Imagist Poets Research Articles

Motivations for Patronage: Early Modernist Literature as a Case Study

Patronage of early modernist English-language writers is investigated, drawing upon biographical source material. The process of identifying patrons started with Imagist poets in the first decades of the twentieth century followed by a search for their social connections with fellow writers and patrons. Fifteen patrons were identified who brought new money into the network of connections, twelve of them women. Analysis of their personal characteristics reveals a distinctive pattern of substantial, inherited financial resources, education, literary interests and unorthodox lifestyle, notably for the women in the sample. Explanations of motivation in terms of social identity, gift exchange and co-creation are discussed.

Острова в океане: путешествие слова между русской и американской поэтическими традициями (Международная конференция “American and Russian Poetries. Links and Circulations”, Université de Toulouse, 2–5 июня 2021 г.)

The article provides an overview of the conference “American and Russian Poetries. Links and Circulations”. The conference was held at the University of Toulouse from June 2 to June 5, 2021, virtually and was organized by Americanists, professors at the University of Toulouse, D. Rumeau and C. Gheerardyn. The conference attracted scholars from the USA, France, Israel, Russia (including scholars from Lomonosov Moscow State University Lomonosov, the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, etc.). During the conference, a number of papers touched upon the issues of reception and “transfer” between poetic cultures. These papers would concern not so much a passive “transfer” of a literary phenomenon from one culture to another, but rather an active process of transferring, or transcoding the phenomenon through an intertext already existing in another culture. Apart from topics related to issues of reception and metamorphoses of cultural translation, during the conference, the contrast between Russian and American poetic traditions was questioned as a contrast between the tradition of “expression”, psychologism, and the tradition of “description”, a formal experiment. This opposition was coined by the Imagist poet J. Cournos, a Russian émigré, also known as Ioan Grigor’yevich Korshun. A number of speakers disputed the rigid division of Kurnos, drawing attention to (1) the similarity of conceptual schemes for comprehending experience in the poems of Russian and American poets, (2) a formal experiment in Russian futurism and the development of a theoretical vocabulary for describing form in Russian formalism, (3) the influence of Russian futurism on the American neo-avant-garde. The influence of Russian futurism and Russian formalism on American poetry was traced on the example of the Language School phenomenon.

Anglo-French Poetic Exchanges in the Little Magazines, 1908–1914

This article demonstrates the extent and significance of exchange between English and French poets in the years leading up to World War I, a crucial period for the development of modern Anglophone poetry. Through archival research, I trace the growing interest in French poetry of Imagist poets F. S. Flint, Ezra Pound and Richard Aldington, exhibited in various little magazines including the New Age, Poetry Review, Poetry and Drama, Poetry, the New Freewoman and the Egoist. Moreover, I show that such interest was reciprocated by contemporary French poets, notably Henri-Martin Barzun and Guillaume Apollinaire, who published works by English poets in their respective little magazines Poème et Drame and Les Soirées de Paris. This suggests that not only were modern English poets influenced by their French counterparts, but they were also given a voice in the Francophone artistic world, resulting in a unique moment of cross-channel poetic exchange before the war.

동양화에서 색채를 배우다: 월러스 스티븐스의 습작 시절

This paper purports to deliver a discovery by the author regarding a piece of work in Wallace Stevens'' juvenilia. It thus also purports to present an evidence on the pervasiveness of East Asian influence in the development of British and American modernist poetry. Stevens has not been often discussed as closely associated with East Asian art and literature. However, “Colors,” a short poem written in 1909, reveals that the poet was impressed by the use of vivid colors in Chinese and Japanese visual arts and tried to imitate the effects in words in his own work. Particularly, this paper discloses that the words in “Colors” have come from a book by Laurence Binyon called Painting in the Far East. Binyon was the curator of East Asian art at the British Museum at that time, and he was the person who introduced emerging Imagist poets such as Ezra Pound and H. D. to East Asian art and literature. His book, first published in 1908, contained one of the earliest accounts of the history of art in East Asia written in Europe and North America. Stevens did not personally know Binyon, and the fact that he obtained the book and read it corroborates the thesis that many young poets, at either end of the Atlantic, were interested in East Asian art early in the twentieth century,

