Harlem Renaissance In The Modernist Period

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Fitting The Harlem Renaissance in the Modernist Period
When thinking about the term Modernism, the early 1900s definitely doesn’t come to mind. But actually, Modernism started in the early 1900s and lasted up until 1965. The Modernist period was mainly defined by rejecting the Victorian era’s standards which focused on mainly on realism and, to quote Professor Sir Richard J Evans FBA, “moral and intellectual seriousness. Modernists experimented with multitudes of expressing themselves, therefore, individualization was highly encouraged. In the words of Josh Rahn, “Indeed, a central preoccupation of Modernism is with the inner self and consciousness...Instead of progress and growth, the Modernist intelligentsia sees decay and a growing alienation …show more content…

It is gruesome and full of terror. Throughout the poem, the speaker describes many sights he had seen in war. The most horrific sight is lines 14 to 23 which was when he saw a man drown and die before him. “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning...And watch the white eyes writhing in his face… If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,” After, the speaker goes on to say that they don’t understand how a person could tell their children about war with such enthusiasm when they have seen men die before their eyes, gas bombs being thrown at …show more content…

But they also compare themselves as a rebel, “Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,/ I stand within her walls with not a shred/ Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.” The speaker defies authority even though they aren’t doing anything wrong. African Americans were considered offensive to the majority of white people of America in the early 1900s. But African Americans were just “being” and living their lives normally. The fact that they are “being” and doing so well enrages America. America thinks that them being able “to be”, even under hellish circumstances, is an honor since the speaker compares America as a king and them as a rebel inside the king’s walls. The speaker chooses to persevere,