• Mother moved the family

Textile City of Lawrence, Massachusetts

• Graduated High School but dropped out of Dartmouth

• He left college and worked as a farmer, mill hand, journalist, and school teacher

• Most Famous poems A Boy’s Will (1913), North of Boston (1914), Birches (1916)

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

• Born in Oak Park, Illinois

• Graduated High School• Tried to join the

military, but couldn’t due to eye defect

• Joined the Red Cross ambulance corps instead

• After he went to Paris to be a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star

• His most famous books were In Our Time (1925), A Farewell to Arms (1929), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952)

• His Books had to do with economy and understanding

Continued…

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)• Born in Salinas, California• He Graduated High School

but dropped out of College (Stanford Univ. )

• Drifted across the country working many jobs such as a fish hatcher, Fruit Picker, Laboratory assistant, surveyor, apprentice painter, and journalist

• With those jobs he got first hand experience of manual labor and the American struggle during that time

• The experience helped him write his books and really capture the essence of his topic

• Three of his most famous novels are Tortilla Flat (1935), Of Mice and Men (1937), and The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

Continued…

Types of Literature

• Short stories• Many authors wrote short stories about what was going

on at the time.• Ex. Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Poetry• Many poets started writing freestyle.• The poetic movement imagism occurred.• Imagism poetry has hard, clear expressions, concrete

images, and the language of everyday speech.• Ex. Poetry by Marianne Moore

Types of Literature

• Novels• They began to write more novels.• Writing distinct themes.• Ex. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

• Plays• People now have more time to sit and watch

plays.

Types of LiteratureTypes of Literature

• EssaysEssays• They’re writing nonfiction, They’re writing nonfiction,

informal essays.informal essays.• Essays were shorter and had Essays were shorter and had

more humor.more humor.• Ex. Ex. Here is New YorkHere is New York by E.B. by E.B.

White.White.

Themes of the Modern Period

• Uncertainty• Disillusionment• Fragmentation• Opposition of dehumanizing trends in modern

life• Dignity of people in spite of great challenges • Search for new sources of hope in the face of

war• Industrialization• Political Changes

Causes for Themes

Uncertainty-Stock Market crashed.-WW1 and WW2

Disillusionment-Great Depression-WW1 and 2

Causes for Themes

• Fragmentation-Doubt stock market-WW1 and 2-Opposition to dehumanizing trends in life-Women got the right to vote-Harlem Renaissance- African American

writers acknowledged

Causes for Themes

• Dignity of people in spite of great challenges

-Stock Market Crash

-The Great Depression

• Search for new sources of hope in the face of war

-A new style created called modernism.

-Modernisms purpose- write about the modern life in both form and content in writing.

Causes for Themes

• Industrialization

-Machine gun invented

-New buildings made

-New downtown sections in cities

-Radio invented

-Jazz was introduced

Causes for ThemeCauses for Theme

•Political changesPolitical changes

-Women could vote-Women could vote

-New Deal was created-New Deal was created

Fashion During the Modern Period

• At the beginning of the 1900’s women wore very modest clothing.• Starting in the 1920’s, women began wearing straight simple lined

clothes and bold colors. • Art Deco.• In the 1940’s the youth began adopting blue jeans as a casual,

comfortable fashion.1910 1920-1930 1940

Inventions from the modern period

• Henry Ford-first car-Model T

• From 1908-1927 more than half the cars sold in the US were from Ford.

• 1927- new design, Model A

The Roaring 20’s

• Around 1920 jazz became popular• Influences- Black American music, African

rhythms, American instruments, folk and classical music of Africa/Asia.

• Unique because of syncopation and improvisation• Can be performed by just one person(“solo”), a

small group(“combo”), or a group of 10 or more(“big band”)

• Consists of brass, reeds, drums, piano, guitar and bass

The “New Jazz”

• Swing becomes popular from the mid-1930’s until the mid-1940’s.

• Has an upbeat, strong rhythmic sound.

• Benny Goodman, a bandleader, was often times called the king of swing

Other popular sounds

• 1930- Boogie Woogie was created

• It was a hit but not as big as swing music

• 1940- Bebop

• Based on harmonic structure instead of melody

Songs

• What a Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong

• Sing, Sing, Sing- Benny Goodman & his Orchestra

• It Don’ t Mean A Thing- Duke Ellington

Works Cited• Sauro, Clare. "Fashion." World Book Online Reference Center. 2008. 20 Aug. 2008

<http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar192280>.

• Page, Larry. "Google Image Search". Google. 22 Aug. 2008 <http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi>.

• Sobel, Robert. "Ford, Henry." World Book Online Reference Center. 2008. 20 Aug. 2008 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar204085>.

• Plante, Michael. "Picasso, Pablo." World Book Online Reference Center. 2008. 20 Aug. 2008 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar428920>.

• Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2004. pg.704-714, 756, 806, 807, 880.

• “100 greatest car nominees.” 4Car. 2008. 22 Aug

<www.channel4.com/.../44-ford-model-t.jpg>