Semiotics East and West: an aesthetic-semiotic approach to translating the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry

Abstract For some Western translators before the twentieth century, domestication was their strategy to translate the classical Chinese poetry into English. But the consequence of this strategy was the sacrifice of the ideogrammatic nature of these poems. The translators in the twentieth century, especially the Imagist poets and translators in the 1930s, overcame the problems of their predecessors by developing their translation theory and practice in ways that are close to those of many contemporary semiotic translators. But both Imagist translators and contemporary semiotic translators have the problem of indifference to the feeling of the original in their translations. For the problem of translating the classical Chinese poetry by the Westerners before the twentieth century and the Imagist poets and translators of the twentieth century, see Zhao and Flotow 2018. This paper attempts to set up an aesthetic-semiotic approach to the translation of the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry on the basis of the examination of both Eastern and Western translation studies.

Transnational Imagination of China in Ezra Pound’s and William Carlos Williams’ Poetics

As a modernist movement in poetry emphasizing the clarity of expression through the use of precise visual images, Imagism drew inspiration from the poetic forms of different countries, among which an influential one was Chinese poetry. As the pioneer of the movement, Ezra Pound is noted for his profound interest in Chinese ideograph and skillful appropriation of Chinese poetry in his own works which inspire and influence a host of American poets of the Modern period including William Carlos Williams. Though Pound and Williams were both labelled as imagist poets, they departed from each other in their later poetics. Researchers have long noticed this departure, but paid scant attention to the influence of Chinese poetry on it. This paper is intended to conduct a study on the influence of Pound’s and Williams’ transnational imagination of China on their poetics which leads to two opposing directions in dealing with Chinese poetry and culture in modern American poetry. It tries to point out that, while Pound’s appropriation of classical Chinese poetry and traditional Confucian culture is in the purpose of renovating post-Victorian poetic style and attaining a cosmopolitan poetics, Williams’ appropriation of Chinese poetry focuses more on refining stylistic techniques and enhancing an objectivist poetics to better accommodate the local American imageries and colloquial American English.

Imagism and Imagery in the Selected Poems of Major Imagist Poets

This paper explores imagism and studies the intrinsic literary features of some poems to show how the authors combine all the elements such as style, sentence structure, figures of speech and poetic diction to paint concrete and abstract images in the mind of the readers. Imagism was an early 20th century literary movement and a reaction against the Romantic and Victorian mainstreams. Imagism is known as an Anglo-American literary movement since it borrows from the English and American verse style of modern poetry. The leaders of the movement set some rules for writing imagist poems. The authors of the group believed that poets are like painters; what the painters can do with brush and dye, poets can do it with language i.e. painting pictures with words. The poems are descriptive; the poets capture the images they experience with one or more of the five senses. They believed that readers could see the realities from their eyes because the texts are like a painting. In this paper, six poems by six prominent leaders of the movement will be scrutinized according to the main principles of the formalistic approach which is the interpretation and analysis of the literary devices pertained to the concrete and abstract images drawn by the poets. The poems are: In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound, Autumn by T. E. Hulme, November by Amy Lowell, Oread by Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), and Bombardment by Richard Aldington

Myths, Legends, and Apparitional Lesbians: Amy Lowell's Haunting Modernism

By the end of the twentieth century, Amy Lowell's poetry had been all but erased from modernism, with her name resurfacing only in relation to her dealings with Ezra Pound, her distant kinship with Robert Lowell, or her correspondence with D. H. Lawrence. The tale of how Pound rejected Lowell's Imagism, rebranding his movement as Vorticism and spurning the ‘Amygism’ of Lowell's Some Imagist Poets anthologies (1915–1917), has become something of a modernist myth. Recent critics have begun the project of re-evaluating and ultimately reinstating Lowell, but the extent of her contribution to modernist poetry and poetics – and her influence on other, more popular, twentieth-century writers – has not yet been acknowledged. This essay encourages readers to see the apparitional Lowell, both in the male-dominated world of modernism and in celebrated works by writers that followed. By drawing attention to the weighty impact of Lowell's poetry on Lawrence – and, later, on Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath – I provide compelling reasons not only to revisit Lowell but also to reassess those texts that are haunted by her presence.

