Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

The paper deals with the heroic artistic modus transformations in English lyrics of World War I. The purpose is to see war poetry not as a separate artistic phenomenon but as the striking evidence of the arterial development of literature in its turn to modernism. The focus of attention is in the me...

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Main Author: Yevheniya Chernokova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University 2013-12-01
Series:Pitannâ Lìteraturoznavstva
Subjects:
Online Access:http://pytlit.chnu.edu.ua/article/view/73216
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author Yevheniya Chernokova
author_facet Yevheniya Chernokova
author_sort Yevheniya Chernokova
collection DOAJ
description The paper deals with the heroic artistic modus transformations in English lyrics of World War I. The purpose is to see war poetry not as a separate artistic phenomenon but as the striking evidence of the arterial development of literature in its turn to modernism. The focus of attention is in the metamorphosis of the heroic showed in W. Wordsworth’s “The Character of the Happy Warrior” as compared to Herbert Read’s “The Happy Warrior”. In Wordsworth’s poem the hero is made by the harmony of a soldier’s duty and moral standards, loyalty to the country and commitment to God. Imagist Read makes a hero out of a “function reflex” which turns a man into a weak-minded, circumscribed but effective cripple ready to kill, much the same as extermination machines around. Nation’s memory is selective, and the instrument of this selection is mythologizing of a case, a man, or a phenomenon. In the case of the Great War this process is both mighty and paradoxical: in contrast to ancient heroes, under new mythology the archaic and universal concept of heroic turns into national and modern, with war poets as emblem of new “English heroism”. Comprehension of the heroic as an exhausted and ambivalent modus in the global conflict of World War I and the denial of rhetoric as the background for “heroic” genres lay the foundation for creating both the new national myth (hero-victim) and the new poetics in the poetry of the soldier poets.
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spelling doaj-art-eea0a2e8a5de45179d77d40229bbcce52025-08-20T03:10:36ZengYuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National UniversityPitannâ Lìteraturoznavstva2306-29082013-12-0108822323373216Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth CenturyYevheniya Chernokova0Дніпропетровський національний університет імені Олеся ГончараThe paper deals with the heroic artistic modus transformations in English lyrics of World War I. The purpose is to see war poetry not as a separate artistic phenomenon but as the striking evidence of the arterial development of literature in its turn to modernism. The focus of attention is in the metamorphosis of the heroic showed in W. Wordsworth’s “The Character of the Happy Warrior” as compared to Herbert Read’s “The Happy Warrior”. In Wordsworth’s poem the hero is made by the harmony of a soldier’s duty and moral standards, loyalty to the country and commitment to God. Imagist Read makes a hero out of a “function reflex” which turns a man into a weak-minded, circumscribed but effective cripple ready to kill, much the same as extermination machines around. Nation’s memory is selective, and the instrument of this selection is mythologizing of a case, a man, or a phenomenon. In the case of the Great War this process is both mighty and paradoxical: in contrast to ancient heroes, under new mythology the archaic and universal concept of heroic turns into national and modern, with war poets as emblem of new “English heroism”. Comprehension of the heroic as an exhausted and ambivalent modus in the global conflict of World War I and the denial of rhetoric as the background for “heroic” genres lay the foundation for creating both the new national myth (hero-victim) and the new poetics in the poetry of the soldier poets.http://pytlit.chnu.edu.ua/article/view/73216модус художностігероїчнетрагічнеПерша світова війнаодабаладаелегіяромантизмімажизмВ. Вордсворт (“The Character of the Happy Warrior”)Герберт Рід (“The Happy Warrrior”)
spellingShingle Yevheniya Chernokova
Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Pitannâ Lìteraturoznavstva
модус художності
героїчне
трагічне
Перша світова війна
ода
балада
елегія
романтизм
імажизм
В. Вордсворт (“The Character of the Happy Warrior”)
Герберт Рід (“The Happy Warrrior”)
title Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
title_full Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
title_fullStr Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
title_full_unstemmed Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
title_short Metamorphoses of the Heroic in English Lyrics of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
title_sort metamorphoses of the heroic in english lyrics of the beginning of the twentieth century
topic модус художності
героїчне
трагічне
Перша світова війна
ода
балада
елегія
романтизм
імажизм
В. Вордсворт (“The Character of the Happy Warrior”)
Герберт Рід (“The Happy Warrrior”)
url http://pytlit.chnu.edu.ua/article/view/73216
work_keys_str_mv AT yevheniyachernokova metamorphosesoftheheroicinenglishlyricsofthebeginningofthetwentiethcentury