20th century American Poets (I) Imagism

Hao Guilian, Ph.D.

Yunnan Normal University Fall, 2009

Ezra Pound (1885

—

1972)

   (1)born in Idaho, raised in Pennsylvania (2)entered University of Penn., studied Romance languages (3)traveled in Eu. and lead the Imagist movement

   (4)broke with Amy Lowell Italy and lived in (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.

Major works

   “ In a Station of the Metro ” ; “ A Pact ” “ Cantos ” (intellectual diary since 1915; no single clue; divided into many sections and each contributes to a different theme; showing author ’ s point of views on many aspects, such as politics, economy, arts, culture etc.)

General style of Pound

    (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

In a Station of the Metro

  The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.   人群中这些脸庞的隐现； 湿漉漉、黑黝黝的树枝上 的花瓣。 （裘小龙 译） 人群中幽然浮现的一张张脸庞， 黝黑的湿树枝上的一片片花瓣。   梦幻众中面貌 黝湿枝上疏花 （周钰良 译）

In a Station of the Metro

1. The “ Metro ” is the underground railway of Paris. 2. The word “ apparition ” , with its double  meaning , binds the two aspects of the observation together: Apparition meaning “ appearance ” , in the sense of something which appears, or shows up; something which can be clearly observed.

 Apparition meaning something which seems real but perhaps is not real ; something ghostly which cannot be clearly observed.

In a Station of the Metro

3. The poem is an observation of the poet of the human faces seen in a Paris subway station. It looks to be a modern adoption of the Japanese haiku .

4. He tries to render exactly his observation seen in an underground railway station. He sees the faces, turned variously toward light and darkness, like flower petals which are half absorbed by, half resisting, the wet, dark texture of a bough.

5. Repeating it, you can have a colorful picture, also you can feel the beauty of music different vowels and consonants, such as /p/ and /au/. Especially the repetition of /e/ in the second line emphasize it ’ through it s sense of music.

’ of human faces s repetition of

In a Station of the Metro

6. In this brief poem, Pound uses the fewest possible words to convey an accurate image, according to the principles of the “ Imagists ” . Pound wrote an account of its composition, which claims that the poem it, evolving organically ’ s form was determined by the experience that inspired rather than being chosen arbitrarily. 7. Whether truth or myth, the piece has become a famous document in the history of Imagism.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

 American poet and physician. He wrote stories, plays and autobiographies as well as poems. He met and befriended Ezra Pound, and was influenced by Pound.

Poetic Features of William Carlos Williams     Relaxed colloquialism Vivid Presentation Eloquent passages of beautifully controlled rhythm and phrasing His subject matter was centered on the everyday circumstances of life and the lives of common people .

The Red Wheelbarrow

So much depends upon 那么多东西 依靠 a red wheel barrow 一辆红色 手推车 glazed with rain water 雨水淋得它 晶亮 beside the white chickens.

旁边是一群 白鸡 William Carlos Williams

Archibald Macleish (1892-1982)

  [Poetry] gives knowledge of the chaos and confusion of the world by imposing order upon it which leaves it still the chaos and confusion which it really is. --Archibald MacLeish

Ars Poetica

《诗艺》  A poem should be palpable and mute As a globed fruit  诗当了然澈 缄如圆圆果  Dumb As old medallions to the thumb  无言自默默 荣章今摩挲  Silent as the sleeve-worn stone Of casement ledges where the moss has grown   静若阑干人久凭 苔痕帘外生，罗袖将石破 诗当静无言 鸟雀自飞天。  A poem should be wordless As the flight of birds

 A poem should be motionless in time As the moon climbs  诗当恍如凝 静中见月升  Leaving, as the moon releases Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,  去似月拾枝 渐释幽中木  Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves, Memory by memory the mind  亦似皎月寒叶后 追忆萦心久，脉脉复悠悠  A poem should be motionless in time As the moon climbs  诗当恍如凝 静中见月升。

