Imagism Research Articles

For the “Briefly Gorgeous” Moment: Imagism and Queer Aesthetics in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

ABSTRACT Ocean Vuong’s epistolary novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is distinguished by its highly sensory, descriptive, and fragmented linguistic style, coupled with an anachronic, multi-line narrative strategy. These stylistic elements exemplify salient modernist aesthetics, particularly resonating with the tenets of the Imagist movement. Through the presentation of fleeting images and juxtaposed scenes across temporal and spatial boundaries, Vuong’s fiction delineates the narrator’s transient, synesthetic recollections which merge into a dynamic flow of conscious duration, constituting a notable queer racial formalist work. Moreover, Vuong’s richly sensory and affective portrayal facilitates an embodied engagement with external spaces, unraveling the complex layers of the protagonist’s Asian American queer identity. By integrating a corporeal perspective into the aesthetic process of receiving and composing, Vuong reconfigures the traditionally passive bottom role toward a more dynamic and inclusive queer performance, thus challenging the entrenched heteronormative constructions that comply with Western imperialist and masculinist discourses. Beyond empowering the “abject” bottom, Vuong’s novel also posits a shared vulnerability inherent in queer bodies, envisioning a side path for the minoritarian groups.

Discruption of poetic clichés in Imagist poetry

The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate the ways in which Imagist poetry deconstructs traditional aesthetic clichés and poetic sentiments. Imagism is a leading movement of Anglo-American modernist poetry. The paper focuses on the radical deconstruction of Victorian era aesthetics standards in the Imagist poetry. During the time of Victorian era, traditional poetic forms such as sonnets and iambic pentameter were extremely popular. Nevertheless, central figures of imagist movement, especially, Ezra Pound, established absolutely new forms and traditions such as blank verse and free verse, as classical poetic meter forms were considered meaningless and unexpressive. Furthermore, the article touches upon the most famous poets of imagist movement and their works to show the aesthetic creed of modern Anglo-American poetry. The vital symbol of imagist poetry was ‘’image” which is defined as an intellectual complex in an instant of time. Finally the article points out that unlike the traditional romantic poetry, the creed of imagist poetry lies to the directness of presentation, economy of language, a willingness to experiment with non-traditional verse forms and free them from abstraction.

"НОВАЯ" ПОЭЗИЯ 1900-1910-Х ГГ. В ЭСТЕТИЧЕСКОЙ ТЕОРИИ Т.Э. ХЬЮМА

The English critic and poet Thomas Ernest Hulme (1883–1917) is not well known in Russia. Despite the significance of his contribution to the development of English-language poetry, the degree to which his role in the historical and literary context of the 20th century was studied in Russian literary studies seems insufficient. The lack of Russian translations of his essays and journalism, and the shortness of his literary career, narrowed the context in which Hulme is usually viewed to the Imagist movement. The article attempts to make a shift in focusing the attention from Hulme’s poetry to his literary and critical texts and to formulate the basic principles of his aesthetic theory.

Spectres of Euripides: Time, Translation and Modernism in H.D.\u2019s Euripides

The modernist period was one of intense engagement with antiquity. It was also a period concerned with radical ideas about time put forward by Henri Bergson and Albert Einstein that questioned traditional understandings of the relationship between past and present. This article considers these two aspects of the modernist period through H.D.’s translations of Euripides: it argues that H.D.’s equivocal position in literary modernism and the imagist movement (as demonstrated by her translations from Hippolytus), her prosodic experimentation with Greek verse forms in her translations from Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis and finally her emphasis on temporal themes in her Freud-inspired translation of Ion can be all read in such a way to cast new light on the complex temporalities of the translation of classical texts and the modernist reception of the classics.

A Thematic Interpretation of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

Emily Dickinson, a renowned female poet of America in the nineteenth century, is considered as the pioneer of Modern Poetry and Imagist Movement of American and Britain poetry in the twentieth century. Her poetry, with profound implications and unique styles, has made immortal contributions to the prosperity and development of world literature. While living in a solitary and inactive life，known as “Amherst recluse” in American literature, she has created 1775 ingenious poems in her whole life, covering numerous themes, such as nature, love, life, God and friendship and so on. The thesis will focus on multiple subjects of her poetry, thus interpreting her distinctive outlooks on nature, love and life, through which, the wild and ferocious nature, the happy and sorrowful love as well as the hasty and deliberate life will be reflected. Finally, the point is made that her poetry is influenced by the social background, family situation and personal experiences at that time. Hence, the substantial role she has played in American poetry is further affirmed.

