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| ], one of the prime movers of Imagism.]] | |||
| '''Imagism''' was a movement in early ] ]-] ] that favoured precision of ], and clear, sharp language. The Imagists rejected the sentiment and artifice typical of much ] and ] poetry. This was in contrast to their contemporaries, the ], who were by and large content to work within that tradition. Group publication of work under the Imagist name in magazines and in four anthologies appearing between ] and ] featured writing by many of the most significant figures in ], as well as a number of other ] figures who were to be prominent in fields other than poetry. | |||
| Based in ], the Imagists were drawn from ], ] and the ]. Though somewhat unusual for the time, the Imagists featured a number of women writers amongst their major figures. Historically, Imagism is also significant because it was the first organised Modernist ] movement or group. In the words of ]; "The ''point de repère'' usually and conveniently taken as the starting-point of modern poetry is the group denominated 'imagists' (''sic'') in London about 1910." | |||
| At the time Imagism emerged, ] and ] were considered the paragons for poetry, and the public valued the sometimes ] tone of their writings. In contrast to this, Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more ] values, such as directness of presentation, and economy of language, as well as a willingness to experiment with non-traditional ] forms. The focus on the "thing" as "thing" (an attempt at isolating a single image to reveal its essence) also mirrors contemporary developments in '']'' art, especially ]. Although Imagism isolates objects through the use of what ] called "luminous details", Pound's ] of juxtaposing concrete instances to express an abstraction, is similar to the way in which Cubism synthesises a single image from multiple perspectives. | |||
| ==Early Imagism== | |||
| In the first ten years of the 20th century, ] was the serving British ]. Poetry still had a large audience, and volumes of verse published during the decade included ]'s ''The Dynasts'', ]'s posthumous ''Poetical Works'', ]'s ''Poems'', ]'s ''Last Poems'', ]'s ''Ballads of a Cheechako'' and ]'s ''Ballads and Poems''. Future ] winner ] was devoting much of his energy to the ] and writing for the stage, producing relatively little lyric poetry during this period. In ], the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to ]. In general, the poetry of the period was formally traditionalist and decorous in content. These literary figures and values provided the context that Imagists emerged in as a self-consciously ''avant-garde'' movement. | |||
| The origins of Imagism are to be found in two poems, ''Autumn'' and ''A City Sunset'' by ]. These were published in January ] by the ] in London in a booklet called ''For Christmas MDCCCCVIII''. Hulme was a student of mathematics and philosophy; he had been involved in the setting up of the Club in ] and was its first secretary. Around the end of 1908 he presented his paper '']'' at one of the Club's meetings . Writing in ]'s magazine ''The New Age'', the poet and critic ] (a champion of ] and modern French poetry) was highly critical of the club and its publications. From the ensuing debate, Hulme and Flint became close friends. In ] Hulme left the Poets' Club, and started meeting with Flint and other poets in a new group which Hulme referred to as the 'Secession Club'; they met at the Eiffel Tower restaurant in ] to discuss plans to reform contemporary poetry through ] and the ] and ] and the removal of all unnecessary verbiage from poems. The interest in Japanese verse forms can be placed in a context of the late ] and ] revival of interest in ] and ] as witnessed in the ] vogue for ] Japanese prints donated to the ], performances of ] plays in London, and the success of ]'s ] '']''. Direct literary models were available from a number of sources, including ]’s ] ''Hyak nin is’shiu, or, Stanzas by a Century of Poets, Being Japanese Lyrical Odes'', the first English-language version of the '']'', a ] anthology of 100 tanka, the early 20th-century critical writings and poems of ], and contemporary ] translations. This group included ], ], ], ] and the writer and actor ], who also worked with ] on performances of poetry to a musical accompaniment on the ]. | |||
