Change and Its Impact

The literature of the Modern period was largely a reaction to the great changes in society and world order that was occuring in the first half of the 20th century. Aided by advances in technology and weaponry, not one but two devastating world wars wrought death and destruction on a scale never before seen. The effects of the stock market crash in the United States, leading to panic and uncertainty. However, some citizens of Great Britain, especially those of Ireland, had long since suffered under political oppression and abject poverty. As Britain struggled to reform and rebuild, it lost control of its global empire as former colonies gained independence.

Throughout this module, you have explored some of the greatest British authors of the Modern period. The soldier poet Rupert Brooke displayed his nationalist pride in his poetry, whereas Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen revealed the harsh realities of the battlefield. Both Dylan Thomas and W. B. Yeats commented on old age and facing the end of life. While Yeats explored the theme of alienation in one's society, T. S. Eliot took it to a new level in his avant-garde poetry, resorting to fragmentary imagery that could feel as perplexing as the great changes occuring in the world at the time. Frank McCourt did not fear change in his memoir Angela's Ashes; in fact, he sought it in his goal to rise above poverty and improve his life. Fellow Irish write James Joyce would have empathized with McCourt, writing about poverty and coming of age in Ireland. Across the world in India, George Orwell wrote about the impact of the British Empire on its colonies abroad.