Secularism is, in essence, the death of traditional religion. Although it has been a trend in Western culture since the middle of the nineteenth century, it is seen prominently in the avant garde movement in the works of poets such as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Gertrude Stein. Though each poet approached secularism from a different angle, their works frequently demonstrated an effort to construct a new spirituality, which was not centered on the Christian tradition.
Definition
The term "secularism" was first used by the British writer George Jacob Holyoake in 1851. Although the term was new, the general notions of freethought on which it was based had existed throughout history. In particular, early secular ideas involving the separation of philosophy and religion can be traced back to Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Averroism school of philosophy. Holyoake invented the term "secularism" to describe his views of promoting a social order separate from religion, without actively dismissing or criticizing religious belief. An agnostic himself, Holyoake argued that "Secularism is not an argument against Christianity, it is one independent of it. It does not question the pretensions of Christianity; it advances others. Secularism does not say there is no light or guidance elsewhere, but maintains that there is light and guidance in secular truth, whose conditions and sanctions exist independently, and act forever. Secular knowledge is manifestly that kind of knowledge which is founded in this life, which relates to the conduct of this life, conduces to the welfare of this life, and is capable of being tested by the experience of this life."
State secularism
In political terms, secularism is a movement towards the separation of religion and government (often termed the separation of church and state). This can refer to reducing ties between a government and a state religion, replacing laws based on scripture (such as the Torah and Sharia law) with civil laws, and eliminating discrimination on the basis of religion. This is said to add to democracy by protecting the rights of religious minorities.
Modernism and Secularism
During Enlightenment Era Europe, the church as a power structure began to lose its prominence in society. As religion was being displaced by science as the preeminent authority, artists themselves began to move in this trend. Modernism presented a third alternative, neither denying or popularizing either side. As such, modernists struggled to reconcile themselves between the alternate poles of spirituality and secularism.
On the most extreme end of the spectrum were the Futurists, who elevated technology and sought permanent destabilization of society. Anything that restrained the productivity of society was to be abolished, and religion figured largely into this. However, to say that their movement was entirely devoid of religious considerations wouldn't be entirely true:
"Then the silence increased. As we listened to the last faint prayer of the old canal and the crumbling of the bones of the moribund palaces with their green growth of beard, suddenly the hungry automobiles roared beneath our windows." - F.T. Marinetti, Futurist Manifesto 1909
Even when attempting to deprecate the institution of religion, the same kind of terminology and ideologies are seen in practice. While they never replaced religion with a new religion, the issue of secularism is clearly addressed. Other movements saw similar secular maneuvers when attempting to respond to this idea of secularism. Below are some writers who grappled with the idea.
Noteworthy Modernist Writers
Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound was an avant garde poet in who's work secularism manifested itself in a variety of different ways. In his poem entitled Cathay, Pound uses China to construct a new spirituality. China is placed on a pedestal in this poem, creating a world centered on an Eastern tradition of spirituality, rather than a Western, Christian tradition. There is a sort of idealization placed on China as he uses it to convey his feelings about World War II. Here in The Song of the Bowmen of Shu, Pound illustrates the sadness and desolation of soldiers as they long to return home through his translation of Chinese poetry.
Here we are, picking the first fern-shoots And saying: When shall we get back to our country? Here we are because we have the Ken-nin for our foemen, We have no comfort because of these Mongols. We grub the soft fern-shoots, When anyone says "Return," the others are full of sorrow. Sorrowful minds, sorrow is strong, we are hungry and thirsty. Our defence is not yet made sure, no one can let his friend return. We grub the old fern-stalks. We say: Will we be let to go back in October? There is no ease in royal affairs, we have no comfort. Our sorrow is bitter, but we would not return to our country. What flower has come into blossom? Whose chariot? The General's. Horses, his horses even, are tired. They were strong. We have no rest, trhee battles a month. By heavn, his horses are tired. The generals are on them, the soldiers are by them. The horses are well trained, the generals have ivory arrows and quivers ornamented with fish-skin. The enemy is swift, we must be careful. When we set out, the willows were drooping with spring, We come back in the snow, We go slowly, we are hungry and thirsty, Our mind is full of sorrow, who will know of our grief?