| In April 1909, the American poet Ezra Pound was introduced to this group and found that their ideas were close to his own. In particular, Pound's studies of ] literature had led him to an admiration of the condensed, direct expression that he detected in the writings of ], ], and ], amongst others. For example, in his 1911/12 series of essays ''I gather the limbs of Osiris'', Pound writes of Daniel's line "pensar de lieis m'es repaus" ("it rests me to think of her") (from the canzone ''En breu brizara'l temps braus''): "You cannot get statement simpler than that, or clearer, or less rhetorical". These criteria of directness, clarity and lack of ] were to be amongst the defining qualities of Imagist poetry. Through his friendship with ], Pound had already developed an interest in ] and he quickly became absorbed in the study of Japanese verse forms. | |||
| In a ] letter to the ] ] and ] ], Pound was keen to emphasise another ancestry for Imagism, pointing out that Hulme was, in many ways, indebted to a ] tradition, linking back via ], ] and the ] generation of British poets to ]. In ], Pound edited the poetry of another 90's poet, ] for the publisher ]. In his introduction, he wrote "no one has written purer Imagisme than has, in the line 'Clear lie the fields, and fade into blue air.' It has a beauty like the Chinese." | |||
| ==Early publications and statements of intent== | |||
| ]]] | |||
| In ], Pound introduced two other poets to the Eiffel Tower group, his ex-fiancée Hilda Doolittle (who had started signing her work ]) and her future husband ]. These two were interested in exploring ] poetic models, especially ], an interest that Pound shared. The compression of expression that they achieved by following the Greek example complemented the proto-Imagist interest in Japanese poetry, and, in 1912, during a meeting with them in the British Museum tea room, Pound told H.D. and Aldington that they were Imagistes, and even appended the signature ''H.D. Imagiste'' to some poems they were discussing. | |||
| ]]] | |||
| When ] started her '']'' magazine in 1911, she had asked Pound to act as foreign editor. In October 1912, he submitted three poems each by H.D. and Aldington under the ''Imagiste'' rubric. That same month, Pound's book ''Ripostes'' was published with an appendix called ''The Complete Poetical Works of T. E. Hulme'' which carried a note that saw the first appearance of the word ''Imagiste'' in print. Aldington's poems, ''Choricos'', ''To a Greek Marble'', and ''Au Vieux Jadrin'', were in the November issue of ''Poetry'' and H.D.'s, ''Hermes of the Ways'', ''Orchard'', and ''Epigram'', appeared in the January 1913 issue; Imagism as a movement was launched. The April issue published what was, in the words of J.T. Barbarese, "Imagism's enabling text", Pound's ]-like "In a Station of the Metro": | |||
| :The apparition of these faces in the crowd: | |||
| :Petals on a wet, black bough. | |||
| The March issue of ''Poetry'' also contained Pound's ''A Few Don'ts by an Imagiste'' and Flint's ''Imagisme''. The latter contained this succinct statement of the group's position: | |||
| # Direct treatment of the "thing", whether subjective or objective. | |||
| # To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation. | |||
| # As regarding rhythm: to compose in sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of the ]. | |||
| Pound's note opened with a definition of an image as ''that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time''. His list of ''don'ts'' reinforced Flint's three statements, while warning that they should not be considered as dogma but as the ''result of long contemplation''. Taken together, these two texts comprised the Imagist programme for a return to what they saw as the best poetic practice of the past. | |||
| ==''Des Imagistes''== | |||
| ], whose work was included in the ''Des Imagistes'' anthology.]] | |||
| Determined to promote the work of the Imagists, and particularly of Aldington and H.D., Pound decided to publish an anthology under the title '']''. This was published in ] by the ] in London. In addition to ten poems by Aldington, seven by H.D. and six by Pound, the book included work by Flint, ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. | |||