NATURE, INACTION AND ILLUSION: THE INFLUENCE OF TAOISM ON AMERICAN POETRY IN THE 20TH CENTURY

<p>Taoism is one of the most fundamental thoughts in China, and Laozi’s Taoist theory is even more brilliant, shining through the entire history of Chinese culture. Taoist culture and thoughts through translation have influenced American poetry directly or indirectly. Tao Te Ching (also Laozi) has become the most widely translated Chinese classic in history with the largest circulation overseas. Moreover, its translation has become second only to the Bible. At present, most scholars tend to comment on its translations, and there are few researches on the influence of Taoist thoughts after translation. Therefore, this paper intends to focus on the influences of Taoism on American poetry after translation. The study is based on three major cultural movements in the 20th century in the United States: the New Poetry Movement, the Beat Movement and the Deep Imagist Movement, taking typical poems in these movements as the research objects. The study intends to illustrate the great influences of Taoism on the three cultural movements in the 20th century in the United States by means of close reading, comparative analysis from the perspective of diachronic research. It first introduces the three American movements briefly, enumerates the poets who absorbed Taoist ideas in the movements, and then explains specifically what thoughts they absorbed from Taoism through the comparative analysis between the original Taoist thoughts and the thoughts in American poet’s poetry. It demonstrated in detail that American poets absorbed Taoist thoughts that have an impact on their poetry writing as poets. During the New Poetry Movement, the poets advocated the Taoists view of nature. During the Beat Movement, they paid close attention to the view of “inaction”, while the poets of the Deep Image Group concentrated on the illusion under the view of “homogeneous things”, which promoted the diversified development of American poetry.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0620/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

시카고 이미지스트 연구

시카고 이미지스트 연구

“Bullets for Hands”Witter Bynner, Arthur Davison Ficke, and the Spectra Poems of World War I

Witter Bynner (as Emanuel Morgan) and Arthur Davison Ficke (as Anne Knish) published the anthology Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments in 1916. Although conceived of as a hoax, it constituted a quite striking body of poetry. Despite its parodic origins, Spectra included some of the most resonant poetic responses to World War I. Recent criticism of Spectrism understandably tends to emphasize the hoax aspects of this fascinating episode in modernist history, focusing for example on the performance of identity. Yet Bynner himself stated his genuine affirmation of the anthology's work beyond the satiric circumstances of its creation, and the experience of this ostensibly mockalternative avant-garde ended up having long-term effects on both his and Ficke's careers. This essay argues that engaging with Spectra beyond its existence as a hoax allows us to explore its wider aesthetic and sociopolitical relevance to the period and sheds further light on contemporary perceptions of Imagism and Vorticism, particularly in the context of the poetry of the Great War.

H.D.의 서사시와 이미지즘

H.D.의 서사시와 이미지즘

Realism of desire, Tragic vision, Satire, Imagism, etc... - The aesthetic fulfillment and characteristic of the early novel of Seo jung-in -

Realism of desire, Tragic vision, Satire, Imagism, etc... - The aesthetic fulfillment and characteristic of the early novel of Seo jung-in -

Eyes inside words: Prose poetry, imagism, aesthetic empathy and autobiographical memory

One of the features of contemporary prose poetry is that it often makes conspicuous use of imagery, in some cases drawing on techniques pursued by the Imagist movement in the early 20th century. In Ezra Pound’s words, the Imagists were interested in ‘art that bears true witness … art that is most precise’. Contemporary prose poets frequently try to honour the spirit of Pound’s comment as they make images in their prose poems and, in doing so, providing readers with a way of imaginatively entering their works, enabling them to read them ‘from within’. Visual imagery in prose poetry provides a pathway through which readers are able to achieve aesthetic empathy with such works, allowing them to read these works as if their propositions are actually and presently the case. While the same may be said for poetry more generally, we argue that it is especially the case in prose poetry, where the rectangular form draws the reader into a room-like space. This tends to generate a compressed sense of timespace and thus intensify the effects of imagery and its connections to autobiographical memory. In the absence of line breaks and the kinds of closure associated with lineated poetry, visual imagery also helps crystallise the utterance of prose poems, bringing it into focus – almost as if prose poems see and, in turn, are able to be seen through.

