Imagism

For: Cent Magazine

When enquiring in my local library for an Imagism anthology and any other related texts, I was met with the following query; “you would like a book on Scientology?” I then explained that I was not particularly interested in L. Ron Hubbard’s theories on life at that very moment in time and would much rather read about a certain poetic movement of the early 20^th century. After much deliberation I was finally met with a rather musty copy of the first Imagism anthology, 1914’s Des Imagistes. While I should note that the librarians confusion about whether I wanted information on Scientology or an Imagism anthology may well have been down to bad pronunciation on my behalf, it seems a tragedy that a poetic movement led by the legendary Ezra Pound and whose first anthology featured the works of Pound, H.D and even James Joyce (although in an article in the Egoist, Pound submitted, “there are poems by authors in this anthology, which I do not consider to be Imagiste” and went on to list Joyce) has been swept up under the wide umbrella of “Modernism” and left to gather dust in some shadowy corner.

There are a variety of factors regarding why Imagism is not mentioned particularly much when discussing early 20^th century poetry. For a start, it has to compete with the plethora of “isms” of that era; Vorticism, Futurism, and for Pound, even fascism. It must also be remembered that Imagism was a rather short-lived movement, as Pound lost interest around 1914 and the reigns of Imagism were handed to Amy Lowell, who went on to publish a few volumes of Imagist poetry, up until 1917. However, it could also be to do with the fact that Imagism’s style of stripping down to fundamental basics, or as Pound put it in his manifesto, using “no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something”, does not bode well with a nation that apparently places Rudyard Kipling’s “If” as its favourite poem. Pound’s appreciation of elemental concepts does not mean that his works, or his fellow Imagist’s creations lack the style and grace of more, somewhat mainstream poets like Kipling. Take for example Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”, which is comprised of the following lines:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough

While the poem may look sparse, the mix between nature and urban, traditional and modern is simply spectacular. Originally totalling in at thirty lines, Pound suggested in his manifesto not “to be descriptive” as “the painter can describe a landscape much better than you can” and in this text it’s clear to note Pound’s talent for abstracting the “superfluous” parts of a poem and reducing it to its very core, without it ever seeming bleak or unattractive. However, with the recent re-evaluations of side-lined avant-garde writers and artists like Pound’s associate Wyndham Lewis, it is only a matter of time before Imagism is removed from the old cupboards of libraries nationwide and is finally given its chance in the spot light.