Lines written in early spring poem summary

Begin your rewrite. To do so, imagine yourself as a poet in the early twentieth century, and imagine your rewrite as an attempt to update the outdated elements of the nineteenth-century work you selected. Remember that modernist poems

Capture the cynicism and disappointment many people felt toward outdated nineteenth-century ideas

Focus on the complexities of modern life

Highlight the alienation of the individual in the modern world

Break with past literary traditions and styles

Employ references to diverse cultures, belief systems, and histories

Use experimental language and techniques, such as drawing a distinct line between the poet and the speaker and writing from multiple perspectives and in different voices

Your rewrite must incorporate at least three of the six listed characteristics of modernism. Here is an example of a modernist rewrite of the first stanza of Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”:

Wordsworth’s First Stanza

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

First Stanza of a Modernist Rewrite of Wordsworth

I stood coldly alone, like a World War I flying ace
Who cruises over the shells of bombed-out towns.
As the black fog cleared, I saw a building,
Ten thousand crumblecracking bricks;
Beside a forsaken hospital, over a glass-strewn street,
Sagging depressed during Tefnut’s shower.

Part 4: Briefly Explain Your Modernist Rewrite

In a response of at least two paragraphs, provide an explanation of the steps you took to rewrite the Romantic poem you selected. Your explanation should point out at least three typically modernist qualities in your work with regard to elements such as language, style, literary elements, and themes. Here, as an example, is a brief explanation of the modernist rewrite of the first stanza of Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”: