postmodernism in poetry WS: http://bit.ly/mp6fIM :
Most conspicuously in the visual arts, but shown
to varying degrees in novels and poetry, Postmodernism has these four features:
1. iconoclasm:
decanonizes cultural standards, previous artworks
and authorities denies authority to the author, discounting his intentions
and his claim to act as spokesman for a period
contradicts the expected, often deliberately alienating the reader
subverts its sources by parody, irony and pastiche
denounces ethnic, gender and cultural repression
strips context, reducing content to an austere minimum
broods on the human condition disclosed by radical literary theory
2. groundless:
employs flat, media-like images that have no reference beyond themselves
champions the primary, unmediated but not sensuous
regards both art and life as fictions,
sometimes mixing the two in magic realism or multiple endings
argues that meaning is indeterminate,
denying a final or preferred interpretation
3. formlessness:
repudiates modernism's preoccupation with harmony and organic form
narrows the aesthetic distance, art being something to enter
into or act out rather than simply admire
fragments texts, turning them into
collages or montages
avoids the shaping power of metaphor and other literary tropes
mixes genres with pastiche, travesty and cliché
promotes the fluid and socially adaptable
4. populism:
employs material from a wide social spectrum
eschews elitist, literary language
avoids the serious and responsible,
promoting the arbitrary and playful
accepts media images as the most
accessible contemporary reality,
making these the building blocks of art
Post modernism as a style in the arts has its origins in the late 1960's and 1970's, according to some scholars. I place its beginnings in the mid 1970's. Now, the approach developed within the post modern style in the arts has permutated most aspects of our lives (see the list above). Some who study the trends in history believe the era is post, post modern. Most periods in history and arts histories have a beginning, middle, and end.
I believe the era has not played out and we are at the end of the middle or the beginning of the later part of the movement/period. History can be illusive when you are living it. We will have to wait for the obvious and not so obvious trends to show themseleves. Until then, go ahead, study the era in which you are living and draw some conclusions for yourself. Your search may be fun and a little informative. Perhaps, I've given you a start with the information above. If you write, some of your discoveries about post modernism may inspire you.
--e. smith sleigh
These Things are a One Thing http://t.co/11RxN8w
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