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Poetry of 1900-1917
SYMBOLISTS
A movement to change the
direction of American poetry and
make it truly American.
Symbolists: goals
a. Tried to portray the emotional effects objects
suggested
b. Got rid of symbols and clichés of symbols
c. Trusted in the nonrational
d. Felt Imagination more reliable than reason and just as
precise
e. Believed poetry should be mysterious and intuitive
f. Utilized self-discovery
g. Had independence of thought
h. Recognized individual important- the soul and nature
i. Went against the mechanism of human life
Symbolists and Romanticism
•Symbolists much like early Romantics like Thoreau
•Believed in the individual
•Couldn’t find solace in nature
•Nature too defined by science; no more mystery
•Science has advanced life but humanity still had
poverty, violence, and conflict
•Life had become spiritually debased
•What is a human in the face of a mass culture ( all
alike)
IMAGISTS (1912-1917)
A new way to see and experience the world
Poetry is better ifa. Precise
b. Clear
c. Unqualified images
d. Imagery carries the emotion of the poem
IMAGISM
No need for
a. Stanzas
b. Meter
c. Pretty words
d. Sentimentality
e. Artificiality
IMAGISM
Poems needs:
a. Raw power of image
b. Common speech
c. Exact words
d. Hard, clear words
Haiku was the inspiration- short, one main idea,
based on nature
Imagism and Symbolists
•Techniques common in poetry now
• Free verse new idea at the time
• Topics: anything from kitchen sink to the full
moon
• Imagists and Symbolists- discovery:
Free verse is as tough to write as rhyme and
traditional poetry styles