Picturing Her Landscape: An Interpretation of Amy Lowell’s Poems From Emerson’s Transcendentalism

Amy Lowell is a female poet in the American Imagist movement in the twentieth century. The former studies have mainly focused on the images in her poems from the perspective of aesthetics. Few studies have pointed out the philosophical implications of her poetry. This paper tries to approach Lowell’s poems from the perspective of Emerson’s transcendental philosophy. Although the two great figures lived in different times, a direct link between them can hardly be built, they share some similarities, and their poems are colored by transcendental thoughts: Both of them admit the “oversoul”; mankind can be in parallel with nature; both of them oppose the dehumanization of industrialization process; both of them advocate for individuals’ seeking for spiritual freedom. From this spectrum, Lowell’s poems can be considered carrying the spiritual creed of Transcendentalism.

The Influence of Sino-Japanese Poetry on the British-American Imagist Movement

The Influence of Sino-Japanese Poetry on the British-American Imagist Movement

Sarah Barnsley. Mary Barnard. American Imagist

No abstract (available).

W. B. Yeats as Imagist

W. B. Yeats as Imagist

An Imagism of Returning and Fantasy - A Study of Jang, Manyoung -

An Imagism of Returning and Fantasy - A Study of Jang, Manyoung -

Donegal Haiku by Francis Harvey (review)

Reviewed by: Donegal Haiku by Francis Harvey Donna L. Potts Donegal Haiku, by Francis Harvey, pp. 90. Dublin: Dedalus Press, 2013; distributed by Syracuse University Press. Moya Cannon's introduction to The Collected Poetry of Francis Harvey describes Harvey as a "Bashō-like figure"—a particularly apt comparison, as Harvey's publication of Donegal Haiku is a remarkable collection of 122 haikus that pay various kinds of homage to his seventeenth-century predecessor. Sandwiched between two pages featuring a single haiku each, the body of the book features three haikus arranged on each of sixty page spreads, complementing the three line form commonly used for haiku in English. The book's symmetrical arrangement and intelligent use of white space reinforce the symmetry, beauty, and austerity of the form it celebrates. The Imagist movement of the early twentieth century likely made a western audience more receptive to haiku's spare form and striking imagery, and modernism's general move away from the strict metrical form that had prevailed for centuries in the West would also presumably make the syllabic form a refreshing change. To say haiku is "syllabic" poetry is not exactly accurate; haiku traditionally consisted of seventeen on, or sound units—which westerners have widely and inaccurately interpreted as seventeen syllables, divided into lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Hence, Harvey should not be faulted for occasionally deviating from the syllable count; modern haiku writers do likewise. Despite the timeworn caution about not judging a book by its cover, it is worth mentioning that Harvey's cover, featuring a stunning photograph of Mount Errigal with a reflection of Mount Fuji in the water (courtesy of the author's daughter, Esther), eloquently prepares the reader for the parallels between representations of Harvey's Donegal and Bashō's Japan. In one haiku, Harvey makes the parallel explicit: Sleeping, I think ofErrigal and Mount Fuji,The shape of my dreams. Bashō's solitary journey from Edo to Mount Fuji, Euno, and Kyoto, during which he took in the scenery and the seasons, inspired him to modify his poetic form in response to the world around him. Likewise, Harvey's solitary hillwalking, through which he discovered the intimate connections between nature and himself, helped to shape the content as well as the form of his poetry. He has often averred that this relatively solitary life has taught him a great deal more about poetry than a literary life among his ostensible poet peers would have. The essence of haiku is "cutting" (kiru), which is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a kireji ("cutting word") between them, a kind of verbal punctuation mark, much like the western caesura that signals [End Page 148] the moment of separation and colors the manner in which the juxtaposed elements are related. Harvey demonstrates his mastery of the technique as he relies on this juxtaposition to highlight the parallels between nature and himself, as in Five crows in a tree.The wind ruffles their feathers.The leaves of my book. For the reader, these images that quickly cut both ways open up the resemblances between feathers and leaves of a book, and implicitly, between the leaves of a tree and the leaves of a book. Harvey's imagery is also grounded, here and throughout the collection, in nature, as the imagery of haiku traditionally was as well. The form is thus also the means by which Harvey expresses his quintessentially environmental sensibility, a defining characteristic of his oeuvre. Harvey continually reminds his readers that human enterprises—often delineated as culture, and thus held as distinct from and even superior to nature—have their origins in the nonhuman world. Another haiku juxtaposes blossoming flowers, singing birds, and poems: The bluebells blossom.A blackbird sings in the grove.Swallows and poems. The recent field of "ecomusicology"—ecocritical musicology—examines the ways in which music and nature are related, and how music reflects, is related to, or relies on nature. Harvey's portrayal of the essential role of birdsong in human language demonstrates this relationship, and reminds us as well that poetry has its origin in song. And nobody sings quite like Harvey: You planted...

