Literature is the reflection of the contemporary society. Early 20th century was generally known as the modernist era in art and literature. The contemporary society was majorly affected by the fatality of World War I and World War II. During the period, the whole generation had become very pessimistic about everything. They were trying to find the meaning of life and their existence due to the political situations and horrified incidents such as holocaust, concentration camps, and the drop of nuclear bombs on Japan. The feeling of nothingness, futility is very strong in contemporary English literature. The literature of this era inclines towards being absurd as well. Sometimes the poems are distorted by switching from one thought to completely different thought. This is because of the confusion created in the minds due to the outward political situations. The present paper focuses on the political unrest of first half of 20th century. For describing the topic politics in first half of 20th century, three poems have been taken for discussion. First poem is Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath, second poem is The Lost Pilot by James Tete, while the third poem is The Death of a Toad by Richard Wilbur.
The whole world was suffering the aftermaths of the two major incidents; the holocaust occurred in the Jew concentration camps, and the nuclear bomb used in World War II that culminated into human as well as environmental loss. The political scenario and its adverse impacts are reflected in contemporary modern literature. The modern American poets have commonly used the theme of absurdity as the response to current political situation. The outer and inner impact of the worst political situation was reflected in the poems of many the then American poets. The unrest of the outside and inside world is seen in Sylvia Plath’s poem Lady Lazarus.
Lady Lazarus is a dark and gloomy poem in which the lady is seen as facing death three times in her life. First was an accident, second was an unsuccessful attempt of suicide and third time Lady Lazarus became successful in her suicidal attempt. These three experiences of death can be compared with the political situation where in the first situations (her first attempt of suicide) can be symbolically associated with the situation when the Jews were brought in the concentration camps. The second death attempt of Lady Lazarus can be compared with the deadly torture the Jews were sufferings in the concentration camp which was more dreadful even than the death. The third attempt of death was a successful attempt as described by the poet. It can be interpreted as the actual killing of Jews.
The poet says that she is succeeded in separating her flesh from her body. The setting of the poem is not mentioned by the poet but it is a horrible place where only death exists. Plath’s description of the place is associated with the holocaust place where the Jews were tortured and killed in the holocaust. Plath describes the crematorium where the Nazis burnt Jews and the belongings of the dead victims are spread everywhere. This monologue is the description of the lady’s emotions which are extreme depressed, suicidal and, extremely depressed.
Plath compared her feeling of deep sorrow and depression with the Jews. She feels as if she is in the mass cremation done by Nazis. She feels that she is burning like Nazis. The imagery associated with death is very horrible and unexpected. She has used the rumour spread during the World War II that the Nazis use the skin of Jews to make lampshade
Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot
A Paperweight
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen”
She compares herself with the dead Jew whose skin is used by Nazis for the lampshade. Overall she associates herself with Jews. We know that the sufferings of Jews were beyond imagination. We can say that the sufferings and pains which the poet is experiencing are also beyond limit. That is why she tried to commit suicide several times in her life.
In the last line she talks about resurrection where she disconnects herself from the Jews. Unlike Jews, she says that she will not suffer the pain helplessly but she will take next birth to take revenge upon those who made her suffer.
“Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air (Plath)
The poem can also be interpreted from gender point of view. Probably the poet must have suffered a lot due to her womanhood. But the objective of the paper is to study it through the lens of political allusion. Hence, the last stanza can be interpreted by applying political connotation that one day she will be resurrected and she will take revenge upon those who were responsible for her sufferings. She died with immense sufferings like Jews, but she is not meek.
The political allusion of Nazi Holocaust is used by the poet to explain her countless sufferings. The feeling of retaliation is there in her mind. One more American poem is there that can be interpreted through political angle and that poem is “The Death of a Toad”, written by Richard Wilbur. Wilbur describes the incident where a tiny frog was crushed by a powerful mower. The frog is the symbol of all the innocent people who were literary crushed in the political unrest of first half of twentieth century. The two World Wars took place in this era literary crushed the life of millions of people. The poet says,
The rare original heartsbleed goes,Spends in the earthen hide, in the folds and wizenings, flowsIn the gutters of the banked and staring eyes.
The above lines are also expressed how the two World Wars shows that man is the most evil creature in the world because for his selfish deeds, he kills his own specie. No feelings and emotions are left and the human mind has become a mere machine. The mower is the symbol of the World Wars and the selfish political system that had crushed the human life and was demanding the lives of many innocent victims.
The political situation of the contemporary era is also described by James Tete in his poem “The Lost Pilot”. The lost pilot in this poem is the lost father of the poet who was shot down when he was engaged in bombing on Germany in World War II. It was the shattering memories of the human loss during World War II. Through his own sufferings and anxieties, the poet describes how the generation during World Wars had lost their loved ones who were forcefully pushed into the terrible wars. The poet’s father was a pilot and he had to sacrifice his life during war.
The feeling of loneliness was deep among the poets on the background of the political situation. The contemporary political situation taught everyone that apart from living in society, every individual is lonely. In The Lost Pilot, the poet expresses his loneliness due to the loss of his father during World War.
I feel dead. I feel as if I were
the residue of a stranger’s life,
that I should pursue you (Tete).
The similarity among the above three poems is that they all are the reflection of the World War situation. The poems describe how the political unrest and the annihilation in World Wars have destroyed the human life and human minds as well. Decay, destruction, deterioration were the outward aftermaths whereas depression, loneliness, meaninglessness, futile feeling, miseries, severe mental pains were the inner impacts on the human mind. The adverse effects of the political unrest throughout the world were long-lasting that the entire generation was living in the darkness and confusion. This is the same message conveyed in all these three poems.
Work Cited
Plath, Sylvia. "Lady Lazarus". Poetryfoundation.org. Web. 16 June 2016.
Tete, James. "The Lost Pilot". Poetryfoundation.org. Web. 16 June 2016.
Wilbur, Richard. “The Death of a Toad”. Poetryfoundation.org. Web. 16 June 2016.
