The Imagists

Ezra Pound

and

Amy Lowell

ImagismName given to a movement in

poetry, originating in 1912. Movement represented by Ezra

Pound, Amy Lowell, and others.Pound defined the image as

"that which presents an emotional and intellectual complex in an instant of time.”

Aimed at clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images.

The Imagists wrote succinct verse of dry clarity and hard outline in which an exact visual image made a total poetic statement.

Imagism sought analogy with sculpture.

A revolt against the careless thinking of Romantic optimism

Imagist Manifesto1. To use the language of

common speech, but to employ the exact word, not the nearly-exact, nor the merely decorative word.

2. We believe that the individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in conventional forms. In poetry, a new cadence means a new idea.

Manifesto Continued3. Absolute freedom in the

choice of subject.4. To present an image.

– We are not a school of painters, but we believe that poetry should render particulars exactly and not deal in vague generalities, however magnificent and sonorous. It is for this reason that we oppose the cosmic poet, who seems to us to shirk the real difficulties of his art.

Manifesto Continued

5. To produce a poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred nor indefinite.

6. Finally, most of us believe that concentration is of the very essence of poetry.

Poetic Form

• Most of the imagist poets wrote in free verse, using such devices as assonance and alliteration rather than formal metrical schemes to give structure to their poetry.

The End of Imagism• The group split up around 1917

because imagism had come to mean anything that was unrhymed and irregular verse and had some sort of pictorial impression.

The Poets

Ezra Pound

• 1885-1972• Pound was born in Hailey,

Idaho, and grew up in Philadelphia.

• After studying at the University of Pennsylvania and at Hamilton College, he traveled in Europe.

• He married Dorothy Shakespear in 1914 and became London editor of the Little Review in 1917.

Pound’s Politics• In 1924, he moved to Italy;

during this period of voluntary exile, Pound became involved in Fascist politics, and did not return to the United States until 1945, when he was arrested on charges of treason for broadcasting Fascist propaganda by radio to the United States during the Second World War.

• In 1946, he was acquitted, but declared mentally ill and committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Pound Acquitted!

Award• During his confinement, the

jury of the Bollingen-Library of Congress Award (which included a number of the most eminent writers of the time) decided to overlook Pound's political career in the interest of recognizing his poetic achievements, and awarded him the prize for the Pisan Cantos (1948).

Pound’s Death

• After continuous appeals from writers won his release from the hospital in 1958, Pound returned to Italy and settled in Venice, where he died, a semi-recluse, in 1972.

Amy Lowell

• 1874-1925• Born in Brookline,

Massachusetts, she received an excellent education and traveled extensively as a young girl.

Lowell 1892

Early Works

• In 1913 she published her first volume of poetry, A Dome of Many Colors, but the book was not well received.

• A year later she was on her way to London, after reading an Imagist’s poem.

Lowell Family Home

Lowell and Imagism

• Hoping to become part of the movement, Lowell began focusing on creating vivid, precise images.

• She energetically promoted the movement.

Lowell Becomes Leader

• In 1914 Pound turned to Modernism, and Amy Lowell largely took over leadership of the group.

Poetic Ingredients

• An outspoken commentator on poets and poetry, Lowell worked hard at defining what were, for her, ingredients of good poetry: – fresh, new rhythms; the

language of common speech; clear, concrete, and vivid images.

Poetry as a Trade

• Lowell insisted that poetry was a trade like any other.

• The poet needed to learn and practice writing poetry to do it well.

Lowell’s Death

• Lowell published eleven volumes of poetry between 1913 and 1925, and three others appeared after her death in 1925.

• Her collection What’s O’Clock won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1925.

Century Magazine 1916