Literature and Poetry

Literature of the Edwardian era reflected the restless ambivalence of the new millenium. Playwright George Bernard Shaw transformed Edwardian theatre into an arena for debate over the issues of his time: the question of political organization, the morality of armaments and war, the function of class and professions, the validity of the family and marriage, and the challenge of female emancipation. E.M. Forster, who penned such novels as Howard's End and A Room With a View, explored difficult themes such as the insensitivity, repression, and philistinism of the English middle classes. H.G. Wells, on the other hand, expressed the optimistic conviction of his time that science and technology would transform the world in the new century. Writers such as Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling, who had established their reputations during the Victorian era, conveyed reservations about the future and instead sought to revive the literary forms as the ballad, narrative poem, satire, fantasy, and essay, which they believed would preserve traditional sentiments and perceptions.

The Edwardian era birthed a number of literary and poetic movements such as Imagism, Futurism, and the Lost Generation. Imagism describes a movement in American and English poetry beginning in 1910 that borrowed from haiku and free verse and is exemplified in the poems of Ezra Pound. Birthed in Europe, Futurism advocated the abandonment of conventional syntax and the uninhibited and often bizarre use of images drawn from the age of technology. Finally, the Lost Generation refers to expatriate American writers, including Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who came into prominence after the first World War and whose work reflected a deep disillusionment with their society.