| Pound's editorial choices were based on what he saw as the degree of sympathy that these writers displayed with Imagist precepts, rather than active participation in a group as such. Williams, who was based in the United States, had not participated in any of the discussions of the Eiffel Tower group. However, he and Pound had long been corresponding on the question of the renewal of poetry along similar lines. Ford was included at least partly because of his strong influence on Pound as the younger poet made the transition from his earlier, ] influenced, style towards a harder, more modern way of writing. | |||
| The inclusion of a poem by Joyce, ''I Hear an Army'' which was sent to Pound by ], took on a wider importance in the history of literary modernism as the subsequent correspondence between the two led to the serial publication, at Pound's behest, of '']'' in '']''. Joyce's poem is not written in free verse, but in ] ]s. However, it does strongly reflect Pound's interest in poems written to be sung to ], such as the troubadours and Cavalcanti. | |||
| The book met with little popular or critical success, at least partly because it had no introduction or commentary to explain what the poets were attempting to do, and a number of copies were returned to the publisher. | |||
| ==''Some Imagist Poets''== | |||
| The following year, Pound and Flint fell out over their different interpretations of the history and goals of the group arising from an article on the history of Imagism written by Flint and published in ''The Egoist'' in May ]. Flint was at pains to emphasise the contribution of the Eiffel Tower poets, especially Storer. Pound, who believed that the "Hellenic hardness" that he saw as the distinguishing quality of the poems of H.D. and Aldington was likely to be diluted by the "custard" of Storer, was to play no further direct role in the history of the Imagists. He went on to co-found the ] with his friend the painter and writer ]. | |||
| ], the only writer to publish both as a ] and an Imagist.]] | |||
| Around this time, the American Imagist Amy Lowell moved to ], determined to promote her own work and that of the other Imagist poets. Lowell was a wealthy heiress from ] who loved ] and ]s. She was also an enthusiastic champion of literary experiment who was willing to use her money to publish the group. Lowell was determined to change the method of selection from Pound's autocratic editorial attitude to a more ] manner. This new editorial policy was stated in the Preface to the first anthology to appear under her leadership: "In this new book we have followed a slightly different arrangement to that of our former Anthology. Instead of an arbitrary selection by an editor, each poet has been permitted to represent himself by the work he considers his best, the only stipulation being that it should not yet have appeared in book form." | |||
| The outcome was a series of Imagist anthologies under the title ''Some Imagist Poets''. The first of these appeared in ], planned and assembled mainly by H.D. and Aldington. Two further issues, both edited by Lowell, were published in ] and ]. These three volumes featured most of the original poets with the exception of Pound, who had tried to persuade her to drop the Imagist name from her publications and who sardonically dubbed this phase of Imagism "Amy-gism." | |||
| Lowell convinced ] to contribute poems to the 1915 and 1916 volumes, making him the only writer to publish as both a Georgian poet and an Imagist. ] also became associated with the group during this period. However, with ] as a backdrop, the times were not easy for '']'' literary movements (Aldington, for example, spent much of the war at the front), and the 1917 anthology effectively marked the end of the Imagists as a movement. | |||
| ==The Imagists after Imagism== | |||
| ] | |||
| In ], ] jokingly suggested that Aldington should produce a new Imagist anthology. Aldington, by now a successful novelist, took up the suggestion and enlisted the help of Ford and H.D. The result was the ''Imagist Anthology 1930'', edited by Aldington and including all the contributors to the four earlier anthologies with the exception of Lowell, who had died, Cannell, who had disappeared, and Pound, who declined. The appearance of this anthology initiated a critical discussion of the place of the Imagists in the history of 20th-century poetry. | |||
