Imagism

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Imagism

• Most influential poetic
• movement of the
• 20th century

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Began in 1912

• Efforts of Ezra Pound started movement
• He and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) were only true
  Imagists
• William Carlos Williams advocated use of the
  local vs. excessive allusions
• Amy Lowell was considered by many a leader in
  movement, but her style was not as hard and
  clear (Pound) hence the term Amygism

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Basic Definition

• Direct concentration on the image the thing
  itself
• Use of the language of common speech and always
  the precise word
• Creation of new rhythms
• Complete freedom in the choice of subject
• Pound An intellectual and emotional complex
  presented in an instant of time

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Two aspects of definition

• Poets must seek complex thoughts and feelings
• Poets must compress such complexity into a single
  moment

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The Red Wheelbarrowby William Carlos Williams

• so much depends
• upon
• a red wheel
• barrow
• glazed with rain
• water
• beside the white
• chickens.

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In a Station of the Metroby Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the
crowd Petals on a wet, black bough.
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Now lets think about it . . .

• Best known Imagist poem
• Juxtapose ghostly vision with image of petals on
  a tree after a rain
• We are fragile and subject to decay (like
  flowers)
• Yet, we survived the storm
• Poem is concentrated, hard, clear, direct,
  succinct, free

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LArt ,1910by Ezra Pound

• Green arsenic smeared on an egg-white cloth,
• Crushed strawberries! Come let us feast
• our eyes.

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Huh?

• Wry comment on modernism
• Is Pound praising or satirizing the art of his
  day?
• What effect does the juxtaposition of the words
  arsenic and smeared have on the idea of feasting?

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Fan-Piece for Her Imperial Lordby Ezra Pound

• O fan of white silk,
• clear as frost on the grass-blade,
• You also are laid aside.

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And think . . .

• Asian woman, speaker of poem, caught in a moment
  of despondency
• Laid aside by husband or master as if she is no
  more than a fan
• grass blade -- all things are ephemeral
• white silk delicacy, simplicity, purity
• also faces basic truth about social
  relationships speaker knows what she has become

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A Loverby Amy Lowell

• If I could catch the green lantern of the firefly
• I could see to write you a letter.

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Think about it this way . . .

• Speaker is as likely to write letter as she is to
  catch the firefly and hang it up as a lantern
• Evokes sense of tenderness and frustration of
  unexpressed love
• Double darkness night AND her own mixed emotions