May Sinclair’s Literary Criticism: A Commitment to Modernity

Although May Sinclair’s work has tended to be relegated to the periphery of modernism, Sinclair entertained close relationships with many major modernist figures such as Ford Madox Ford, Ezra Pound, and Rebecca West. A prolific novelist, Sinclair also wrote extensively on ways in which literature could participate in the modern movement, from the Bronte sisters to the Imagist poets, and is perhaps best known for first applying William James’s metaphor of the “stream of consciousness” to literary technique in her analysis of Dorothy Richardson’s first three instalments of Pilgrimage. Additionally, Sinclair’s intensely personal and dynamic critical style is itself a mindful exercise in a more innovative approach to criticism that proves akin to the modernist works that she tackles. Lastly, Sinclair’s criticism of her fellow modernist writers gives us a better insight into the innovation present in Sinclair’s own literary works, and into her career’s trajectory as it moved away from traditional realism to psychological realism. Examining Sinclair’s critical work thus allows us to establish the specificity of her perspective on modernist practices of writing and to re-examine the canons of modernism against the grain of what came to be the accepted definition of avant-garde writing.

Amygism or Imagism?: Re-Vision of Amy Lowell’s Discourse of Imagism

This paper, postulating that Lowell’s Imagism is not some “Amygism” that wobbles with “emotional slither,” “mushy technique” and “general floppiness” as Pound once mocked, but another kind of poetic discourse that deserves the fullest re-consideration, goes back to the very scene where Pound left for Vorticism, condescendingly allowing Lowell and her supporters to use the name “Imagism” for three years. There, it tries to illuminate how Lowell, making the most of the opportunity given to her, picked up what Pound had left behind, grafted it on the soil of America, and finally fulfilled her literary passion to awaken the common reading public to the taste for poetry reading. For the purpose, it looks into her critical reviews in Tendencies in Modern American Poetry, and stresses her creative critical efforts to re-address Pound’s principles of “Imagisme.” In particular, given the limit of space, it focuses only on the second principle of her Imagism and examines the modernity of her concepts of “a cadence,” “suggestion,” and “the real poem beyond.” Then it reads “Patterns” in the context of Japanese poetry and Noh drama and analyzes the poetic patterns that Lowell made through a creative adaptation of Japanese aesthetics for Imagist poetics. In doing so, this paper aims to provide reasonable evidences to evaluate the modernity of Lowell’s Imagist ars poetica and to consider her a truly serious Imagist poet wor thy of a place in the history of American poetic modernism.

Poetic Image as Central Element in Early Imagist Poetry

At the beginning of 20th century, the imagists, consisting of a group of Anglo-American poets with Ezra Pound as the leading figure emerged. This group of poets posed an attack on every aspect of romanticism. This group encouraged the use of experimental form in poetry and promoting the 'verse libre' poetic technique they recognized the use of traditional form in Thomas Hardy's poem that break away from the 'sentimental optimism and nostalgia of Romantics and symbolist, giving the poems 'a modernistic clarity of vision' (Williams, 1946, p. 17). As the name suggest, the image become the central element in the imagist poetry. The main point of imagism itself centers on the 'image' itself, clearly stated by the poets' to recreate an otherwise inexpressible and unique experience of the insight" (William, 1946,p.18and Hughes, 1960,p.43) This essay discusses the role of poetic images in the works of early imagist poets. The discussion covers the analysis on the poems written by Ezra Pound, H.D., Richard Aldington and William Carlos Williams with the focus how the images function in the selected poems.At the beginning of 20th century, the imagists, consisting of a group of Anglo-American poets with Ezra Pound as the leading figure emerged. This group of poets posed an attack on every aspect of romanticism. This group encouraged the use of experimental form in poetry and promoting the 'verse libre' poetic technique they recognized the use of traditional form in Thomas Hardy's poem that break away from the 'sentimental optimism and nostalgia of Romantics and symbolist, giving the poems 'a modernistic clarity of vision' (Williams, 1946, p. 17). As the name suggest, the image become the central element in the imagist poetry. The main point of imagism itself centers on the 'image' itself, clearly stated by the poets' to recreate an otherwise inexpressible and unique experience of the insight" (William, 1946,p.18and Hughes, 1960,p.43) This essay discusses the role of poetic images in the works of early imagist poets. The discussion covers the analysis on the poems written by Ezra Pound, H.D., Richard Aldington and William Carlos Williams with the focus how the images function in the selected poems.

