Modernist poetry refers to poetry written, mainly in Europe and North America, between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases of the critic setting the dates.ot within living memory has there ever been a day when young writers were not coming up, in a threat of iconoclasm Evidence of the truth of Sisson's comment is Arthur Hallam 's 'On Some of the Characteristics of Modern poetry, published in 1830 in Moxon 's English Magazine.