Why was the period following World War I called "the age of anxiety?"
3 Answers
rrteacher | College Teacher | (Level 2) Educator Emeritus
Many people saw World War I as proof that many of the things Western society was based on were essentially a lie. Progress, a rational worldview, patriotism, and religion all seemed irrelevant to people who had witnessed the carnage in the trenches. The period also witnessed a great deal of social unrest in Europe, where wildly fluctuating currencies, radical political leaders, massive strikes, and other social unrest contributed to a feeling of unease. Then there was the rise of the Soviet Union in what had been Russia. This development, especially when coupled with the economic downturn of the late decade, caused many to question western style capitalism. So in short, the period was one of major political, economic, social, and even intellectual uncertainty. The most poignant part, looking back, of course, is that we can see that the anxieties were, in the end, quite well-founded, and that dictators were able to exploit them to rise to power.
user1285883 | eNotes Newbie
Free verse is the most used mode of modern poetry , employment of the common speach language , rejection of the past values and assumption ,irony satire and juxtaposition od ideas are common elements in poetry , use all of allusion and multipal associationof words , unconventional use of metaphors , breaking with tradition and conventional forms and modes resulation in fragmentation , complete abandonee of regular meter and rhyme schemes , rhythmwas freed from the artificial demands of metrical regularity , ano-linear thought process-no proper beginning middle or ending-moving by the logic of the unconscious , Experimentation with different unusual Techniques , poetry tended to provide pessimistic cultural criticism , Encouraged the reexamination of every aspect of existence , Impossibility of an absolute interpretation of reality . Ebtesam Al-shehri
user1285883 | eNotes Newbie
Free verse is the most used mode of modern poetry , employment of the common speach language , rejection of the past values and assumption ,irony satire and juxtaposition od ideas are common elements in poetry , use all of allusion and multipal associationof words , unconventional use of metaphor