| Of the poets who were published in the various Imagist anthologies, Joyce, Lawrence and Aldington are now primarily remembered and read as novelists. Marianne Moore, who was at most a fringe member of the group, carved out a unique poetic style of her own that retained an Imagist concern with compression of language. William Carlos Williams developed his poetic along distinctly American lines with his variable ] and a ] he claimed was taken from "the mouths of Polish mothers". Both Pound and H.D. turned to writing long poems but retained much of the hard edge to their language as an Imagist legacy. Most of the other members of the group are largely forgotten except inasmuch as they contributed directly to the history of Imagism. | |||
| ==Legacy== | |||
| Despite being so short-lived as a movement, Imagism was to prove to be deeply influential on the course of modernist poetry in English. Aldington, in his 1941 memoir, writes: "I think the poems of Ezra Pound, H.D., Lawrence, and Ford Madox Ford will continue to be read. And to a considerable extent T. S. Eliot and his followers have carried on their operations from positions won by the Imagists." ] on the other hand, voiced his shortcomings in the Imagist approach; he wrote "Not all objects are equal. The vice of imagism was that it did not recognize this." | |||
| The influence of Imagism can be seen clearly in the work of the ], who came to prominence in the ] under the auspices of Pound and Williams. The Objectivists worked mainly in free verse. Clearly linking Objectivism's principles with Imagism's, Zukovsky insisted, in his introduction to the ] Objectivist issue of '']'', on writing "which is the detail, not mirage, of seeing, of thinking with the things as they exist, and of directing them along a line of melody." | |||
| The influence of Imagism can be seen in a number of ] poetic groups and movements, especially the ], the ], and others associated with the ]. In his seminal ] essay, ''Projective Verse'', Charles Olson, the theorist of the Black Mountain group, wrote "ONE PERCEPTION MUST IMMEDIATELY AND DIRECTLY LEAD TO A FURTHER PERCEPTION", a credo that derives directly from the Imagists. | |||
| Among the Beats, Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg in particular were influenced by the Imagist emphasis on ] and ]. William Carlos Williams was another who had a strong impact on the Beat poets, encouraging poets like ] and writing an introduction for the book publication of Ginsberg's '']''. One poet associated with the Objectivist group, ], was a major influence on the ], who carried the Imagist focus on formal concerns to a high level of development. Another, ], was a key figure in the early development of the ], a loose movement that also absorbed the influence of the ] poets. | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| * Pratt, William, ''The Imagist Poem, Modern Poetry in Miniature,'' 1963, expanded 2001, Story Line Press, ISBN 1586540092 | |||
| * ], ''Makers of the New: The Revolution in Literature, 1912–1939,'' Andre Deutsch, 1987, ISBN 0233980075 | |||
| ==References== | |||
| '''Print''' | |||
| *Aldington, Richard. ''Life For Life's Sake'' (The Viking Press, 1941) ... see Chapter IX | |||
| *Blau Duplessis, Rachel. ''H.D. The Career of that Struggle''. (The Harvester Press, 1986). ISBN 0-7108-0548-9 | |||
| *Brooker, Jewel Spears, ''Mastery and Escape: T S Elliot,'' University of Massachusetts Press, 1996, ISBN 155849040X. (page 48) | |||
| *Guest, Barbara. ''Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her World''. (Collins, 1985) ISBN 0385131291 | |||
| *Jones, Peter (ed.). ''Imagist Poetry'' (Penguin, 1972). | |||
| *Kenner, Hugh. ''The Pound Era'' (Faber and Faber, 1975 edition). ISBN 0-571-10668-4 | |||
| *McGuinness, Patrick (editor), ''T. E. Hulme: Selected Writings,'' Fyfield Books, Carcanet Press, 1998. ISBN 1857543629 (pages xii - xiii) | |||
| *Sullivan, J.P. (ed). ''Ezra Pound'' (Penguin critical anthologies series, 1970). ISBN 14-080033-6 | |||
| '''Online''' | |||
| * Captured April 25th, 2005. | |||
| * Captured April 25th, 2005. | |||
| * Captured April 29th, 2005. | |||
| * Captured May 6th, 2005. | |||
| * Captured May 9th, 2005. | |||
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Revision as of 22:46, 30 December 2005
JIM WALES I AM REALLY GETTING IRRIATATED BY YOU!!!!! YOU BETTER STOP IT WITH YOUR GAY-ASS WIKIS THAT YOU ARE A PART OF!!! WE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT KILLING YOU.
WIKIPEDIA SUCKS, IS COMMUNISM AND IS 100 TIMES MORE INFERIOR THAN BRITANNICA.
PRAISE GOES OUT TO THE MANY VANDALS WHO EVERY DAY WORK HARD TO PROVE WIKIPEDIA'S INFERIORITY, AND BALLS TO ALL OF YOU ADMINISTRATORS WHO REVERT THESE CHANGES.