Exploring Identity in Modernist Poetry: A Discourse Analysis of Selfhood and Subjectivity

Abstract

The present research examines subjectivity and selfhood in the context of some of the most influential poems of modern poetry of T. S Eliot, and Ezra Pound. In analysing the poems, the Fairclough Critical Discourse Analysis model which was developed in 1989 is used. Ten modernist poems are considered – five poems of Eliot, and five of Pound– to identify where these poets build and endorse the subjectivity of the person. The theoretical framework for the research is the examination of the aspects of the modernist work, such as fragmentation and stream of consciousness, studying the connection between techniques and their application to the representation of internal states and experiences within a given text, in terms of language and style. Further, the role of the poetic texts studying what and how poets’ works reflect or intervene in present-day paradigms of the conception of identity and subjectivity has been paid attention to as well. Together with imagery and symbolism the relation between the inner and outer worlds of the speaker is discussed to define the degree of the duality of selfhood and personal identity. It is seen that in this research an attempt to contribute a little understanding as to how the modernist poetry poses and depicts the question of identity in the fluid and constantly evolving modernity.