Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

Unlike its Vorticist predecessor, Blast, Wyndham Lewis's second short-lived magazine, The Tyro, concerns itself less with aesthetic/theoretical didacticism than it does with critical analyses of modernist issues, particularly in art. The ostensible aim in publishing such articles is to disprove the prevailing belief, observed by Lewis, that "Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, and all the rest of that revolutionary phase of art, is dead" (No. 2, page 3).  In the second (and final) issue of The Tyro, published in 1922, authors O. Raymond Drey and Jessie Dismorr each make a case for the continued relevance of modern art: Drey, by deconstructing the complicated and often bemused societal attitudes toward modernism, and Dismorr by cataloguing the recent crop of modern artists working out of Russia, whose emerging bodies of vital, experimental work in painting, sculpture and costume disproved the notion that modernism was dead.

      Drey's article, "Abstract Art and Some Analogies," primarily addresses the belief that, lacking function, abstract art is useless. He counters this idea with the contention that, though its function is unusual, it serves a function nevertheless.  Unlike those objects with aesthetic value related to the direct relationship between form and function, as in the beauty of a yacht's hull or "the cambered wings of an aeroplane," the aesthetic value of the abstract is not related to productivity (14).  Rather, the effect of abstract art is "on the mind and imagination of the spectator who is sensitive to formal design" (14).  Drey also addresses the detractors of the abstract, who cannot imagine its use, describing them as those viewers who  "are the least sensitive to the prodigal confusion of abstract forms in the midst of which they move and have their being" (14-15).   In other words, the abstract work is nothing more or less than the pure expression of the world in which it was created, a product of political, social, economic, global and local influences.  Further, far from being irrelevant or useless, this kind of art is only appreciable by the viewer with an acute sensitivity/susceptibility to the emotionality of pure form, rather than to meanings conveyed through narratives or poetic allusion (15).  

     Drey goes on to address other factors which may contribute to the unpopularity of the modern or abstract work, contending that its authors hinder the skeptic's ability to apprehend meaning by attempting to associate the work with "recognisable objects" (15).  A piece entitled "A Portrait of Madame X," for example may perplex the viewer who seeks to identify the conventional form of a woman within the abstract picture.  Such complicating titles are alienating, not only in the creation of distance between the viewer and the work's possible meanings, but by inspiring in the viewer feelings of frustration at not being able to understand a kind of inside "joke" (16).  Further, applying recognizable titles to abstract pieces dilutes the potency of the art itself.  As Drey puts it, "Those who are naturally impervious to the music of form, and those others who misprize it unless combined with a more complex form of appeal, are not to be won by explanation."  That is to say, the abstract is sensed or experienced and should not be intellectualized in order to be understood.

     For her part, Jessie Dismorr seeks to validate the work of modern and abstract artists by highlighting the various efforts of working artists in Russia.  Dismorr's piece, "Some Russian Artists," is an interesting artifact of criticism, as it contemporarily reviews the work of a few artists whose work would prove to be important well after the modernist period.  She hails the futurist Natalia Goncharova whose work spanned various mediums such as painting and costume design, for her "daring" juxtaposition of "chromes and majentas," as well as for employing "cubist devices" in her work with costumes (19).  Dismorr also interestingly places Chagal among the Russian artists, calling him/his work "a curious vessel of the national [Russian] spirit" (19).

     Although Drey's and Dismorr's respective approaches to the subject of modernist art are quite different (the former writes critical theory, while the latter writes art criticism), both pieces demonstrate The Tyro's dedication to affirming and promoting modernist art well after a skeptical public had begun to dismiss it.  Each piece proves that, despite contemporary skepticism, the importance and meanings of such art were still being widely discussed and considered; as such, The Tyro itself is a fantastic artifact of an emerging strain of art criticism and theory from a period of great innovation and creativity.

Tyro, Wyndham Lewis' Post War, and in many ways Post Vorticist, answer to Blast magazine opens in much the same fashion as it’s predecessor. This time, however, in the case of the second issue, it has advertising. To a large extent one can take this to be symbolic of the changes in the content and layout of this new magazine. It was more corporate. It was more tame. It was less angry. It was less poetic.

