ABSTRACT
The 1930s exposed the tensions evident in the 1920s, between image and reality, icons and individuals, high Modernism and Social Realism. As the exuberance of the Jazz Age collided with the certainty of overwhelming economic collapse, the nation’s collective mindset hung a u-turn; surely, quickly, and absolutely. The collapse of the modernist revolution, albeit temporarily, and the rise of socially conscious art defined the American 1930s. The conflict can be summarized by comparing two of the period’s most renowned poets, both of whom made their way to New York in the 1920s.
