I have chosen to go with pitch #3, Text and Context, for my final essay. I will attempt to write a chapter on Imagism in a really hip textbook. I do not own a corduroy jacket, but hopefully it will turn out just as well. I shall keep my fingers crossed.
I chose Imagism because I think it was a very important step forward in all literary work since its conception. Though this movement was short lived, it held a lasting impact on future writers and poets.
With imagism, there is no confusion on what you are reading, the images are clear. This is apposed to the earlier eras where the words were complicated and sometimes felt disjointed from the image. This is if you could even find an image from having to stop and decipher all the words.
Imagism is the ‘the bare bones and punk rock of poetry’. (Scott Weaver) With imagism, you have the image of what is being said as soon as you read it. It may not make since at first, but the image is clear. Then, when reread and pondered upon what you have read, you get this ‘ah ha’ moment and the image suddenly expands.
This is important, for me at least, because you are not lost in the words, but the image itself, thus allowing a reader to go back and analyze their own interpretation. For me, when I read something, I try to imagine what I am reading while I am reading it. I try to ‘see’ and understand at that precise moment of what is being said. Then, when I ponder on that image I have in my head, suddenly this one image explodes into many.
Ezra Pound and his ’cohorts’ may have been revolting against the Romantic era optimism and they may have just been trying to get their ’circle’ of friends published, but the fact remains that the literary world was changed forever.
Imagism may not be easy to interpret and it may sometimes make a person say ‘OK, that’s different’, but the fact remains, imagism was a very important movement that apparently was, and is here to stay.
I will try to write this chapter so that these undergraduate students can appreciate the value of an era that was short lived, but had a lasting impact on the world.
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"I chose Imagism because I think it was a very important step forward in all literary work since its conception. Though this movement was short lived, it held a lasting impact on future writers and poets."
ReplyDeleteI like this. I'm looking forward to your explanation of how it made an impact. Perhaps a good idea would be to look at some newer poems (that wouldn't necessarily be part of the movement) and show it's lasting influence. I'd recommend Levine, Rich, Plath, and Sexton.
A quick review of the Romantic ideas that Imagism wwas tossing aside would be good too.
If you'd like to read Pound's "A Retrospect" in full, it's here: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/pound/retrospect.htm
I can also give you some other material to read about Imagism, if you'd like.