Without the involvement of Ezra Pound, the Tyro was primarily a magazine about art, rather than politics and poetry. The first issue began with Editorial notes that indicated the shifted focus of the magazine: “To be a rallying spot for those painters, or persons interesting in painting, in this country.” Lewis believed that after the Great War England was on the precipice of a Renaissance “much greater than the Italian Renaissance.” Given the size and length of World War I, and the effect it had on the general countenance of Europeans, Lewis suggested that what the Vorticists were able to accomplish before and during the war was only the beginning. In reality, Vorticism had been on its way out for the seven years in between Blast and Tyro, and there was no English Renaissance in sight. This post war Vorticist art was different. Less Futurist, less Cubist, and less Abstract. It was more classical and more realistic. It focused more on the human form, and was less conceptual.  It was less abrasive, and more pleasing to the eye. Pieces like Family and Lady Seated at Table might never have graced the pages of Blast. Certainly Tyro saw similarly abstract drawings, like Gunwalloe, but Lewis’ own art seemed almost uncharacteristic of his original Vorticist creations. In a post war Europe the coarse vexation of Vorticism was no longer feasible. The movement was at a stand still and it would need to widen its scope to achieve the kind of modern Renaissance it hoped to see. It included advertising. It included clay figures. It included short stories. And even after all that Vorticism is just a footnote of Modernism rather than the definition of the camp.
 

In the analysis of poetry it is essential to consider context. A single poem published in an anthology, therefore, has different implications than if the same poem were published in a magazine or, say, recited as part of a eulogy. To a certain extent, then, the consequences of context are out of an author's control. It is rather the individual who chooses to place a poem within a given context, most often an editor, who dictates its meaning. That being said, it is the nature of poetry, or arguably all art, that allows for this variability and as such even an editor's intentions may be obscured. Additionally, independent factors may contribute to a contextual change for a published poem. The final issue of The Owl, published in the winter of 1923, offers an interesting example of how verse can not only be altered by context but, moreover, communicate the objectives of an editor more so than a poet.

In the foreword of the inaugural issue of The Owl published in May, 1919, the editors insist that their magazine, "has no politics, leads no new movement, and is not even the organ for any particular generation". While it is true that unlike other "little magazines" The Owl maintained a decidedly credo free approach to publication with no manifestos or overtly agenda laden editorial prose, it would be mistaken to believe that there was, consequently, no unification of theme, particularly within individual issues. The last issue of the short-lived magazine, for example, contains many poems which specifically dwell on the topics of lost love or death. Given that The Owl was terminating its operations, these poems, however, take on secondary meaning, ostensibly serving as the editors' lamentations for their own loss.

Thomas Hardy's poem "The Missed Train" offers the first example of a poem which can be seen as indicative of the editors' regret over their folding magazine. Like most of the subsequent poems in the issue, "The Missed Train" is about loss, in this case the loss that inevitably occurs with the passage of time. Naturally, there is no reason to believe that Hardy wrote this poem in response to the transitory nature of small-press magazine publishing, but the last stanza in particular seems imbued with the precise emotions that those involved with The Owl would have felt, knowing that this would be their last offering to the public:

"Years, years as grey seas,

Truly, now stretch between! less and less

Shrink the visions then great in me. — Yes,

Then in me. Now in these."

If taken as an elegy for the magazine, the last lines especially seem interesting. Although short-lived, The Owl did publish over a span of several years, and yet while they were not able to sustain their "visions" for the magazine, many other similar publications were able to succeed.

The idea that the failure of The Owl is manifested in their peers' success speaks to a possible perception by the editors' that theirs is a public failure, one which ultimately cannot be felt in isolation. This idea is likewise apparent in the sonnet "Tracked" by Enoch Soames.  "Tracked" is a dark poem that portrays a character who is attempting to burn the evidence of his personal shame. Though he is able to do so partially, at least, from himself, he nevertheless is left with a foreboding sense. Ultimately, this sense is manifested when the character, "[kneels] down, a man most loathe to die, / And [peers] through the key-hole of the door, / [sees] there the pupil of another eye". As The Owl is exists in the public sphere, the editors thereof cannot live out their misfortune privately. Not only will continuing magazines serve as a reminder to their inability to sustain, but, furthermore, they must endure the scrutiny of the reading public.

