The following video, although relatively lengthy, offers an insightful explanation of literary modernism’s context of fragmentation and artistic experimentation with form.

This video focuses on the cultural and historical context that fostered the growth of American literary modernism and then moves into modernist literature characteristics.

The following video discusses modernism and imagism, a subset of modernism shown in the poetry of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams.  There’s also discussion of some modernist poets.

Modernism in the Arts

Manufacturing Memory: American Popular Music in the 1930’s provides overviews of the music of the depression, the connection between music and movies, the technological advances that impacted the recording industry, and the cultural blend of underground music.

As in literature, the visual arts saw new forms of expression emerging during this time period, as represented by the landscape painting shown below.

Abstract Expressionism was also beginning to emerge during this time period. Learn more by reading the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s essay on Abstract Expressionism.