The Nature of Modernism This books presents the first extended study of the relationship between British modernist poetry and the environment. Challenging reductive associations of modernism as predominantly anthropocentric in char- acter and urban in focus, the book’s central argument is that within British modernist poetry there is a clear and sustained interest in the natural world which has yet to receive adequate critical attention. Whilst modernist studies continue to emphasise the plurality of the movement and the breadth of voices and concerns within it, the environmental consciousness of modernist literature and its response to changes to human/nature relations following the experience of war and modernity remain largely unexamined. Exploring British modernist poetry from an ecocritical perspective offers a fresh approach to the movement and its context, and produces original readings of both canonical and more marginalized modernist voices. This book opens by discussing the rela- tionship between modernism and ecocriticism and the benefits of creat- ing a dialogue between the two. It then presents new readings of Edward Thomas, T. S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, and Charlotte Mew that reveal a shared preoccupation with environmental issues and a common desire to find new ways of achieving physical, psychological and artistic recon- nection with nature. Building on the continuing growth of ecocriticism, this book demonstrates how green approaches to modernist studies can produce new insights into both individual poets and the modernist movement as a whole, making it an essential resource for students of modernism, ecocriticism and early-twentieth-century literature. Elizabeth Black is a Writing Tutor and Associate Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com. 36 British Spy Fiction and the End of Empire Sam Goodman 37 Jorge Luis Borges, Post-Analytic Philosophy, and Representation Silvia G. Dapía 38 Silent Film and U.S. Naturalist Literature Time, Narrative, and Modernity Katherine Fusco 39 Situationist International in Britain Modernism, Surrealism, and the Avant-Garde Sam Cooper 40 Surreal Beckett Samuel Beckett and Surrealism Alan Friedman 41 Modernism and Latin America Transnational Networks of Literary Exchange Patricia Novillo-Corvalan 42 New Perspectives on Community and the Modernist Subject Finite, Singular, Exposed María J. López, Paula Martín Salván, and Gerardo Rodriguez Salas 43 Reading London in Wartime Blitz, the People and Propaganda in 1940s Literature William Cederwell 44 The Nature of Modernism Ecocritical Approaches to the Poetry of Edward Thomas, T. S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell and Charlotte Mew Elizabeth Black The Nature of Modernism Ecocritical Approaches to the Poetry of Edward Thomas, T. S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell and Charlotte Mew Elizabeth Black First published 2018 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Taylor & Francis The right of Elizabeth Black to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data has been applied for. ISBN: 978-1-138-24409-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-23212-6 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra For Jonny This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 Critical and Theoretical Contexts 10 Modernism 10 Georgian Poetry and the Impact of the First World War 14 The Countryside and the City 16 Modernity 19 Ecocriticism 22 Deep Ecology 26 Social Ecology 28 Urban Nature 29 British Ecocriticism 31 2 Modernism in Ecocritical Thought 40 3 Edward Thomas: The Path to Ecological Modernism 52 Relationship to Modernism 52 Ecocritical Importance 57 The British Countryside 62 Examination of Self through Nature 68 War 71 Edward Thomas and the Anthropocene 78 ‘All Roads Lead to France’ 80 4 T. S. Eliot: The Waste Land 87 Reasserting the Real 89 The Crisis in Human/Nature Relations 94 Mythology, History and Ritual 101 The Desert 106 viii Contents 5 T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets 112 Critical Discussion 113 Eliot and Englishness 118 Eliot and the City 121 Readings 122 ‘Burnt Norton’ 122 ‘East Coker’ 126 ‘The Dry Salvages’ 129 ‘Little Gidding’ 133 6 Edith Sitwell 140 Critical Response 141 Poetic Aims 146 Façade 153 The Sleeping Beauty 157 Later Poetry 160 7 Charlotte Mew 168 The City 170 The Countryside 176 Nature, Otherness and Trauma 183 The First World War 190 Conclusion 198 Bibliography 203 Index 219 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Laurence Coupe for his kindness, wisdom and support throughout my research. I am grateful to Sarah Dobbs for her sustaining and inspiring friendship and to my parents, David and Mary Harris, for all their love and support. I also want to thank my husband, Jonny, for far too many things to mention. Extracts from Charlotte Mew’s works are copyrighted and reprinted by kind permission of Carcanet Press Limited, Manchester, UK. Extracts from Façade, ‘Rain’, ‘Bells of Grey Crystal’, ‘When Cold December’ and ‘Dark Song’ from Bucolic Comedies: ‘Spring’ and ‘Green Geese’, ex- tracts from The Sleeping Beauty, and from ‘Invocation’, ‘Green Song, ‘The Canticle of the Rose’ and ‘Dirge for the New Sunrise’ by Edith Sitwell reprinted by permission of Peters Fraser & Dunlop (www. pertersfraserdunlop.com) on behalf of the Estate of Edith Sitwell. Extracts from the works of Edward Thomas are reprinted with the agreement of Rosemary Vellender.