Definition: Fragmentation is both thematic and formal. Plot, characters, theme, images, factual references, grammar and narrative form can be broken and dispersed throughout the entire work. The poem itself can also be fragmented; consisting of broken stanzas or sentences. In general, there is an interrupted sequence of events, character development and action. Function: Modernist literature embraces fragmentation as a literary form, since it reinforces the fragmentation of reality and contradicts notions of totality and wholeness. Example: Within T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," a modern waste land of crumbled cities is depicted. The poem itself is fragmented, consisting of broken stanzas and sentences that resemble the cultural debris and detritus through which the speaker (modern man) wades. |