Modernism

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

• A Farewell to Arms
• In Our Time
• The Old Man and the Sea
• The Sun Also Rises
• The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park - a "Hemingway Around the Web" site with valuable links for research.
• Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure - a neat site from PBS, this resource will help you draw connections between the author's work and his life.
• "The Dangerous Spring: Ernest Hemingway's Spring"- an interesting article from the Washington Post.
• Nobel e-Museum: Ernest Hemingway - visit the official website of the Nobel Foundation and read Hemingway's biography, his Nobel prize acceptance speech and more.
• Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
  • Short Story: "In Another Country" -p. 809
• Additional Resources:
  • Short Story: "Hills Like White Elephants" (handout)

Even more to explore...

Sherwood Anderson

• Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life- links to the full e-text from Bartleby.com
• Perspectives in American Literature: Sherwood Anderson- a great research source from California State University
• Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
  • Short Story: "The Corn Planting" -p. 815
• Additional Resources:
  • Short Story: "The Egg" (handout)

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

• American Masters: Katherine Anne Porter- interesting information from PBS
• Perspectives in American Literature: Katherine Anne Porter- a great research source from California State University.
• Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
  • Short Story: "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” -p. 848

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

• Cannery Row
• The Grapes of Wrath

James Thurber

• The Thurber House: A Literary Center for Writers and Readers- an interesting site offering lots of information on Thurber.
• Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
  • Essay: "The Night the Ghost Got In" -p. 898

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

• New York Times Books: Life & Times- E.B. White- an extensive resource with many great links.
• Meet the Author: E.B. White- a resource from Houghton Mifflin.
• Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience - Selected Textbook Resources:
  • Excerpt from Essay: "Here is New York" -p. 903

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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.