Modern Poetry in English Literature: Characteristics, Themes, and the Legacy of Modernism

Modern Poetry in English Literature: Characteristics, Themes, and the Legacy of Modernism

Modern poetry in English literature emerged as one of the most transformative literary movements of the twentieth century, fundamentally redefining both the purpose and the practice of poetic expression. Rejecting the sentimental idealism, formal regularity, and romantic imagination that had dominated nineteenth-century poetry, Modernist poets sought a language capable of articulating the fractured consciousness of an increasingly complex world. Rather than viewing poetry as the spontaneous overflow of emotion, they approached it as an intellectual and artistic discipline through which modern existence, with all its contradictions, uncertainties, and anxieties, could be critically examined. This literary transformation was inspired by the Modernist imperative to "make it new," a phrase that came to symbolize the movement's commitment to formal experimentation, philosophical inquiry, and aesthetic innovation (Mathur, 2024). Most literary historians locate the beginning of …