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Section One. Imagism
I.
Background
During the first decades of the 20th century,
modernism became an international tendency in art and literature,
whose essence was a break with the past. Actually, modernism was the
consequence of the transformation of society brought about by
industrialism and technology in the course of the 19th century. It
did not refer to a school but included a wide range of artistic
expressions such as symbolism, impressionism, post-impressionism,
futurism, imagism and surrealism etc.
Ⅱ. Imagism
1.
Emergence: The movement is generally divided into three phases. It
began with Thomas Ernest Hulme, an English philosopher and writer
who founded the Poet’s Club in London in 1908. Then the movement
entered a new period from 1912 to 1914 when Ezra Pound became the
leader of new poetry. And the third phase was characterized by Amy
Lowell, who pushed the movement into the period of “Amygism”, called
by Pound.
2. Major features: Imagism was only one of the new
techniques writing poetry that was part of the modernist period and
it was one of the most essential techniques. With a spirit of revolt
against conventions, imagism was anti-romantic and anti-Victorian.
Victorian poetry was characteristic of moralizing tendencies, over
padding of extra-poetic matter, and traditional iambic pentameter.
But imagism stressed free choice of subject matters, concreteness of
imagery, musical phrases, economy of expression and the use of a
dominant image of a quick succession of related images.
Imagism
produced free verse without imposing a rhythmical pattern.
This
means that the poet created new rhymes in the sequence of the
musical phrase as the expressions of a new mood.
In a sense,
imagism was equivalent to naturalism in fiction.
Imagism in
poetry came from the same basis as naturalism in fiction.
They
emphasized on scientific observation, a feeling of determinism that
the reader should only look at the outside objects with no attempt
to get inside of them. Imagists never stated the emotion in the
poem. They just presented an image.
Imagism tried to record
objective observations of an object or a situation without
interpretation or comment by the poet.
Imagists merely wanted to
give the reader an image. It may be a picture, a sound, a smell, a
taste or a touch. All of those were concrete images that appealed to
senses.
3. Comment: The most outstanding figures of the movement
were Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell (1974-1925), and Hilda Doolittle
(1886-1961). Pound, leader of the movement from 1912to 1914, set
down the Imagist principles. Then Lowell led the movement into the
period of “Amygism” from 1914 to 1917. Doolittle was the only poet
who throughout her career remained an imagist. The imagist theories
call for brief language, pinpoint the precise picture in as few
words as possible. This new way of poetry composition has a lasting
influence on the 20th century poetry. Most of the 20th century top
poets are somewhat related with it and benefit from it.
Ⅲ.
Ezra Loomis Pound (1885-1972)
1. Life: Often identified as
the father of modern American poetry, he led the experiment in
revolutionizing poetry. Pound was America’s first self-conscious
innovator in poetry and one of the most important imagist poets and
critics of his time. He wrote 70 books of his own, and contributed
as editor to 70 books of other writers. He also wrote more than 1500
articles. His major works of poetry is the Cantos, a long
poem which he wrote from 1915 to 1949.
2. Literary Career:
Pound’s early work was extraordinarily varied. It included some
unusual translation of Chinese poems. In 1915 he finished
Cathay, a volume of Chinese translations. In London, he came
into contact with T.E Hulme and the Poet’s club. He also made
friends with the great Irish poet W.B. Yeast (1865-1939). As the
leader of the imagist movement, he helped some British and American
writers to pursue their literary careers. He was tireless in seeking
out new talents, securing first publication or recognition for
gifted young writers such as Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot. In 1915,
in London, he began working on Cantos, a modern epic, which
he continued for over fifty years. In 1920 he moved to Paris. As
part of Gertrude Stein’s circles, he helped T.S. Eliot and Ernest
Hemingway by editing their early writings. In 1925 he settled down
in Italy. His critical essays are collected in Make It New
(1934), The ABC of Reading (1934), Polite Essays
(1937), Guide to Kulchur(1938) and Literary Essays
(1954).
Pound later showed bitter
hatred of American finance and moneyed interests which he blamed for
the degeneration of American life. He turned to the worship of
Mussolini. In 1939 he visited the United States and then he worked
for Radio Rome, making pro-Fascist, anti-Jewish propaganda
broadcasts to the United States. He was arrested for treason in
1945. But he was not tried because of a plea of insanity. He died in
Venice on November1, 1972. He was buried in the Protestant cemetery
on the nearby island of San Michele. | |
