Imagism is a literary movement initiated and put into practice by some British and American poets from 1909 to 19 17. It was a branch of symbolism literature movement prevailing in the western world at that time. The purpose is to ask the poet to vividly express things with vivid, accurate, implicit and highly concentrated images, and to integrate the poet's instantaneous thoughts and feelings into poetry. It opposes comments and sighs. The appearance of imagism was originally a reversal of the poetic style at that time.
The creation of imagist poetry has three distinct artistic characteristics.
Inner feeling
1. Imagism demands that poems directly present images that can convey feelings, and express images in the form of sculptures and paintings, and opposes lyrical poems that are musical and mysterious, and puts forward "don't talk" and "don't talk", just show them without comment. Pound summarized the definition of image poetry as: "Image is a complex of reason and emotion presented in an instant." For example, China's famous modern poem "Life" has only one word: "Net." Let readers feel the full meaning of life in an instant. Another example is Amy's masterpiece "Middle Age": "It seems to be black ice,/it is covered with unsolvable vortex lines by ignorant skaters,/and this is the dull surface of my heart." In the display of images such as "black ice", "vortex pattern" and "dark face", poetry instantly conveys the poet's inner helplessness in middle age.
Image layering
1? Image layering: according to the objective law of the development of things, the images are combined in an orderly and hierarchical way. For example, China's poem "Chilechuan": "Chilechuan, under the shady mountain, the sky is like a dome, and the cage covers four fields. The sky is wild, and the wind blows grass and sees cattle and sheep. " From the distant mountains to the grassland, from the sky to the earth, the image is clear and distinct. Pound saluted: "Hey, you pompous generation,/you unnatural faction,/I've seen fishermen having picnics in the sun,/I've seen them with unkempt family members,/I've seen them grin when they laugh,/I've heard their rude laughter. /But I am happier than you,/They are happier than me,/Can't you see there are fish swimming in the lake,/There are no clothes at all. " Here, fish is the freest, fish swim freely in the water, unrestrained, completely naked; The fisherman fishing is the second fish. They eat on the ground in the wild and rudely laugh at their untidy families. Looking at the fishermen who live freely, I wait again and again, but I can see through your "arrogant generation" and "extremely unnatural faction" In the clear-cut contrast, the poet challenged those literati who claimed to be noble and elegant, full of style, but artificial, and advocated that modern poets should write poems as freely as fish roaming freely in the water.
Image superposition
2? Image superposition: images with the same essential meaning are skillfully superimposed together, and the relationship between images constitutes modification, restriction and metaphor. For example, Hume's On the Pier: "In the quiet pier,/in the middle of the night,/the moon is entangled between the high mast and the rope,/hanging there,/it seems impossible,/it's actually just a ball,/and the children forget it there after playing." Overlapping the moon with the balloon image abandoned by children, using the moon to symbolize modern people and modern life, and overlapping with the balloon image with decorative significance, the moon is entangled between mast ropes, beauty is blasphemed, elegance is ridiculed, and modern people's feelings of depression, cold and loneliness arise spontaneously. Another example is Pound's "Girl" written to early lovers: "The tree enters my hand and the sap rises to my arm. /Trees grow down in my chest,/Branches grow on me,/Like arms. //You are a tree,/You are a moss,/You are a violet. /You are a child,/and in the eyes of the world, all this is stupid. " Poetry first superimposes and embellishes "I" with the image of a vibrant "tree", and then superimposes and embellishes "tree" with moss and violets. Obviously, the image of a tree is a symbol of girls and love, as youthful and beautiful as a moss violet, as vibrant as a green tree, nourishing the growth and life course of "I", although these are nonsense in the eyes of the world. In the superposition of images, we appreciate the beauty and gentleness of a violet-like girl and the tension of life like moss and green trees.
