Themes in Modern Literature Essay Sample free essay sample

Modernism in â€Å"Aunt Helen† . by T. S. Eliot and â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† . by John Lennon and Paul McCartney â€Å"Aunt Helen† . by T. S. Eliot and â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† . by John Lennon and Paul McCartney are poems which comprise features of modernism. Loneliness. societal disaffection and isolation. dual criterion and delegating of faith are the chief subjects emerge from these literary pieces. Miss Helen Slingsby. the poet’s aunt in â€Å"Aunt Helen† . was an single adult female who lived entirely. except for her retainers and pets. Aunt Helen was distant and stray. and after her decease there was silence on Earth and in Eden. The repeat of the word â€Å"silence† represents the deficiency of involvement in her. Not merely that her decease resulted in indifference but she had no impact on anyone’s life but her parrot. which â€Å"shortly afterwards†¦died excessively. † â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† is besides approxi mately societal disaffection and isolation. Both Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie were lonely people. We will write a custom essay sample on Themes in Modern Literature Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page who lived in the same alienating society. worked in a church but failed to do any important contact with people around them or with each other. Eleanor was the cleansing agent of a church. dreamed to acquire married but had to settle for picking up the rice after other’s nuptialss and â€Å"waiting at the window† for person who would non demo up. Father McKenzie was a priest who wrote discourses to trusters that wouldn’t listen ( â€Å"no one will hear† ) and spent his darks repairing his socks so he could look noteworthy in the eyes of people who excluded themselves from church ( â€Å"No one semen near. † ) Double criterion is another subject in these two verse forms. Aunt Helen â€Å"lived in a little house near a stylish square† and â€Å"cared for by servants† . She was a â€Å"proper Bostonian† . a societal category who had been the vanguard of American idealism and progressive thought and set the criterions for gustatory sensation and good judgement. She didn’t have a household of her ain. and therefore she left her bequest to her Canis familiariss and par rot ( â€Å"The Canis familiariss were handsomely provided for† ) . She cared merely for her pets and left nil to her retainers who cared for her and externally abided by her regulations. The retainers were ‘careful’ while the aunt lived but after she was gone. they were prosecuting in the sort of sexual activity she would hold despised. Eleanor Rigby was a adult female who had to have on the â€Å"face that she keeps in a jar by the door. † She set on the face of a nice spiritual individual. symbolically she hid her true empty ego. Father McKenzie. by â€Å"darning his socks in the dark when there’s cipher there† . was ashamed and conceal himself merely as Eleanor did. Both â€Å"Aunt Helen† and â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† jest ironically at the futility of religious pursuits. The verse forms evoke religious emptiness. In the first. â€Å"the mortician wiped his feet—He was cognizant that this kind of thing had occurred before† and the footman â€Å"holding the 2nd maidservant on his articulatio genuss – who had ever been so careful while her kept woman lived† symbolizes the traveling off from faith every bit good as the breakage of old values. In the latter the names of Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie suggest they both were Irish. and the church. as a scene. implies on their Catholicity. Harmonizing to the Christian philosophy. redemption refers to the phenomenon of the psyche being saved from some unfortunate fate by Godhead bureau. Father McKenzie in â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† . However. Eleanor Rigby ended up dead † in the church and was buried along with her name† and non merely her. but â€Å"no one was saved† . The last line of stanza 3 symbolizes the interruption of spiritual religion and the alienation of modern society T. S. Eliot and Lennon and McCartney make usage of from and manner in order to convey their message. In â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† . the sequence of construction is inconsistent. The diminishing length of lines 2 and 4 in the three stanzas. every bit good as the questions in the shutting line of each. construct tenseness until the inevitable terminal of Eleanor Rigby and the imperative statement that â€Å"no one was saved† . It seems as if solitariness is declining as clip base on balls on. and ends in a forlorn decease. In a first glimpse. â€Å"Aunt Helen† gives the feeling of a paragraph consists of five tallies on sentences and no form. The signifier. which doesn’t seem to be poetic in stanz a signifier and lacks form. accentuates the absence. or emptiness. in Miss Helen Slingsby’s life. Although both poems’ signifier expresses a similar subject of solitariness. they are really different in their construction. While â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† is divided into three stanzas. consisting of a poetry and a chorus. that are rhymed in the same form – the first and the 2nd lines rime every bit good as the 3rd and the Forth. â€Å"Aunt Helen† has a more free signifier. The five sentences assembled in the verse form are differed in length and the rhyming strategy is inconsistent – the last word of the 2nd sentence rimes with the last word in the undermentioned line ( â€Å"street† and â€Å"feet† ) . and it is the same in the following sentence. However. the following rime has a different form – the first line in the last sentence rimes with the 3rd line of the sentence ( â€Å"mantelpiece† and â€Å"on his knees† ) . Aunt Helen’s life and decease are described in a slightly formal manner. as largely brief and to the points words are used. There are commas and full Michigans and no inquiry marks or exclaiming Markss. While â€Å"Aunt H elen’s† enlightening nature emphasizes the deficiency of metaphors. Eleanor Rigby â€Å"Lives in a dream† . wears â€Å"a face she keeps in a jar† and is â€Å"Buried along with her name† . â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† opens with boding the debut of two alone people â€Å"Ah. look at all the alone people! † The terminal of the verse form – the decease of Eleanor Rigby – is about expected. while the formality used in â€Å"Aunt Helen† avails in making an unexpected disclosure – the rejection of â€Å"old† morality. expressed in the act of the two retainers on the dining room. The authors use symbols to pass on their messages. Eleanor Rigby â€Å"picks up the rice in a church where a nuptials has been† . This symbol of fusion of two people in a nuptials ceremonial contradicts the chief subject of the verse form – solitariness. In â€Å"Aunt Helen† the mention to the Dresden clock go oning after her decease symbolizes the disaffection of a society in which people don’t leave a important consequence. Time continues without them. The overexploitation of â€Å"no one† and â€Å"nobody† in â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† intends to set up the subject of solitariness and disaffection. The storyteller mocks both Eleanor Rigby. who â€Å"was buried along with her name† . and Father McKenzie. who meant nil to cipher. and whose merely achievement was the burial of Eleanor Rigby. In â€Å"Aunt Helen† it is the repeat of â€Å"silence† that conveys this subject. T. S. Eliot and Lennon and McCartney trade in their verse forms with modern subjects – purdah and religion attenuation. In â€Å"Aunt Helen† and â€Å"Eleanor Rigby† the authors demonstrate theses issues by utilizing modern-day free signifier and linguistic communication.