1916: "Birches" to The Man Against the Sky

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Robert Frost. American. 1916. Poem. “Birches.” Trees bent to ground by ice storms. Imagines bent by boy swinging. Longs to swing again.

George Moore. Irish. 1916. Novel. The Brook Kerith. Alternative view of Christ’s fate. Lives by the Brook Kerith. Renounces his earlier message as blasphemous.

George Kaiser. German. 1916. Play. From Morn Till Midnight. Embezzles money to escape his circumscribed existence. Disappointment. Betrayed. Suicide.

Ezra Pound. American. 1916. Poetry. Lustra. Tile, from Latin, refers to offerings made by Roman censors “for the sins of the people.”

Edwin Arlington Robinson. American. 1916. Poetry. The Man Against the Sky. Man symbolized as lonely figure against sunset, i.e., death, WWI and world of science.