Final answer:
Modernist poets rejected Romanticism for being overly sentimental and not reflective of the fragmented reality of the modern world. Modernism embodied innovation and the mantra 'Make It New!' and included poets like T. S. Eliot and Marianne Moore.
Step-by-step explanation:
Modernist Poets and Their Rejection of Past Movements
The major literary movement rejected by Modernist poets as outdated and incapable of expressing the complexities of the modern world was Romanticism. Modernism was an influential cultural movement that began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, advocating for innovation and a break from traditional forms of art and literature. This movement embodied Ezra Pound's mantra to Make It New! and featured a spectrum from Low Modernism to High Modernism. Romanticism, which glorified nature, common people, and the historical past, was perceived by Modernists as overly sentimental and not reflective of the fragmented and chaotic reality of the modern world.
Examples of Modernist poets include T. S. Eliot, whose work often presents a vision of the world as disjointed, and Marianne Moore, who favored concrete images and plain language over the traditional literary forms associated with Romanticism. The Modernist movement as a whole was a reaction against movements such as Romanticism and embraced new forms of expression to better capture the experiences of contemporary life. While Romanticism held sway over the 18th and 19th centuries, Modernism sought a different, less idealized vision that could grapple with the rapid changes in society and the deep sense of disillusionment following events such as World War I.