 A poem should be equal to: Not true  诗当何所同？ 恍恍太虚境  For all the history of grief An empty doorway and a maple leaf  万古悲痛生 寥落门廊一叶枫  For love The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea  爱者知何成？ 海生日月草身倾  无伤意及旨 诗当如本是。  A poem should not mean But be

 MacLeish greatly admired T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and his work shows quite a bit of their influence. MacLeish's early work was very traditionally modernist and accepted the contemporary modernist position holding that a poet was isolated from society . His most well-known poem, " greatly involved in public life Ars Poetica ," contains a classic statement of the modernist aesthetic: "A poem should not mean / But be." He later broke with modernism's pure aesthetic. MacLeish himself was inevitable role for a poet. and came to believe that this was not only an appropriate but an

Imagism

  Originating in the philosophy of T.E. by Greek and Roman classics and by Hulme , the movement soon attracted Ezra Pound, who became the leader of a small group opposed to the romantic conception of poetry and inspired Chinese , Japanese , and modern French poets. The imagist poets called for    new rhythms, clear images, free choice of subject matter,   compressed poetic expression, and use of common speech.

Major feature--1

     With a spirit of revolt against conventions, imagism was anti-romantic and anti-Victorian. It stressed free choice of subject matters (often dealing with single, concentrated moments of experience), concreteness of imagery, musical phrases, economy of expression, and the use of a dominant image. It aimed at instantaneous effect, visual and concise. Imagists used the language of common speech and employed exact words instead of the flowery language of poetry. They avoided all clich é expressions, the elaborate diction, and complex verse forms of traditional poetry.

Major feature--2

   Imagism tried to record objective observations of an object or a situation without interpretation or comment by the poet. Imagism required a poet to present just a picture , not his insight . It is very biological presentation.

and very scientific . They never stated the emotion in the poem, but just presented an image: concrete, firm, definite in picture. Any significance to be derived from the image had to appear inherent in its clean

A Chinese imagistic poetry:

Autumn Evening crows perch on old trees wreathed with withered vine, Water of a stream flows by a family cottage near a tiny bridge.

A lean horse walks on an ancient road in western breeze, The sun is setting in the west, The heart-broken one is at the end of the Earth.

《天净沙·秋思》 马致远 枯藤老树昏鸦， 小桥流水人家， 古道西风瘦马。 夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

 4 Pulitzer Prizes  read poetry at a presidential inauguration.

 received honorary degrees from 44 colleges  unofficial poet Laureate, one of the most celebrated American ’ s modernist poets

Frost

’

s Quotes

    I'm not a teacher, but an awakener.

I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn.

I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.

I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed.

Frost

’

s View and Theme

    His poetry concerns New England ’ s nature . He saw nature as a storehouse of analogy and symbol, so his concern with nature reflected deep moral uncertainties.

His poetry often probes mysterious of darkness and irrationality in the bleak and chaotic landscapes of an indifferent universe.

The quest of the solitary person accessible of modern writers.

to make sense of the world has become the central theme of all Frost ’ s collections and made his poetry among the most The poetry of Robert Frost combined pastoral imagery with solitary philosophical themes .

About the Poem

“

The Road Not Taken

”  Frost claims that he wrote this poem about his friend Edward Thomas, with whom he had walked many times in the woods near London. Frost has said that while walking they would come to different paths and after choosing one, Thomas would always felt wondering what they might have missed by not taking the other path.

 About the poem, Frost asserted, “ You have to be careful of that one; it ’ s a tricky poem the poem has been and continues to be used as an inspirational poem, encouraging self-reliance, not following where others have led. But a close reading of the poem proves not so.

– very tricky.

” Superficially,

A tricky poem?

  The word wrong.

“ sigh ” is a tricky word. Because sigh can be interpreted into nostalgic relief or regret. If it is the relief sigh, then the difference means the speaker feels glad with the road he took. If it is the regret sigh, then the difference would not be good, and the speaker would be sighing in regret. Hence, sigh is ambigous here for the speaker is not showing whether his choice is right or Actually, it does not moralize about choice, it simply says that choice is inevitable but you never know what your choice will mean until you have lived it. This is also the theme of the poem.

“ I took the one the less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

”