Primarily though, it is the mere feeling of impotence that foundering precipitates. In "Full Moon" by Robert Graves, a poem which superficially deals with lost love but seems germane as well to the loss of The Owl, a feeling of futility accompanies the speaker's nostalgia. Interestingly, Graves uses an owl as one of his metaphors in the poem:

"A tedious owlet cried;

The nightingale above my head

With this or that replied,

Like man and wife who nightly keep

Inconsequent debate in sleep

As they dream side by side."

As this metaphor of idle communication among birds mirrors the speaker's own inability to communicate with his lost love, parallels for The Owl can be drawn from both as well. From the editors' perspective, as the vocalizing owlet, they are unable to effectively communicate with their readership leading to their demise. The metaphor of sleep emphasizes perhaps that while their is a seeming reciprocity between publisher and reader, fundamentally the two cannot serve one another's needs. Thus the editor's beloved publication disappears: "And love went by upon the wind / as though it had not been".

It is difficult to say whether the editor's of The Owl did in fact select the poems for their final issue, consciously or sub-consciously, based on their own feelings of loss. Indeed there is no editor's note to suggest whether it was then known that this would be the last offering by the magazine. Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable to offer a reading of these poems that considers at least their coincidental subtext. Moreover, the potential for unanticipated contextual change and the subsequent alteration of meaning, are further evidence that a work of art is a living thing not controllable by either artist or editor.

    During World War I, Poetry magazine often included poems that related indirectly to the war in their emotional out-pourings on subjects such as death, as well as poems that served reflected the need for distraction in the form of romantic adoration of women as figures of innocence. In the post-war issues of Poetry, narrative poems make a distinct appearance in the magazine, indicating a shift in the consciousness of writers. As opposed to urgent emotional pleas, or brooding personal thoughts, which often were included in the previous volumes, there are many more imaginative and emotionally distant poems which take the form of narratives and songs.
    One such poem is “Crescent Moon,” by Elizabeth Robert Madox, which appears in the July issue of 1921, which includes three lines of non-word syllables, representing singing, in a poem which is only nine lines long. The subject matter itself is light--children delighted by catching sight of a crescent moon--and the rhyming pattern is similarly very simple. In January of 1922, another more distinctly narrative poem was published: “The Witch of Coos,” by Robert Frost. This poem is unusual in its inclusion of heavy quoting of two characters which appear in the text, even including the labels “The Mother,” and “The Son,” before each speaks. This imparts a theatrical mood, which is furthered by the narrator’s lack of emotional response within the poem. The events are recounted, and the response is left up to the reader. “White as the Snow,” by Edward Sapir, is a third poem that reads like a story, with no emotional response written in, and--like the other two poems--includes quoted dialogue. The subject matter includes a woman’s evasion of an unwanted marriage.
    The trend toward narrative poetry in post-war times may have reflected a lack of urgency, along with a sense of relief, and the desire for entertainment. Such poems being published during the so-called ‘roaring 20’s’ follows the decade’s interest in indulgence and freedom: the reader is left to chuckle, rejoice, or be astonished--with freedom of choice and individuality unifying these poems in their themes.
 

In the year following World War I, a great deal of darker themes became apparent in various poems published in the magazine Coterie. 1920 brough about a new freedom to discuss more sordid topics, as the world had just been affected by a great war. There are many poems that depict images of loss and death quite literally from the battleground, as well as figuratively, (as in lost love, and such); however, several of these poems in particular have something beyond that in common, and that is that they allude to references of music in the poetry.

In the April, 1920 issue, a poet named Conrad Aiken had a set of peoms published which are both reminiscent of life and ponder on death. Both exhibit a strong sense of music within their context. The first poem, "Portrait of One Dead" tells the somber story of a woman caught between life with and without her lover, who had gone for reasons that are unexplained. Her life at both stages is contrasted by a world with music and without: "This is her room: on one side there is music-/ On one side not a sound./ At one step she could move from love to silence..." The halls and the rooms of the house itself are described as "sonorous," the love letters she receives are "fragrant with music," which ignites a sense of reverberance in the reader; one can almost feel the vibrations of the music. The sensation of sound is so prominent, it becomes metaphorical for the girl's life. In the poem she dies, which is best described in the lines, "You do not know how long she clung to the music,/ You did not hear her sing," as if the playing of the music runs parallel to her physical life. The poem that follows directly after, "Coffins", again describes life as music: "We are like music, each voice of it pursuing/ A golden separate dream, remote, persistent,/ Climbing to fire, receeding to hoarse despair." The poem depicts a winter night in a town where death looms, inevitable, to take its inhabitants. Aiken is adament about using music as a metaphor for life. When death is in the eyes of someone, it is as thought the music runs out: "They are blown away like windflung chords of music;/ They drift away; the sudden music has died." It puts music in the light of being merely a span of time; It glissandos, crescendos, carries through the wind and is gone, fleeting, like life. He goes so far as to personify music as "sinister" and "troubled."

