Literature Compare And Contrast Essay

The turn of the 20th century marks a major point in the shift of English literature. The increasing globalization of the world, along with the previously unimaginable horror of the First World War led many to question the mainstream culture that was pervasive in society. This skepticism resulted in a desire by writers to experiment with new techniques and approaches to literature. The exploration of the potential of literature resulted in new forms of writing, such as stream of conscious and multiple points of view. However, these new modes of writing created a divide between authors and the public. By increasingly critiquing modern society, many writers were disconnecting themselves from the commonplace culture. This created an estranged perspective for many writers, which would be an inherent feature of Modernist Literature. The “outsider” perspective can be seen in William Butler Yeats’ Sailing to Byzantium and D.H. Lawrence’s Snake. In both of these works the chief characters struggle with a perceived alien existence, but these …show more content…
Each speaker is clear in what makes them different from those around them. They both feel divergent from society’s desired norm, but in critically different ways. Yeats’ speaker deals with physical ailments, while Lawrence’s character struggles with not feeling the same desires that he has been taught to feel. The speaker from Sailing to Byzantium is certain of his aspirations, while the man in Snake is conflicted about what he should believe. The internal struggle present in Snake is not seen in Sailing to Byzantium, but both poems tell the tale of characters who are lost in their current state, seeking the solution to their condition. They differ in that Yates’ character knows that Byzantium is the remedy to his strife, while Lawrence’s character doesn 't know how to resolve the differences in what he has been taught by humanity, and what he believes he