A computational analysis of poetic style

How do standards of poetic beauty change as a function of time and expertise? Here we use computational methods to compare the stylistic features of 359 English poems written by 19th century professional poets, Imagist poets, contemporary professional poets, and contemporary amateur poets. Building upon techniques designed to analyze style and sentiment in texts, we examine elements of poetic craft such as imagery, sound devices, emotive language, and diction. We find that contemporary professional poets use significantly more concrete words than 19th century poets, fewer emotional words, and more complex sound devices. These changes are consistent with the tenets of Imagism, an early 20thcentury literary movement. Further analyses show that contemporary amateur poems resemble 19th century professional poems more than contemporary professional poems on several dimensions. The stylistic similarities between contemporary amateur poems and 19th century professional poems suggest that elite standards of poetic beauty in the past “trickled down” to influence amateur works in the present. Our results highlight the influence of Imagism on the modern aesthetic and reveal the dynamics between “high” and “low” art. We suggest that computational linguistics may shed light on the forces and trends that shape poetic style.

Rereading the Imagist Poetry in the Light of the Deconstructionist

Imagism is probably the most important single movement in English-language poetry of the twentieth century. Hardly any prominent poet in that generation went untouched by imagist theory and practice. It emphasized a romantic return to origins, a simplication of needless complexities, a zealous Puritanical stripping-away of the excrescences which had attached themselves to the art of poetry like barnacles to a clean hull. Amony the luxuries to be relinquished were traditional meter and rhyme, artificial poetic diction, superfluous verbiage, rhetoric, philosophizing and editorializing, and transitional filler. The poem was to be made as economical and functional as possible, and it chiefly present images unmediated without authorial commentary. However the Imagist poems turn out to be obscure and largely inaccessible to common public due to the focus on the immediacy of time, impersonality of viewpoint and irregularity of form. It is because, on the one hand, the imagist poets innovated boldly, to free the poetry from the shackles of old conventions, on the other hand, the imagist poets depicted the apprehensive inner world and the crisis of belief after the World War I, instead of the traditional abject of loyalty and perpetuity. However the sensational, chaotic and elusive form of language in the Imagist poems may obtain its justification in the Deconstructionist doctrine of human language which is characterized with a revolt against logocentrism and phonocentrism and which attempts to restore the prototype of language that was sensuous, intuitive and metaphorical in essence. The paper falls into two parts. It begins with a basic introduction of the Deconstructionism. Next, it endeavors to unfold the nature of the Imagist poetic language in the light of the Deconstructionist interpretation of language, which is conducted through a meticulous investigation of the Imagist poetry in terms of its instantaneity of emotion, fragmentation of structure and multiplied explications of the metaphorical language

COLOURIMAGERY IN THE HAIKU POEMS OF IMAGISTS POETS

Imagism was a movement in early 20th century Anglo-American poetry that favoured precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. Imagists stressed on the direct treatment of the subject matter and strictly adhered to the rule that even a single word was not used unnecessarily. Imagists used the exact word instead of decorative words and rejected most 19th century poetry as cloudy verbosity. Imagist poets were influenced by Japanese Haiku, poems of 17 syllables which usually present only two juxtaposed images. Ezra Pound has made a conscious study of the Japanese Haiku. According to Pound, Japanese make a wonderful use of Haiku where they usually use a single image. A haiku is a haiku because all the images it conveys occur simultaneously in a person's present perceptions of the world. Ezra Pound is one the major exponents of imagist school who gave systematic theory of modernism. Ezra Pound's In a Station of the Metro is regarded as a fine specimen of Haiku. Pound recalls that once he stepped out of a "metro", train at La Concorde, and saw suddenly a beautiful face, and then another and another, and then a beautiful child's face, and then another beautiful woman. Throughout the day, Pound attempted to find words as worthy and as lovely as that sudden emotion. To his mind came an equation which was not in speech but in little sploches of colour. This feeling was the beginning of a language in colourfor Pound. Pound further elaborates that to express this kind of emotion he might find a new school of painting that would speak only by arrangements in colours. To substantiate his arguments, Pound expounds his view in Vorticism.