These themes are apparent again in the same issue and in later months. Further into the issue, a poem by C. B. Kitchin called "Requiem- July 17th, 1919" alludes to music in its very title. A requiem being a prominent musical piece that is sung as a mass at a funeral or in time of death, the work depicts a gruesome scene of death that disturbs the scenario of a peaceful, quiet night. In the September, 1920 issue, a poem called "An Unreturning Thing," by Gerald Gould describes the death of a child like "the hush before the orchestra begins." These poets not only describe music as an essential factor of life, but it is to them, as though, it is life in itself.

         Much of the world was in financial distress after World War I, a time during which the editor of Poetry, Hariet Monroe, was vacationing in the United States southwest. Naturally, many of the modernist magazines during this era touched directly on the financial after affects of World War I in articles and advertisements, Poetry instead chronicles is a collection of Cowboy Songs, New Mexico Folk Songs, and Western Poems. This is in direct response, to the editors fishing trip to New Mexico as illustrated by her essay "In Texas and New Mexico: "While campaign oratory is loud in the land, and the nation is weighing it's two or three candidates in the balance and wishing it had more, what can most of us do but go fishing?"(September 1920 Vol.16 No.6 p.324). A bit of a trail-blazer, Monroe continually writes on a newer model typewriter than her contemporaries; she is forever bucking current social mores in her own manner.

         As a  woman of literary stature during the suffrage movement, she speaks nothing of the efforts of her fellow females until 1920, and when she does it is practially in opposition. In an article titled "Women or Men?" Monroe confirms what statistics of her era show: that men are superior to women in the field of poetry: 

                                             The controversy is amusing, but perhaps also enlightening.
                                             The editor had suspected masculine preponderance in
                                             the magazine, but by no means to such a degree as the figures
                                             prove. They confirm her impression that more men
                                             than women find in this art—for better or worse, for joy
                                             or sorrow—their friend and confidant.(June 1920 Vol.16 No.3 p.147).

As illustrated in the essay, "The Conflicted Role of Women During World War I," Hariet Monroe was an unconventional feminist: "In her editorial policy, Hariet Monroe exemplified the goals of the feminist movement by acting in a position of power, but she did it without affiliating her magazine with the movement" (June 2009). Instead, she focused primarily on the culture of poetry in America, which was at the time as unappreciated as the role of women in the workforce. It was her role as a woman in the magazine which caused her to play a role in the feminist movement. Likewise, the role of Poetry in initiating culture helped to bolster American nationalism after World War I. The subject of the southwest is present in her Editorial because it represents to her the roots of American poetry. It is for this reason that she quotes The Nation in her essay "Frugality and Depreciation" which argues to fund poetic endeavors (namely her magazine) in spite of financially trying times: "The pitiful amount of public or private assistance given to American artists, men of letters, scientists, is one of the scandals of our civilization."(October 1920 Vol.17 No.1 p.31). Hariet Monroe supports women insofar as she is a successful woman, similarly, she supports her country insofar as it funds her art-of-choice and her magazine.

A modern woman of the post-war world:

There was one poem in particular that struck me with the most visual depiction of what happened during the Russian Revolution. The poem, “In Russia: The Spilling of Wine,” was written by Lola Ridge, and published in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse in July 1922. This poem, through the use of it’s subtle hints and imagery, shows the reader how terrible the Russian Revolution was for the soldiers.

