English with Mrs. Lamp

Teaching Modernism to AP® Literature and Composition students might seem daunting at first, but it could also be one of your most fun and thought-provoking units!

As AP® Lit teachers, we’re tasked with guiding students through complex texts that often defy traditional narrative structures and poetic forms. A Modernism unit is a GREAT way to do this! Here’s everything you need to know to teach Modernism like a pro! (Find my unit here)

Contextualize the Movement

Begin by grounding students in the historical and cultural context of Modernism. With my Modernism Poetry Unit , you can incorporate background readings of various difficulty levels (great for differentiation needs, or simply choosing a longer or shorter reading to fit your planning needs) and enrichment resources like a Modernist Art and Architecture PowerPoint to visually illustrate the era’s radical changes!

Start with Accessible Texts

Introduce the unit with more approachable works like Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night” or Sandburg’s “Chicago” before diving into more challenging pieces like Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.” My approach includes starting with short stories (“Macomber” and “Araby”) which are more accessible for students (who often have less familiarity with poetry), then easing into poetry with “Chicago” and “Dawn” (simple, short, easy-to-read words) before tackling the longer, more complex works.

Focus on Key Themes

Highlight Modernist themes such as alienation, fragmentation, and the impact of World War I. My unit includes 75 thought-provoking reading/discussion questions designed to guide students toward these crucial concepts.

Major Themes to Understand When Choosing Texts

The texts you choose for your Modernism unit should explore several key themes:

1. Alienation and Isolation: Many Modernist works depict characters who feel disconnected from society or struggle with feeling isolated. Among other works I’ve chosen, this is clear in T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and in the existential crises of characters like the solider speaker in “Futility,” Sweeney in “Sweeney Among the Nightingales,” and the speaker in “Musée des Beaux Arts.”
2. Fragmentation and Disillusionment: Modernist literature often reflects the fragmented nature of experience in the modern world. This fragmentation is not just stylistic but also thematic, reflecting the Modernists’ disillusionment with traditional values and societal structures. Examples include the fragmented, free verse structure obvious in “Futility,” “Prufrock,” “Chicago,” “Sweeney,” and “The Hollow Men” and the shattered ideals depicted in Wilfred Owen’s war poetry like “Dulce et Decorum est.”
3. Time and Memory: Modernist writers often experiment with the concepts of time and memory, presenting them as subjective and unreliable. This is evident in Eliot’s exploration of time in “The Waste Land,” in Auden’s “As I Walked Out One Evening, and in the reflections in Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night.”
4. Identity and Self-Reflection: Many Modernist works explore the complexity of identity and the search for self-understanding. Characters often undergo introspection and self-analysis, grappling with their own identities in the face of societal changes. This theme is prominent in Hemingway’s character studies, such as those found in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” This is also huge in “a total stranger one black day” by cummings and in “Prufrock.”
5. Urbanization and Modernity: With the rise of cities and industrialization, Modernist literature often critiques the impact of urban life on individuals and society. Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago” celebrates the city’s vitality while also questioning its social inequalities and moral challenges. Other poems I use that deal with these themes include “Araby,” “Prufrock,” “Sweeney,” and “Acquainted with the Night.”
6. War and its Aftermath: The trauma of World War I profoundly influenced many Modernist writers, who depicted the brutal realities of war and its aftermath. This theme is explored in Wilfred Owen’s poignant war poems like “Futility” and “Dulce et Decorum est,” which vividly capture the horrors of warfare.
7. Existential Angst and Absurdity: Modernist literature frequently grapples with existential questions about the meaning of life and the absurdity of existence. This can be seen in the existential dilemmas faced by characters in T. S. Eliot’s works like “The Hollow Men” and in the existentialist undertones of e. e. cummings’s poetry. Also significant here are “The Snow Man,” “Sweeney,” “Musée des Beaux Arts,” and “Futility.”

Texts I Use in My Modernism Unit

• The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, by Ernest Hemingway
• Araby, by James Joyce
• Chicago, by Carl Sandburg
• Dawn, by William Carlos Williams
• The Snow Man, by Wallace Stevens
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T. S. Eliot
• As I Walked Out One Evening, by W. H. Auden
• a total stranger one black day, by e. e. cummings
• Futility, by Wilfred Owen
• Acquainted with the Night, by Robert Frost
• The Hollow Men, by T. S. Eliot
• Musée des Beaux Arts, by W. H. Auden
• Sweeney Among the Nightingales, by T. S. Eliot
• Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas
• Dulce et Decorum est, by Wilfred Owen

Embrace the Complexity

Don’t shy away from the difficulty of Modernist texts! Use tools like poetry charts & graphic organizers or my free TPCASTT worksheet to break things down. My unit provides detailed, fully completed poetry charts to help you navigate the intricacies of form and content & ensure your students REALLY UNDERSTAND these complex texts! They have fun filling out poetry charts as a group activity, too!

Encourage Close Reading

Modernist works often require multiple readings. My unit has students read and analyze poems several times through discussions, graphic organizers, and a final poetry explication, culminating in a unit test. (Grab the poetry explication assignment here!)

Foster Discussions

Discuss as much as you can! Facilitate meaningful conversations that push students to think critically and share diverse perspectives. For more tips on leading great discussions, check out this post; or try this post about getting kids to participate & fostering a classroom culture that facilitates great conversations about literature!

Connect to Contemporary Issues

Relate Modernist themes to students’ experiences with alienation, technological change, and global conflict. With my unit, I work on making these connections during discussions, through my own feedback on my students’ written responses, and via the end-of-unit poetry explication essay workshopping that we do.

Prepare for the AP® Exam

My unit’s exams and the study guides we use are tailored to practice the skills needed for the AP® Literature exam, focusing on Common Core standards and AP Big Ideas. I always center my units around the Common Core and the AP Big Ideas/Essential Understandings, and then I really zero in on AP® Lit exam skills and practice with the unit exams because those are what my students put the most time into studying, and when they see their test results, they are also motivated to look into their areas of weakness and work on them ahead of the exam in May.

Differentiate Instruction

When you’re planning your units, think about where and how you can differentiate to meet diverse student needs. I like to use scaffolded context readings as well as multiple ways to address texts and assess student learning. We do things like reading questions, discussions, graphic organizers, and games to mix things up and meet everybody where he or she is. I even throw in Modernist Art & Architecture with this lesson:

Conclusion

• By implementing these strategies to build your own Modernism unit or leveraging the resources in my Modernism Poetry Unit, you can guide your students to a deep appreciation and understanding of Modernist literature! They really love the special touches, like the Modernism in Art & Architecture PowerPoint, fun discussions, and unqiue poetry analysis activities we do with special graphic organizers!
• In addition, the themes we explore throughout the unit collectively reflect the broader concerns of Modernist writers as they navigated the tumultuous early 20th century, responding to rapid social, political, and technological changes with innovative literary techniques and profound philosophical inquiry. Getting into these topics helps students understand the bigger picture & start seeing themselves as informed, mature readers.
• After building this unit, I could see how it transformed how my students interacted with Modernist texts. The discussions we have now are always lively, and I love how the resources help me clarify complex concepts & encourage the kids to feel like they really “cooked” with their original, unique interpretations of the texts!

Sample Resource: Explore a sample poetry chart.