SURREALISM in Literature

In the twenties, the new interest in psychology turned poets to investigate the hidden impulses of man. Eliot gave currency to internal monologue. It was in psychology and politics that the poets of the thirties led by W.H. Auden sought a solution to the world problem. Auden and his followers took up the causes of the masses and showed genuine sympathy and realism. Though Eliot and Hopkins were masters in the matter of technique, the group was critical of poetry written only for a few. In an attempt to make contact with a wider audience they abandoned the academic style for a more colloquial expression and used the vocabulary idiom and rhythms of everyday speech. However, this was an oversimplification of a complex situation. About 1930, SURREALISM which had been strong in literature as well as in art was known in the Country. Its influence was limited and brief and it’s only real advocate was Sir Herbert Read. But the escape from the complex problems of contemporary life which SURREALISM of young English poets notably for David Gascoyne while Dylan Thomas, George Barker, and Kenneth Allott were keenly involved in the movement. The organ of SURREALISM contemporary poetry and prose edited by Roger Broughton ran to only ten numbers.