Just by looking at the title of the poem I got a sense of the dreariness of the poem. Generally when one speaks about war they say that blood has been spilled, here the author refers to the spilling of wine. Knowing a little bit about Russian history, I can say that maybe the author was comparing wine, a royal drink, to the Romanoff leadership. Comparing the two in an esteemed way. In the first stanza the poem refers to the “wine of the Romanoffs” as “Jeweled wine.” (201)  

In the first stanza of the poem the author gives the reader a sense that the soldiers are dead. By showing the reader what the soldiers can no longer do physically, the reader understands that the soldiers are dead and this poem is taking place after a war. Phrases such as, “the soldiers lie upon the snow,” “they will not babble any more secrets to loose-mouthed nights,” “they will not drink any more wine,” and “the soldiers lie very still,” show that a war is over, or the fighting is done. (201) Since this poem was published in 1922, well after the Russian Revolution was over, the reader understands that the Revolution was very bloody and had many deaths. A lot of blood was spilled. However, in the last two lines of the first stanza, the author says, “the ancient cronies,/forgather above them.” (201) This is to say that the soldiers that the author was speaking about are not dead, rather they are dying.

In the second stanza the author shows the reader through the use of visual images of blood that the soldiers are bleeding to death. Ridge describes how the dying soldiers’ blood spilled onto the clean white snow. “And blood in thin bright streams/Besprinkling the immaculate snow.” (202) All this blood lost by the soldiers, which Ridge spoke about in the first stanza, was “boring... into the cool snow.” (202) “Mingling in bright pools/That suck at the lights of Petrograd/As dying eyes/Suck in their last sunset.” (202) These poor souls were laying in a field covered in snow waiting to die and watching their last sunset. Through various words such as “pouring,” “spurting out,” “streams,” and “pools,” the reader can tell that there was a lot of blood spilled during the Russian Revolution.

The third and last edition of "The Owl" was published post WWI in 1923. With in their final issue the editors Robert Graves and William Nicholson produced an issue which addressed drawings of male figures and God's presence in nature. With in the fist few pages the reader is introduced to a large headed male figure http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1174311795437500.jpg titles "Swinburn on Blotting Paper by Perlligrini on page 5. The man seems to be quite depressed and unsure of his thoughts. The male is figure is walking with in a grassy area but his body language is twisted as if he was indecisive wither to continue on his path or turn around. Another male figure seen with in the issue is on page 18 titled "Mr. Belloc" http://dl.lib.brown. ... pageturner&pageno=27 by John Doyl. The "Mr Belloc" seems to be sitting in a chair with his ankles crossed towards his right side while his hands were interlocked laying on his lamp. The character in the drawing seems to have a timid expression waiting patiently for something to happen. Both characters body language and expressions can be perceived as the feeling people had after the initial shock of the end of the war. The first image was the uncertainty if the war was truly over while the second image was the was waiting to see what was next to come of the war. Both male figures have a more relaxed but concerned expressions. The aftermath of the war left all sided unease and inewaiting for the next moved from their opponents when trying to finalized the treaties which would soon be broken once again.

With in the poem "Knowledge of God" http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1174312776203125.jpg on page 59 the narrator addresses the sense of God and is he or is he not all powerful and all surrounding. With in the first stanza of the poem the speaker questions who believes they have experienced God in their surrounding or in their dream if he was truly their of a figure o imaginations. He then goes on to question id he is infinite and is he actually there with in all time and space. "To time and space they add their sum But how is Godhead there?" The nature of god is questioned with the lose of fate with in his almighty being. The narrator questions not only his existence but his creations as well. The myth that god is all knowing and all surrounding is lost and he claims one should continue on with life with out depending on gods help. Another poem addressing the same issue of Gods worth in nature was in "First Rhymes: http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1174312216734375.jpg on page 26 by Edmund Blunden. The narrator is in a mill when he notices a blackbird’s and the death of nature. The sound of the hushed bird and the meadow dying leaves him aloe alone in his trails. The subject of life and death is addressed but the scene of nature dying before the narrator’s eye. He I uncertain what to make of it but only has his memories of what once was to make him happy in the end. Nature is had an everlasting cycle or recreation and death. Like in "Knowledge of God" the narrator is unable to grasp the concept of worth of life. The feeling of devastation and grief is portrayed within poems and drawings. The uncertainty of the characters within each work shows the reality of the war and the affects it had on the many individuals.