Choosing to illustrate feelings of longing for a return home, for a peaceful state, through ancient Chinese poetry, indicates a reverence for Eastern Culture. Western poetry wasn't sufficient to describe longing for peace. The only way to properly demonstrate a longing for peace was through the translation of an Eastern language.
Pound also brings back pantheism in his Cantos, using ancient myth to create his own poetry. He metonymically and directly references stories such as that of Demeter and Persephone, Adonis, Aphrodite, and countless other Greek and Roman deities. He uses these myths to illustrate images of hell, purgatory, and paradise, among many other ideas, but one of the most noteable themes in this work is the idea of divinity within man. In a sense, using these myths, Pound presents man as having the ability to posess an innate spirituality. For example, in Canto XC, Pound uses illusions to the myth of Demeter and Persephone to describe a transcendence from hell to paradise. He suggests that in this paradise state, man can posses the divine within himself. One line reads, “The good things of will through which an image of the divine likeness will be found in us”
Both of these works demonstrate how Pound avoids referencing Christian traditions, focusing on ancient myth and Eastern tradition as a source for spirituality instead.
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein's work Tender Buttons, demonstrates a reverence for objects as a source for spirituality. She emphasizes the 'thing', making it the subject of praise, rather than any sort of deity or religion.
A Red Hat
A dark grey, a very dark grey, a quite dark grey is
monstrous ordinarily, it is so monstrous because there
is no red in it. If red is in everything it is not neces-
sary. Is that not an argument for any use of it and
even so is there any place that is better, is there any
place that has so much stretched out.
The focus on colour and functionality indicates that the 'thing' is all that matters. The red hat is what is worthy of praise in the eyes of Stein, and not a god or religion.
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams, another poet of the avant garde, places his praise on the imagination. In his work, Spring and All, he states,
"I love my fellow creature. Jesus, how I love him: endways, sideways, frontways and all the other ways--but he doesn't exist! Neither does she. I do, in a bastardly sort of way. To whom then am I addressed? To the imagination."[3]
Here, he seems to indicate that, without imagination, there is no man, and that imagination is worthy of love. Throughout the work, imagination is revered, just as Stein praises objects, and Pound, the East, and ancient myth.
Each of these poets demonstrate secularism in their abandonment of the Western Christian tradition, while creating a new spirituality in their reverence for a completely novel concept.
References
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Definition
The term "secularism" was first used by the British writer George Jacob Holyoake in 1851. Although the term was new, the general notions of freethought on which it was based had existed throughout history. In particular, early secular ideas involving the separation of philosophy and religion can be traced back to Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Averroism school of philosophy. Holyoake invented the term "secularism" to describe his views of promoting a social order separate from religion, without actively dismissing or criticizing religious belief. An agnostic himself, Holyoake argued that "Secularism is not an argument against Christianity, it is one independent of it. It does not question the pretensions of Christianity; it advances others. Secularism does not say there is no light or guidance elsewhere, but maintains that there is light and guidance in secular truth, whose conditions and sanctions exist independently, and act forever. Secular knowledge is manifestly that kind of knowledge which is founded in this life, which relates to the conduct of this life, conduces to the welfare of this life, and is capable of being tested by the experience of this life."
State secularism
In political terms, secularism is a movement towards the separation of religion and government (often termed the separation of church and state). This can refer to reducing ties between a government and a state religion, replacing laws based on scripture (such as the Torah and Sharia law) with civil laws, and eliminating discrimination on the basis of religion. This is said to add to democracy by protecting the rights of religious minorities.
Modernism and Secularism
During Enlightenment Era Europe, the church as a power structure began to lose its prominence in society. As religion was being displaced by science as the preeminent authority, artists themselves began to move in this trend. Modernism presented a third alternative, neither denying or popularizing either side. As such, modernists struggled to reconcile themselves between the alternate poles of spirituality and secularism.
On the most extreme end of the spectrum were the Futurists, who elevated technology and sought permanent destabilization of society. Anything that restrained the productivity of society was to be abolished, and religion figured largely into this. However, to say that their movement was entirely devoid of religious considerations wouldn't be entirely true:
"Then the silence increased. As we listened to the last faint prayer of the old canal and the crumbling of the bones of the moribund palaces with their green growth of beard, suddenly the hungry automobiles roared beneath our windows." - F.T. Marinetti, Futurist Manifesto 1909
Even when attempting to deprecate the institution of religion, the same kind of terminology and ideologies are seen in practice. While they never replaced religion with a new religion, the issue of secularism is clearly addressed. Other movements saw similar secular maneuvers when attempting to respond to this idea of secularism. Below are some writers who grappled with the idea.
