Modernism

1915 - 1946

The reader and the reader’s response to a text is the focus of this time period. Writers began to experiment with form and structure in order to evoke a particular response from readers.

Featured author for this period...

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

CBS Sunday Morning: "Remembering Ernest Hemingway"

Even more to explore...

Sherwood Anderson


W.H. Auden

    • W.H. Auden- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of his works
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "The Unknown Citizen" -p. 777


e. e. cummings

    • e.e. cummings- a page from the Academy of American Poets with biographical information and e-texts.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "old age sticks" -p. 774
        • Poem: "anyone lived in a pretty how town" -p. 775

H.D.

    • H.D. - from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of her works.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "Pear Tree" -p. 735
        • Poem: "Heat" -p. 736


T.S. Eliot

    • Modern American Poetry: T.S. Eliot - from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism
    • T.S. Eliot- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of his works
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" -p. 716


William Faulkner

    • William Faulkner, Biography- from the Nobel Foundation
    • Mississippi Writers Page: William Faulkner -from the English Department of the University of Mississippi, an extensive biography and more.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Short Story: "A Rose for Emily" -p.862
        • Speech: Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech -p. 875


F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby


Robert Frost

    • Robert Frost- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of his works
    • Modern American Poetry: Robert Frost - from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism
    • Perspectives in American Literature: Robert Frost- a great research source from California State University.
    • Robert Frost Farm: Derry, NH - Never been there? Here's a virtual look at what's just 20 minutes away from LHS.
    • Robert Frost: Online Resources - comprehensive, multi-media resources from the Library of Congress.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "Birches" -p. 882
        • Poem: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" -p. 885
        • Poem: "Mending Wall" -p. 886
        • Poem: "Out, Out" -p. 888
        • Poem: "The Gift Outright" -p. 890
        • Poem: "Acquainted with the Night" -p. 892


Archibald MacLeish

    • Archibald MacLeish- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of his works.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "Ars Poetica" -p. 796

Edgar Lee Masters

    • Modern American Poetry: Edgar Lee Masters - from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources
        • Poem: "Lucinda Matlock" -p. 663
        • Poem: "Richard Bone" -p. 664

Marianne Moore

    • Marianne Moore- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of her works.
    • Modern American Poetry: Marianne Moore- from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources
        • Poem: "Poetry" -p. 798

Ogden Nash

Ogden Nash Online - selected works and lots of links.


Katherine Anne Porter

Edwin Arlington Robinson

    • Modern American Poetry: Edward Arlington Robinson - from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "Luke Havergal" -p. 660
        • Poem: "Richard Cory" -p. 662

Wallace Stevens

    • Wallace Stevens- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of his works.
    • Modern American Poetry: Wallace Stevens - from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "Of Modern Poetry" -p. 794
        • Poem: "Anecdote of the Jar" -p. 795


John Steinbeck


James Thurber

Eudora Welty

    • The Eudora Welty Foundation
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Short Story: "A Worn Path" -p. 820


William Carlos Williams

    • William Carlos Williams- from the Academy of American poets, biographical information and links to some of his works.
    • Modern American Poetry: William Carlos Williams- from the Department of English at the University of Illinois, this site offers biographical information as well as links to selected works and analysis/criticism.
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Poem: "The Red Wheelbarrow" -p. 733
        • Poem: "The Great Figure" -p. 733
        • Poem: "This is Just to Say" -p. 734


Thomas Wolfe

    • Thomas Wolfe Memorial
    • Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
        • Short Story: "The Far and the Near" -p. 784

E.B. White

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Overall "Text to World" & "Text to Text" Connections for this Literary Period

    • American Memory Timeline - from the Learning Page at The Library of Congress, this link will help you connect American history to American literature.



Works Cited

“1920s-Mid-1930s Harlem Renaissance.” American Masters: The American Novel. 2007. Public Broadcasting Network. 20 June 2007 <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/ timeline/ harlemrenaissance.html >.

The American Experience. New Jersey. Prentice Hall Literature, 1991.