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.

Spectral Resemblances and Elusive Connections: A Practice-led Research Dialogue between Poetry and Digital Imagery

Abstract In the early 20th century the function of poetic imagery was given international attention through the Imagist movement in London and, ever since, many poets have self-consciously employed and exploited imagist techniques. At the same time poets and visual artists have frequently explored connections between each other’s works considering, as Art Berman writes, that “the visual can provide direct and even prelinguistic knowledge since the psyche presumably has operations that precede or take logical precedence over […] language” (49). Interart comparisons suggest that poetry and the visual arts can be talked about as if “work in one medium […] were operating in another” (Dayan 3). However, it is often unclear what it might mean to describe a work of visual art as “poetic” or a poem as “visual.” This paper explores these ideas with reference to Paul Hetherington’s and Anita Fitton’s practice-led research project, Spectral Resemblances. The project is investigating some of the ways in which written poetry and still visual imagery may convey related meanings. It asks whether meaningful connections between poetic and visual imagery are at best “spectral” and elusive. It explores how the juxtapositioning of complementary works in these different media may allow resonances to play back and forth in the conceptual spaces between them.

“Baseball over Tea-Cakes”: Major League Baseball in American Avant-Garde Poetry from Imagism to L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E

“Baseball over Tea-Cakes”Major League Baseball in American Avant-Garde Poetry from Imagism to L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Richard Parker (bio) Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour Mills begin their history of baseball by observing that “Baseball in America is many things. But, contrary to widespread belief, professional baseball is not a sport. It is a commercialized amusement business.”1 They go on to demonstrate that baseball “is not only a business but a monopoly as well,” detailing Major League Baseball’s already immense scale at the time of the 1959 season. My history of Major League Baseball considers this specific corporate incarnation in American poetry, beginning with Ezra Pound and Imagism in the 1910s and concluding with the Language poets in 1970s and 1980s, passing through the intermediate stages of Objectivist verse, the Black Mountain poets, the San Francisco Renaissance, the Beats and the New York Schools. This genealogy makes for a somewhat perverse history of American writing on baseball; with the exception of Jack Spicer, baseball is not a significant subject for any of the poets I will address here, and none of them can reasonably be considered “baseball poets.”2 My history will, in fact, be one of writers pointedly not writing about baseball, and the nuances in their approach to this avoidance. Underlying this non-history is a century of growth in Major League Baseball that often matches changes within the avant-garde, with the many ambiguities and controversies of westward expansion and a rampantly postmodern, late-capitalist consumerism providing snug analogies to developments in American poetry. My history of Major League Baseball in avant-garde American poetry begins with the young Ezra Pound, a writer with very little to say about baseball, a poet who wrote no poetry on baseball and who would only come to approach baseball late in his career. His early example is, however, germane to the manner in which the other writers I will approach deal with baseball in their poetry, chiefly through his early mentoring of the Imagist movement. Imagism’s inability to address an amassed urban proletariat, as displayed in Pound’s early work as those undifferentiated “faces in the crowd” of “In a [End Page 87] Station of the Metro,” or the “the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor” in “The Garden,” was endemic.3 Through his Imagist phase and later Pound was unable to convincingly depict a differentiated, modern, urban working-class. Rather than the urban poor, Pound’s sympathy would be for the rural peasants of an exoticised China (a sympathy most clearly displayed by the early Pound in the adaptive translations of Cathay [1915]). As far back as 1874, Mark Twain had already warned of baseball’s dangerous proximity to the big business interests of the Gilded Age, accusing baseball of becoming “the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century!”4 With the arrival of the Imagists in the years immediately preceding the Great War, this connection between baseball, mass entertainment, and big business would have been even clearer, and this movement’s refusal of such subjects, along with its transatlantic ambivalence towards Americana in general, make it unsurprising that they did not deal directly with the sport. Their example would, however, provide a model for the approach towards baseball employed by the poets I will discuss here. Imagism originated in London, and the poems quoted above describe London and Paris, neither of which cities held Major League Baseball franchises in the 1915 and 1916 seasons. Across the Atlantic, however, America’s stay-at-home poets would make a more direct approach to the national pastime, and in some cases would choose to adapt the techniques of Imagism to this project. William Carlos Williams’s much anthologized poem, “At the Ball Game,” originally an untitled section of Spring and All (1923), while going further to approach both the baseball crowd and their game, would transfer some of the Imagist ambivalence to the spectacle of the sports crowd. Like Pound’s crowds these spectators are quite homogenous: The crowd at the ball game is moved uniformly by a spirit...