Noteworthy Modernist Writers
Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound was an avant garde poet in who's work secularism manifested itself in a variety of different ways. In his poem entitled Cathay, Pound uses China to construct a new spirituality. China is placed on a pedestal in this poem, creating a world centered on an Eastern tradition of spirituality, rather than a Western, Christian tradition. There is a sort of idealization placed on China as he uses it to convey his feelings about World War II. Here in The Song of the Bowmen of Shu, Pound illustrates the sadness and desolation of soldiers as they long to return home through his translation of Chinese poetry.
And saying: When shall we get back to our country?
Here we are because we have the Ken-nin for our foemen,
We have no comfort because of these Mongols.
We grub the soft fern-shoots,
When anyone says "Return," the others are full of sorrow.
Sorrowful minds, sorrow is strong, we are hungry and thirsty.
Our defence is not yet made sure, no one can let his friend return.
We grub the old fern-stalks.
We say: Will we be let to go back in October?
There is no ease in royal affairs, we have no comfort.
Our sorrow is bitter, but we would not return to our country.
What flower has come into blossom?
Whose chariot? The General's.
Horses, his horses even, are tired. They were strong.
We have no rest, trhee battles a month.
By heavn, his horses are tired.
The generals are on them, the soldiers are by them.
The horses are well trained, the generals have ivory arrows and
quivers ornamented with fish-skin.
The enemy is swift, we must be careful.
When we set out, the willows were drooping with spring,
We come back in the snow,
We go slowly, we are hungry and thirsty,
Our mind is full of sorrow, who will know of our grief?
From "Cathay", 1915[1]
Pound also brings back pantheism in his Cantos, using ancient myth to create his own poetry. He metonymically and directly references stories such as that of Demeter and Persephone, Adonis, Aphrodite, and countless other Greek and Roman deities. He uses these myths to illustrate images of hell, purgatory, and paradise, among many other ideas, but one of the most noteable themes in this work is the idea of divinity within man. In a sense, using these myths, Pound presents man as having the ability to posess an innate spirituality. For example, in Canto XC, Pound uses illusions to the myth of Demeter and Persephone to describe a transcendence from hell to paradise. He suggests that in this paradise state, man can posses the divine within himself. One line reads, “The good things of will through which an image of the divine likeness will be found in us”
Both of these works demonstrate how Pound avoids referencing Christian traditions, focusing on ancient myth and Eastern tradition as a source for spirituality instead.
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein's work Tender Buttons, demonstrates a reverence for objects as a source for spirituality. She emphasizes the 'thing', making it the subject of praise, rather than any sort of deity or religion.
A Red Hat
A dark grey, a very dark grey, a quite dark grey ismonstrous ordinarily, it is so monstrous because there
is no red in it. If red is in everything it is not neces-
sary. Is that not an argument for any use of it and
even so is there any place that is better, is there any
place that has so much stretched out.
From "Tender Buttons" 1914[2]
The focus on colour and functionality indicates that the 'thing' is all that matters. The red hat is what is worthy of praise in the eyes of Stein, and not a god or religion.
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams, another poet of the avant garde, places his praise on the imagination. In his work, Spring and All, he states,
"I love my fellow creature. Jesus, how I love him: endways, sideways, frontways and all the other ways--but he doesn't exist! Neither does she. I do, in a bastardly sort of way. To whom then am I addressed? To the imagination."[3]
Here, he seems to indicate that, without imagination, there is no man, and that imagination is worthy of love. Throughout the work, imagination is revered, just as Stein praises objects, and Pound, the East, and ancient myth.
Each of these poets demonstrate secularism in their abandonment of the Western Christian tradition, while creating a new spirituality in their reverence for a completely novel concept.
References
Images are used in accordance with fair use practices.If you hold copyright to an image, and do not agree that its use accords with fair use practices,please contact the wiki's creator and organizer.
Pound, Ezra. Personae; the Collected Shorter Poems of Ezra Pound. New York: New Directions Pub., 1971. Print.