Imagism

1
Imagism
2
Imagism

• I. Historical Background
• (1) The First World War (1914 1918)
• Mainly fought in Europe between two opposite
  groups
• US attended the war at the end to share the
  benefits as a winner.
• Two results of the war to US Idealistic views of
  war turned to disillusionment (found from
  Hemingways novels) economic boom

3
Imagism

• (2) Science development (radio, automobile,
  movie)
• (3) Losing faith (Nietzsches death of God)
  (purposeless, futile and chaotic life)

4
Imagism

• 4) Social changes
• Jazz Age (1920s) broken old moral rules
  womens liberation
• social reforms racial discrimination (Ku Klux
  Klan)

5
Imagism

• All in all, the beginning of the 20th century is
  a chaotic age. It was also a transitional age.
  After 1920s, US society stepped into its modern
  times.

6
Imagism

• (5) Literary scenes
• A large group of writers began to make all kinds
  of literary experiments because they felt old
  literary form cant express the new spirits.

7
Imagism

• Since the 1920s, US literature stepped into the
  modern age. And the beginning part of the 20th
  century was called the second renaissance in
  American literature.
• (First Nobel Prize, several great writers,
  Southern Renaissance, Harlem Renaissance)

8
Imagism

• II. Imagist Movement
• 1. Three phrases
• (1) 1908 1909. London. T. E. Hulme
• Basic principles (P159) more discussion, less
  writing

9
Imagism

• (2) 1912 1914. Ezra Pound
• Manifesto, three principles, first anthology
  (P160)
• (3) 1914 1917. Amy Lowell
• No great achievements

10
Imagism

• 2. Contributions
• Offering a new way of writing
• Influenced lots of modern poets
• 3. Limitation
• A single dominate image is hardly capable of
  sustaining long poems.

11
Imagism

• 4. Connections with Chinese poems
• Picture-like characters, using of images, short
  and concise,
• abundant connotation
• The imagists translated lots of Chinese poems
  into English.

12
Imagism

• II. Ezra Pound (1855 1972)
• 1. Life
• (1) born in Idaho, raised in Pennsylvania
• (2) entered University of Penn., studied
  Romance languages
• (3) traveled in Eu. and lead the Imagist
  movement

13
Imagism

• (4) broke with Amy Lowell and lived in Italy
• (5) supported Mussolini in the second world war
  and after the war he was jailed because of
  betraying his motherland
• (6) With the help of T. S. Elliot and some
  other famous writers, he was released and lived
  in hospital.

14
Imagism

• 2. Works
• Famous poems In a Station of the Metro A
  Pact
• Collections
• Homage to Sextus Propertius (modern translation
  of Old Roman poems)

15
Imagism

• Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
• (condemned the commercialization and depravity of
  arts and showed his own point of views on poetry
  and art)
• Cantos

16
Imagism

• 3. Analysis
• (1) He was influenced by Greek, Italy and
  Chinese poets.
• (2) He wrote some fresh short poems and also
  some all-inclusive
• long poems.
• (3) Personal tone open and spontaneous style
• (4) Difficult to read and study great
  influence on modern poetry