English Poetry - 20th Century

To create a comprehensive awareness about 20th century English poetry; to introduce the students to the major social and cultural movements and dominant literary trends of the 20th century; to expose them to modern poetic techniques and devices through the works of major poets of the 20th Century.

Unit 1

Introducing Modern Poetry-Themes and concerns-Stylistic features-Movements.

Unit 2

T.S. Eliot: “The Wasteland” [Detailed]
Stephen Spender: “The Pylons” [Detailed]
W. B. Yeats: “Sailing to Byzantium” [Detailed] “Second Coming” [Non-Detailed]
Seamus Heaney: “Digging”, “Personal” [Non-Detailed]

Unit 3

W.H. Auden: “In Memory of W. B.Yeats” [Detailed]
Dylan Thomas: “Fern Hill” [Detailed]
R S Thomas: “The Prisoner” [Non-Detailed]

Unit 4

Philip Larkin: “Whitsun Wedding” [Detailed].
Ted Hughes: “Jaguar”, “Hawk Roosting” [Detailed].
John Hewitt: “Landscape” [Non-Detailed].
Robert Bridges: “To Catullus” [Non-Detailed].

Unit 5

Thom Gunn: “On the Move” [Detailed]. 
Muriel Spark: “The Messengers” [Non-Detailed]. 
Louis MacNeice: “Entirely” [Detailed]. 
John Masefield: “Sea-Fever” [Non-Detailed].

1. Black, E L. Nine Modern Poets: An Anthology. UK: Macmillan, 1966.
2. Thomas, C T (ed.), 20th Century verse, New Delhi: MacMillan, 1979.
3. Board of Editors, Poetry Down the Ages. Hyderabad: Orient Black Swan, 2010.
4. Alexander W. Allison et al. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. New York, The W.W. Norton & Company, 1975.
5. Simon Rae & Michael Hulse, 20th Century in Poetry. Ebury Press, 2011.
6. Online sources.

1. Rosenthal, M. L, The Modern Poets, New York: Oxford UP, 1961.
2. Blair, John G. The Poetic Art of W.H. Auden. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973.
3. Fraser, G. S. Dylan Thomas. London: Longman, 1957.
4. Gary Geddes, Twentieth Century Poetry and Poetics, Toronto: OUP, 1985.
5. Corcoran, Neil. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth Century English Poetry. UK: CUP, 2007.
6. Hamilton, Ian & Jeremy Noel-Tod. The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry. UK: OUP, 2013.
7. Online Sources.