In World Affairs, an article in The New Age by Cosmoi (a pseudonym for Dimitrije Mitrinović), the author proffers a variety of "theories" to substantiate his end-claim, the superiority of the white or Aryan race. Cosmoi starts his argument with stating that "We are, indeed, one of another;" in other words that we, the human race, are all part of a whole and thus have a responsibility for one another. Cosmoi then proceeds to his genealogical assertion that "If Asia stands in general for the Father in humanity, and Africa for the Mother, Europe is indubitably the Son" meaning that the Aryan race is the progeny of Asia and Africa. Interestingly enough, Cosmoi finds it impertinent to assert that the offspring is inherently superior to the progenitors. This reminds me of a story I once heard: There were two men of learning on an airplane with their families, one a professor and the other a rabbi. The professor noticed that the rabbi’s children treated the holy man with respect and deference, especially when compared with his own children. So the professor asked, “Why do you think your children are so well behaved when compared to mine?” The rabbi answered, “Your children believe that they are one-step further away from being an ape, therefore they are born better than you and act accordingly. While my children believe that I am one generation closer to Moses and therefore treat me with the respect afforded that link.

Therefore, it would seem that Cosmoi, looking at the prevalent theory of evolution needed not to include this deduction, that it would seem apparent to his readership.  In addition, Cosmoi relies upon the then-scientific evidence to provide additional proof to his white-superiority. This proof was that black men and Asians had different glandular functions. This thought process indicates that if there were indeed a physical difference between races, then superiority based upon these physical differences is not racist, just factual. The flaw in this line of reasoning is that there is no glandular difference between races, just a pigment one, which accounts for nothing besides color of skin.

It would therefore stand that Cosmoi looks to science to validate his false claims of racial superiority. And because of the supposed racial inequality, Cosmoi postures that this superiority requires that the White Aryan race, because of its descent from the Afro-Asiatic peoples (and therefore obligation forming relationship), give assistance to these peoples.

One may suggest that this is a precursor to affirmative action. In today’s political structures, there is a constant reference to minority recipients requiring assistance to advance in our society. What is often not mentioned is that these requirements most often do not take into account the applicant’s background only his/her ethnicity. In other words, given that even if two applicants had identical social, economic, and educational backgrounds, if one were to be black, this “condition” is so debilitating that it requires preference for admittance. I do not see the difference between this obvious racial discrimination and Cosmoi’s. To quote Chief Justice John Roberts, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

I looked at a couple of poems in three different magazines that were published during the post-war years. I was interested in looking at some of the poems during this time because I had been paying attention to the use of nature to describe love in poems in the pre-war years. The majority of the poems I had looked at before either described love using nature, or described a love of nature. I wanted to know if that description of love and nature had changed after the war. What I found was that there was still a love of nature and a use of nature in many of the poems, however some of the poems I found focused on the negative side of love.

In particular, one poem I found in The New Age called "Even So Love Died" by D.R. Guttery, spoke about the two things that can kill love: Fear and Pride. The poem ends with "Only remorse is/ left for proud craven". Fear and pride killed love and all is left is guilt and remorse for being too pride. One poem that I found which used nature to describe the good side of love was called "Lovers" by Alan Porter which was published in Wheels in October of 1920. It describe a man wandering through nature who is left dumbstruck by the intense love that is emitted from two people who he sees before him. He is left to ask the question: "Do bodily beauties flower/ To ripe a strange and spiritual fruit?" Is it love that causes these two people to come together and create this amazing spiritual being.

There was one other poem in The New Age that put nature in a negative light. The poem "I Cannot Look at the Sky or the Stars" by Winifred Mitchell, which has in parenthesis "Statement made by a prostitute", describes the speakers hatred for nature. It starts off with "Why did you bring me here/ Where daisies grow". The speaker continues to bash nature and all the things that most people would find beautiful about it. She then describes her love of the city life and the fact that the city is where she feels more comfortable: Street-light, not sun-light,/ Is where this flower grows."

After looking at some of these poems in the different magazines after the war I found that nature and love continued to be dominant topics in the poems. Although in some cases the way they were used changed from positive to negative, those topics were still necessary elements used to describe emotions and feelings towards life.