A bridge over troubling waters in education: The complexity of a “students as co-researchers” project

“Students as co-researchers” is a mode of engagement between students and teachers in school systems that has been likened to a bridge. This article explores the bridge metaphor with reference to one school’s experience of a students as co-researchers project involving students and teachers in the school and a university partner. We use the bridge metaphor, inspired by the imagist poet Ezra Pound, to explore particular challenges faced in this project, and to envision new modes of teacher/student relationships in education. We argue that the purpose of building such a bridge between students and teachers is not an instrumental one (to reach the other side), but rather that the bridge offers up zones of affective relational encounters between students and teachers.

Ancient Greek Influence and Imagism In H.D's Early Poems

In 1912 in the Museum-Street-Tea Shop Ezra Pound edited H.D's poem Hermes of the Ways, signing it H.D.lmagiste, and by this gesture the Imagist movement exists in the literary world. This often quoted information indicates that there is a significant influence of ancient Greek Literature On Imagist poets, particularly on H.D.; for example, one might note that the first two poems that appeared bearing the name Imagist, namely Hermes of The Ways and Priapus were based on Greek dedicatory epigrams. The purpose of the paper is to trace the ancient Greek influence on H.D.'s works, especially her purest Imagist poems. Though the discussion focuses on H.D.'s poetry, it also touches upon them works of two other Imagists, namely Ezra Pound's and Aldington's. These poets were two of the most important people in H.D.'s life as well as in her poetry. Pound came early in her life, and sparked her interest in Greek literature, while Aldington appeared in her London period, contributing a share in her intensive study of ancient Greek works. Accordingly, the paper falls into two main parts of discussion: first, on the personal and literary relationships between Ezra Pound, Aldington, and H.D. (Hilda Doolitle); second, the influence of Greek literature especially that of Sappho on H.D. as the main focus.

Motivating and Supporting English Language Learners with the Poems of William Carlos Williams

Poetry has long been a source of frustration for many middle grades students. Why, then, would any teacher attempt to use poetry for the purpose of teaching English to non-native speakers? Poetry offers a compact and highly expressive alternative to traditional prose and lengthy written texts. In particular, the poetry of William Carlos creates a world of imagery and understanding to which a majority of students can relate. Because they contain simplified structure, grammar, and word choice, Williams's poems are especially accessible to English language learners (ELLs) and are, therefore, a very useful tool for helping them learn to decode the meaning and syntax of English vocabulary. Linking vocabulary to personal experiences While poets have traditionally relied heavily upon structure, rhyme, and metaphor, Williams, an Imagist poet, expresses his feelings through the force and effects of imagery. The Imagist movement in poetry promoted the idea that poetry should be based in experience and individuality, offering the reader a real sense of relevance and purpose. According to Kazemek (1987), Williams shows us how worlds are created out of the most commonplace things. Each thing, each particular, offers us infinite possibilities for worldmaking (p. 22). Couch (1987) characterized Williams's poetry in the following way: [Williams] drew his poetic from the familiar, ordinary things of life. Known as the master of the glimpse, writes about the small details and common experiences of our everyday lives in order to help people better see, touch, taste, and enjoy the world. (p. 32) writes in a simple, very clear way, and this clarity is essential when teaching ELLs who may be experiencing the target vocabulary for the first time. Teachers must help students create chains of newly acquired vocabulary connected to existing anchors within their first language. As they learn English, ELLs develop a system of anchors by connecting new words to tacit knowledge or experiences from the student's own life. introducing new vocabulary to my students, I always ask questions about the words in the hope of making a connection to their background knowledge. For example, if the new word is wedding, I might ask if they have ever been to a wedding and, if so, ask them to tell me about it. If none had been to a wedding, I would ask them to tell me something about wedding traditions, or anything related to weddings, that might help make a connection to a familiar memory. Processing the vocabulary in this manner gives students a way to access the word in future instances by recalling something already anchored. English professor Gary Lenhart first introduces poetry with his students, he helps them develop anchors by telling them, When it comes to finding something to write about, our own lives provide the best material (1998, p. 25). is the perfect poet for creating these connections and expressing meaning through experience. While many ELLs may never have been to Cape Cod, Williams's poem Nantucket illustrates an image almost all students have the ability to visualize. Flowers through the window lavender and yellow changed by white curtains- Smell of cleanliness- Sunshine of late afternoon- On the glass tray a glass pitcher, the tumbler turned down, by which a key is lying-And the immaculate white bed (Williams, 1985, p. 72) Before introducing this poem to my ELL students, I try to tap into their personal experiences by first having them close their eyes and remember a time from their past when they were in a very sunny room. Where was the room? I ask them. How did you feel? Who, or what was in the room with you? After eliciting and recording a few key words on the board, I ask the students to write a short paragraph describing their rooms, which we later share as a whole group while trying to visually imagine the scene in our heads. …

