Imagism in English Literature

 

INTRODUCTION: 

The dawn of the 20^th century brought about a drastic change in the field of poetry. The beginning of modern era gave birth to new poetic styles (expressionism, symbolism etc.) for the expression of ideas and emotions. One among the modern poetic styles which became very popular among the poets was IMAGISM. Imagism as a movement started in 1909 with the publication of T. E. Hulme’s poems ‘A City Sunset’ and ‘Autumn’. However, this movement did not last long in poetry and ended in 1917.

WHAT IS THIS MOVEMENT?

Imagism is a 20^th century new movement in poetry which was a reaction against the too much romanticism of the 19^th century poetry. The poets of imagism emphasized on the use of clear, direct language. They were not happy with the high romanticism and elaborate expression of the 19^th century poets. They wished to present the pictures with the least possible use of words. Their language was succinct (to say clearly in a few words) and to the point.

Sir Philip Sidney, an English poet and critic had rightly defined poetry in the following words:

“Poetry, therefore, is an art of imitation, a speaking picture, with this end to teach and delight.”

In this way, Sidney during the 16^th century spoke about the importance of imagism in poetry. According to him, true poetry must be able to create pictures in the mental eyes of the readers. Not only Sidney, other critics of English poetry and painting also unanimously agreed to the following dictum:

“Poetry is a speaking picture, and picture is a mute poetry.”

FEATURES OF IMAGISM:

In order to understand this movement, one must be familiar with some common features of imagist poetry. Let’s discuss them.

1.   USE OF SIMPLE LANGUAGE:  In order to make the poetry more effective, the followers of imagism use very simple language. They avoid high flowery language and verbosity which is mostly found in the metaphysical, romantic and Victorian poetry. They preferred to use the language of the common men which is clear, simple and direct without much pomp and show.

 2.   USE OF FIVE SENSES:      During the movement of imagism, the poets tried to express and present their ideas in such a manner that it appeals our five senses (touch, hear, see, smell and taste) directly. However, it is observed that these modern poets used the sense of vision much in England and America. T. S. Eliot has used this image of vision in his famous poem ‘Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’:

“Let us go then you and I

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table.”

In this way, the poet tries to create a visual picture in the mental eyes of the reader with the help of his words.

Let’s take another example of the use of images by Wordsworth in his very famous poem ‘Daffodils’:

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffoldils.

Beside the lake, beneath the trees

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

 3.   USE OF FREE VERSE:       The poetry of imagism did not follow the traditional style of poetry writing. In traditional poetry, the poets followed proper rhythm and meter. But during the modern era, the imagists used no rhythm, no rhyme and no meter. They wrote their poetry in free verse. Here, the poet does not toil much on arranging words so as to create rhythm, instead, he focuses more on creating visual pictures through his words. 

 4.   BREVITY AND PRECISION:      Imagism was a reaction against realism of the Victorian era. Unlike romantic poetry, the modern poetry concentrated on precision and brevity. The roundabout ways of saying were boldly avoided and the ideas were presented with minimum number of words. They used exact words, nor nearly exact or decorative words. Japanese Haiku was also the result of this insistence on brevity of expression.

“A true poem, according to the imagist, must be to the reader’s mind what an image is to the retina of the eye at any given moment of perception.”

MAJOR IMAGIST POETS:

Many critics believe that imagism was not a movement or a doctrine, but it is an association of a few poets who mainly concentrated on the expression of ideas and objects through various images. There were many outstanding imagist poets in the beginning of the 20^th century. Some of them are T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, T. E. Hulme, Sylvia Plath, Hilda Doolittle, F. S. Flint, Carlos Williams etc.

CONCLUSION:

In nutshell, one may say that the movement of imagism had a deep influence in English poetry in the beginning of the 20^th century. However, it faded away soon. It is because the poets concentrated too much on this new technique of creating visual pictures and they ignored the subject matter. Stephen rightly observes, “It isolated the basic unit of the modern poem.”  But one thing is sure that the brevity and clarity of expression adopted by these imagist poets heralded a new era of modern poetry in the 20^th century. M. H. Abrams rightly remarks:

“Imagism was too restrictive to endure long as a concrete movement, but it turned out to be the inauguration of modern poetry.”

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