IMAGISM
Study Notes by S. Sreekumar
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
defines Imagism as “a movement in poetry advocating free verse and the
expression of ideas and emotions through clear precise images".
I Growth and Development
Imagism as a literary movement
flourished in England and America between 1912 and 1917. Its chief exponents
included Ezra Pound, T.E.Hulme, Hilda Doolittle,
Richard Aldington and Amy Lowell. But it was Pound who christened the
movement as Imagism. In 1912 he wanted
to send some poems written by Hilda Doolittle ('H.D') to Poetry, a magazine
edited by Harriet Monroe. Since Hilda Doolittle had not published any poems
till that date, Pound felt that it was better for her if she belonged to some
particular school of poetry. Therefore, he added to the manuscript the words
"H.D Imagiste". That was the origin of the imagist school.
Unfortunately, from the very
beginning, controversies haunted the school. D.H. Lawrence who wrote some
imagist poems dumped the movement as "just an advertising scheme" of
Pound. All the controversies that blotted the movement are documented
by Timothy Materer in an interesting article- "Make it sell! Ezra Pound
Advertises Modernism". Materer sees Pound as a shrewd propagandist who
selected a French term to name the school, as cultural movements are best
advertised in that language. The French title, moreover, implied some romantic
connection with the Greats like Baudelaire and Mallarme. Pound, according to
Materer, also hinted at some mysterious aspects of the school, again true to
the advertiser's practice of referring to some "secret ingredient x",
"xylitol" … that only the user
of the product can appreciate". Though his advertising genius made the
Imagist movement an immediate success (four anthologies were published in as
many years), Pound was in for a disappointment as the movement was hijacked by Amy Lowell.
Amy Lowell who later became the leader
of the movement was brought into it by Pound himself. It was Pound who
published one of her poems in his anthology Des Imagistes (1914). But she had
enormous financial resources and literary connections and a "Madison
Avenue ruthlessness" (Materer) to match them. She took over the Imagist
brought and out three anthologies in 1915, 1916 and 1917 to which Pound refused
to contribute. However, he could do nothing but to dub the movement as
"Amygism" and its new leader as "hippopoetess". Pound
turned away from Imagism to a new
movement called Vorticism, which was essentially not much different from the
former. Hilda Doolittle's poems dominated Vorticism also.
II What is
an image?
Pound defined image as "that which
presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time".
In formulating this definition Pound was influenced by a form of Japanese
poetry known as "Haiku" (or "Hokku") . 'Haikku' is a poetic
form of seventeen syllables and Pound himself composed one after seeing a crowd
in a Parisian metro station:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd
Petals on a
wet black bough.
However,
in the poems of Carl Sandburg and William Carlos Williams Imagist techniques
lean towards personification. Image was the central focus but personification -
"the humanizing, anthropomorphic tendency of the human mind", as A.R.
Jones calls it - became their style. T.E. Hulme's lines in 'Autumn' may serve
as the best example for the style of personification indulged in by the
Imagists.
I
walked abroad
And
saw the ruddy moon lean over a ledge
Like
a red - faced farmer
…………………………..
And
round about were wistful stars,
With
white faces like town children.
Since
the imagists themselves are not very clear what the term imagism means, I.A.Richards's general conclusion that an image is " a
mental event peculiarly connected with sensation" may be considered
as a starting point for any discussion on imagism.
III The Imagist Manifesto Imagism
can be roughly stated as the use of images in poetry. But mages are not visual
only. We have 'gustatory', ' olfactory' , 'thermal' images along with
'kinetic', 'haptic', 'empathic','static', 'dynamic' images. Critics , even
speak of 'tied' and 'free' images . Because of these various types of images,
the use of them in poetry may certainly lead to confusion. Perceiving such an
eventuality both Pound and Amy Lowell had given their own concepts about what
the school deems to be imagism. Amy Lowell's concepts, being more lucid and
explicit, are given here in full. In her Tendencies in Modern American
Poetry she sets them in order thus:
1. To use the language of common speech, but
to employ always the exact word, not the merely decorative word.
2. To create new rhythms – and
not to copy the old rhythms, which merely echo old moods. We do not insist upon
“free verse” as the only way of writing poetry. We believe that the
individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in
conventional forms.
3. To allow absolute freedom in
the choice of subject.
4. To present an image (hence
the name “imagist”). We are not a school of painters, but we believe that
poetry should render particulars exactly and not deal in vague generalities.
5. To produce 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.
IV Some Imagists
Now let us look at some imagist
theorists and poets.
1.T.E.
Hulme
His lectures
and conversations had influenced the Imagist movement much though Pound did not
value them high. Hulme objected to the blurriness in language that
characterized the poetry of Swinburne. According to him the "moaning and
whining" that took place in the name of poetry during the closing years of
nineteenth century was detestable. He considered the imaging process as a way
to get out of the rut into which poetry was pushed in. "Each word",
he declared, "must be an image". Hulme exerted much influence on
T.S.Eliot.
2.
Ezra Pound
As is stated elsewhere in this essay,
Pound was responsible for the initial enthusiasm, which the movement generated
in England and America. He believed that it was better to present one image in
a lifetime than to produce voluminous works. Pound believed that poetry should
be dry and solid. Even when Imagism became "Amygism" and was taken
over by mediocre poets, Pound did not lose interest. He turned his attention to
vorticism but the description of literary vorticism he gave in Blast, the
vorticist journal, was simply an improved version of Imagism.
3.T.S.Eliot
T.S.Eliot
never called himself an Imagist. But he understood the nature and function of
the images in verse. He believed that the image is a device by which the poet
brought the reader in direct contact with the subject. His poems, particularly 'Preludes' treat the
subject directly.
The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passage
ways
Six 0'clock
The burnt-out ends of smoky
days.
4.'H.D'
(Hilda Doolittle)
As
stated elsewhere in this essay, it was for 'H.D' that Pound invented Imagism.
He felt that 'H.D' 's poems were the finest examples of Imagism. But ‘H.D’
turned away from mere Imagism to much more complex symbolism in her later
poetry.
5.John
Gould Fletcher
Amy Lowell
considered him an excellent Imagist and was fond of quoting him. She included
his poems in all her anthologies. His poems had a directness, which appealed to
most of his contemporaries. The poem 'The Well' is an example:
The
well is not used now
Its
waters are tainted
I
remember there was once a man went down
To
clean it.
He
found it very cold and deep,
With
a queer niche in one of its sides
From
which he hauled forth buckets of bricks and dirt.
6.Amy
Lowell
It was
Lowell who took over Imagism from Pound and spent energy and money in
popularizing it. She wrote free verse and also "polyphonic verse". In
the latter mode she used cadence, assonance, alliteration, rhyme and 'echo
effects'. More than the others, she was committed to making Imagism a popular
movement in literature. She brought out three anthologies of Imagist poetry.
V. Imagist Movement - An Assessment
In the final
analysis, Imagism appears more as a passing phase than a full-fledged movement;
like the Romantic Movement or Modernism. It lasted for only a few years and
impressed, only a few creative writers. But its chief merit is that it gave
rise to new ways of perception and new modes of expression.
Imagism`s chief defect was its
apparent superficiality. Imagists sacrificed meaning for style and effect. But
it brought about a verbal discipline and taught the generation to use words
carefully and effectively without 'romantic vagueness' or 'emotional slither'
whereas symbolism sought an affinity with music, Imagism sought analogy with
sculpture.
Books for further reading:
Amy
Lowell: Tendencies in Modern American
Poetry.
L.
Untermeyer: The New Era in American
Poetry.
Dr. S. Sreekumar
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