Imagism

Imagism was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that rejected the sentiment and artifice of Romantic and Victorian poetry as well as the contemporary Georgian poets in favour of precision of imagery in clear, sharp language. Group publication of work under the Imagist name in magazines and in four anthologies appearing between 1914 and 1917 featured writing by many of the most significant figures in Modernist poetry in English, as well as a number of other Modernist figures who were to be prominent in fields other than poetry.

Related Topics:
20th-century - Poetry - Romantic - Victorian - Georgian poets - 1914 - 1917 - Modernist poetry in English - Modernist

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Based in London, the Imagists were drawn from Britain, Ireland and the United States and, somewhat unusually for the time, featured a number of women writers amongst their major figures. Historically, Imagism is also significant because it was the first organised Modernist English-language literary movement or group. In the words of T.S. Eliot; "The point de repère usually and conveniently taken as the starting-point of modern poetry is the group denominated 'imagists' (sic) in London about 1910."

Related Topics:
London - Britain - Ireland - United States - Modernist - T.S. Eliot

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Emerging in a period that valued the moralising writings of Longfellow and Tennyson as the paragons for poetry, Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more Classical values, such as directness of presentation and economy of language, as well as a willingness to experiment with non-traditional verse forms. The focus on the "thing" as "thing" (an attempt at isolating a single image to reveal its essence) also mirrors contemporary developments in avant-garde art, especially Cubism, but with the difference that Imagism isolates its object through the use of what Ezra Pound called "luminous details" while Cubism synthesises a single image from multiple perspectives.

Related Topics:
Longfellow - Tennyson - Classical - Avant-garde - Cubism - Ezra Pound

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