How did we get here?

Ezra Pound               T.S Eliot    

While browsing for an interesting topic to write about, I found myself struggling with the lack of knowledge, except the lore nudged - or at least attempted to be nudged - into us during this course and some dissociated attempt to understand or give an "anclaje" to the former lore. Therefore, there is a gap, a wide scary gap that needs to be fulfilled somehow. One of those gaps is named Imagist writers, how it is connected with symbolism and how both connect to Elliot’s poetry.

F.S Flint. "The History Of Imagism."
The Egoist. London, 1 May 1995.

To start with, Imagist poetry advocates concreteness, economy, and free verse (1). That is, use words that do not almost depict the subject, but chisel it properly through words. Here appears a manifest, probably that of Ezra Pound - “A Retrospect” and “A Few Don’ts” (1918)- who was a leading figure within this branch of modernism. Furthermore, the relation between these writers, even though not that close, allowed Pound to modify Eliot’s Wasteland before publishing.

Some speculate that Imagism is the successor of the Symbolists and creates a parallel by contrasting the relation between music and symbolism and sculpture with Imagism (9). Others suggest that a great amount of influence can be traced to this movement, (Hughes 4-8) as well as there are others who do not avail for it (5) arguing the different nature of the French influence, pointing to psychologists and philosophers.

One thing is sure, Eliot was indeed interested in symbolists and his poems are filled with allusive directions and contrasts to which one needs to pay attention to, in order to grasp the full meaning of his creation.
Also, as stated by Eliot himself: “The kind of poetry that I needed, to teach me the use of my own voice, did not exist in English at all; it was only found in French." (8)

Elliot developed his style from the Symbolist as well as Metaphysical poets. From the latter, John Donne’s writing present a new perspective, using “paradoxical images, subtle argument, inventive syntax, and imagery from art, philosophy, and religion using an extended metaphor known as a conceit”

If now, you go to “The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock” most of what was mentioned can be found, adapted and fused to Eliot’s own nurtured imagery as vast as his education was. 

All in all, the modernity of Pound, his promotion of Eliot’s poems, and Eliot’s influences are only the beginning of an intricate chain of events that may lead towards unclosing the allusiveness employed while conveying his subject matter, in the concise, evoking manner of Imagists writers, differentiating himself only by his well-rounded pursuit of finding his voice. 

A little gift taken from Julian Peters' comic book adaptation of "The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock." 

Bibliography

(1)    Wilmer, Clive “Pound's Life and Career” Department of English, University of Illinois. MAPS: Modern American Poetry Sites. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/pound/bio.htm  30 May 2015.

(2)    Hughes, Glenn. Imagism and the Imagists: A Study in Modern Poetry. 1931. Reprint, New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1972. 29 May 2015

(3)    Ewick, David, et al. Japonisme, Orientalism, Modernism: A Bibliography of Japan in English-Language Verse of the Early 20th Century 30 May 2015.

A)     Leonard, William Ellery. ‘The New Poetry—A Critique, II’. Chicago Evening Post, 24 September 1915, p. 9. http://themargins.net/bib/A/05.htm

B)      BK. Ezra Pound (Index) Vorticism’. Fortnightly Review NS 96 (September 1914): 461-71. http://themargins.net/bib/B/BK/bk012.html

(4)     “Ezra Pound.” Academy of American Poets. http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/ezra-pound 28 May 2015

(5)    Wallace, Martin. “The Sources of the Imagist Aesthetic” PMLA. Modern Language Association
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1261393?saveCitation=true&confirm=add&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

(6)    Bush, Ronald. “T.S. Eliot 's Life and Career Department of English, University of Illinois. MAPS: Modern American Poetry Sites. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/life.htm

(7)    "Biography T.S Eliot." Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute. 29 May 2015. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/t-s-eliot

(8)    “A Retrospect” and “A Few Don’ts” Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute.  29 May 2015 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/237886?page=1

(9)     "Imagism."  Modern & Contemporary American Poetry. 18 July 2007
 http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/imagism-def.html  30 May 2015.

  

(10) Keep, Christopher ; McLaughlin, Tim; Parmar, Robin.  "Modernism and the Modern Novel." The Electronic Labyrinth. .  http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0255.html

11)  "John Donne". Academy of American Poets 
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/john-donne