imagism

1 9.9

A modern poetry movement that uses clear, concrete images and simple language

noun
/ˈɪmædʒɪzəm/

Archaic

: imagismo

The principles of Imagism were influential in shaping modernist poetry in the early 20th century.
understand Imagism

Examples

Most of the poets involved with Imagism were based in London between 1912 and 1918.

Academic text (2004)
However, it is hard to separate theory from practice in an attempt to understand what Imagism was.

Academic text (2004)
"What was Imagism?" is not an easy question to answer.

Academic text (2004)
Even so, this has not prevented critics from trying to understand Imagism.

Academic text (2004)
"Imagism is dead; long live the Imagists!" -- Glenn Hughes (Imagist 23)

Academic text (2004)
For John Fuller, although "Imagism seems absurdly provincial, its aims were at the center of the whole modernist program in poetry" (72).

Academic text (2004)
For his part, Joseph Frank claims Imagism "opened the way for later developments by its clean break with sentimental Victorian verbiage" (10-11).

Academic text (2004)
Many poets who practiced Imagism sought to create vivid and concrete images in their work.
The Imagism movement rejected Victorian sentimentality and aimed for clarity and precision in poetry.

Surface Forms

imagism singular

imagisms plural

Morphology

imagism = image (semi-transparent) = imag + ism

Formed from 'image' + '-ism', which transparently indicates a movement/ideology, but the term denotes a specific historical literary movement whose precise characteristics are specialized.

Etymology

Imagism comes from image ('picture') plus the ending -ism ('a belief or movement'). It was the name for a poetry movement that wanted poems to use clear, exact pictures instead of long, flowery language, so the word means putting 'pictures' at the heart of poetry.