Learning to be Brutal: Synge, Decadence, and the Modern Movement

Prematurely dead in 1909, Synge's shade haunts early modernism. In John Gould Fletcher's 1937 autobiography, Life is My Song, for instance, the some time Imagist poet invokes the Irish writer in the context of recollecting his ecstatic reception of the first performance of Stravinsky's Le Sacre de printemps in May 1913. The ballet confirmed in him his determination to risk everything in order to become a modern artist:

Poetic Image as Central Element in Early Imagist Poetry

At the beginning of 20th century, the imagists, consisting of a group of Anglo-American poets with Ezra Pound as the leading figure emerged. This group of poets posed an attack on every aspect of romanticism. This group encouraged the use of experimental form in poetry and promoting the 'verse libre' poetic technique they recognized the use of traditional form in Thomas Hardy's poem that break away from the 'sentimental optimism and nostalgia of Romantics and symbolist, giving the poems 'a modernistic clarity of vision' (Williams, 1946, p. 17). As the name suggest, the image become the central element in the imagist poetry. The main point of imagism itself centers on the 'image' itself, clearly stated by the poets' to recreate an otherwise inexpressible and unique experience of the insight" (William, 1946,p.18and Hughes, 1960,p.43) This essay discusses the role of poetic images in the works of early imagist poets. The discussion covers the analysis on the poems written by Ezra Pound, H.D., Richard Aldington and William Carlos Williams with the focus how the images function in the selected poems.At the beginning of 20th century, the imagists, consisting of a group of Anglo-American poets with Ezra Pound as the leading figure emerged. This group of poets posed an attack on every aspect of romanticism. This group encouraged the use of experimental form in poetry and promoting the 'verse libre' poetic technique they recognized the use of traditional form in Thomas Hardy's poem that break away from the 'sentimental optimism and nostalgia of Romantics and symbolist, giving the poems 'a modernistic clarity of vision' (Williams, 1946, p. 17). As the name suggest, the image become the central element in the imagist poetry. The main point of imagism itself centers on the 'image' itself, clearly stated by the poets' to recreate an otherwise inexpressible and unique experience of the insight" (William, 1946,p.18and Hughes, 1960,p.43) This essay discusses the role of poetic images in the works of early imagist poets. The discussion covers the analysis on the poems written by Ezra Pound, H.D., Richard Aldington and William Carlos Williams with the focus how the images function in the selected poems.

“Objective Correlatives“ and Cultural Transcendence in T. S. Eliot's “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock“

Eliot's primary poetic influences were the British poet-philosopher T.E. Hulme and the American Imagist poet, Ezra Pound, who was Eliot's lifetime supporter, admirer and editor. In his poetic theories, Pound propounded the devices and techniques of symbolism, imagism, vorticism, logopoeia, melopoeia, Ideogrammic Method and phanopoia. All of these methods advocated the abdication of extraneous objectification in favor of image in the poem. Eliot’s fascination with alt things British bordered on obsession and he was in his earlier poems such as ”The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” at times overwhelmed with his sense of American cultural inferiority. Eliot's objectivistic poetic choices while albeit fully imagist. tells the eclectic story of the doomed sub-classed Americans in British society. While Eliot is noted for his precision of images-the ”quantification” of personal experiences and feeling-Eliot never forsook the moral values of the Western culture and Christian religion in which he was bred. Relating the doctrines of the formation of literature to poetry, Eliot then developed, in his theoretical paper, ”hamlet” (1919). his notion of the ”objective correlative.”