Image juxtaposition
3? Image juxtaposition: juxtapose two visible images in different time and space to stimulate and arouse other feelings. Hume said: "The combination of two visible images can be called visual chord. Their combination gives people a different image from the two. " The juxtaposition of different images has caused feelings that have been divorced from the meaning of one of them and have a brand-new feeling. For example, China's poem "Fallen leaves are like the foam of a waterfall, but I think the long river always rolls forward", and the images of fallen leaves and rivers have been transformed into the meaning of getting rid of old cloth and heading for the future; "The cock crows in Maodian and the frost on the bridge is neglected" is a manifestation of the hardships and sufferings of a lonely wanderer who travels far, gets up early and stays late. As an iconic work of Imagist poetry, Pound's In the Subway Station;
These faces in the crowd are like ghosts,
Many petals on a wet black branch.
There are only two images in the poem. The faces in the crowd are juxtaposed with the petals on the black branches. This is an instantaneous image obtained from the people walking in a hurry, which writes the poet's instantaneous visual impression and instantaneous inner feelings. In the crowded subway station, the poet stood in the middle, and passers-by came face to face and hurried by. The whole atmosphere was gloomy and humid, suffocating. Several pale and beautiful faces of women and children appear and disappear from time to time, breaking this cold and dreary feeling and giving people a pleasant feeling, thus feeling some vitality. Two juxtaposed images are reflected in the brain, forming a picture of strong contrast between vulgarity and beauty, dampness and freshness. It not only shows the busy and mediocre life of urbanites, but also gives people a sense of squeezing, depicting the anxious, nervous and turbulent, busy and monotonous life reality of modern people, and also shows the attachment and yearning of the soul for natural beauty.
Concise and clear
Secondly, the language of imagist poetry is concise, without meaningless adjectives and modifiers, without decorative lace, against showing off words, short lines and jumping images. For example, Pound translated the sentence "Shocking the sand and making waves" in Li Bai's Antique into "Shocking". Chaos in the desert. The sun of the sea. " Although mistranslation is inevitable, the brevity and lightness of language can also be seen. Another example is The Red Cart by William, a famous American Imagist poet: "A lot of things/depend on/a red car/being illuminated by rain/a few pigeons." Simple and fresh poems clearly convey the yearning of ordinary Americans for middle-class life, so that poems are recited by many housewives.
Rhythm rhythm
Thirdly, imagist poetry pays attention to the internal rhythm and rhythm of image combination, and integrates images with the thoughts and feelings contained in them. He advocates writing poems according to the musicality of language and opposes writing poems according to fixed steps. He believes that even metrical poems are synchronic and hypnotic "metronomes". Imagism found that Japanese poems didn't rhyme, and China's poems were translated word for word by sinologists, which became free poems. Therefore, imagist poetry is unruly and close to free poetry. They advocate that the musicality of poetry should be natural and pay attention to the internal rhythm and rhythm of things. This has played a role in promoting free poetry in English-speaking countries.
The generation of image can be divided into two forms: one is subjective image; The second is the objective image. The manifestations of images can be divided into two creative tendencies: one is static imagism, represented by Amy, Aldington and Doolittle, which advocates classical beauty and has a romantic style, and has created many sculpture poems and landscape poems. For example, Amy's "Environment": "Condensed on the maple leaf,/Dew glistened red,/In the lotus flower,/As pale as a tear." Autumn fog: "Is it dragonfly or maple leaf?" The image is quiet and beautiful, just like a beautiful landscape frame. The second is dynamic imagism, represented by Pound and Ye Saining. 19 14, Pound published the poem Vortex, which marked the birth of the newly established "Vortex School". Pound advocates that under the principle of imagery poetry, the dynamic and vitality of poetry should be emphasized. He believes: "Image is not an opinion, but a bright spot or a group. I may or may not have to call it a whirlpool. Through it, ideas keep pouring in and pouring out. " Pursuing the fluency of intention and the complex effect of multi-image jumping in creation.
Although imagist writers have different aesthetic concepts and artistic styles, they have formed some consistent tendencies in their creation. No matter Pound, Amy or Ye Saining, imagist poetry shows a sentimental, depressed and hopeful mood. Imagist poetry is short, fresh, delicate and affectionate.