Modern Literary Movements: Imagism, Vorticism, Modernism
Modern Literary Movements
In modern times, several movements contributed significantly to sweeping away the last remains of Victorianism in England. Ezra Pound was a key figure in this period.
Imagism
Founded in 1912, Imagism saw participation from Ezra Pound, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), and Richard Aldington in its foundation. In that year, they wrote their own manifesto. It represented a will to destroy every inch of the past that was influential at the time (pomposity, sentimentalism, etc.). There was a strong rebellion against Romanticism, an anti-romantic movement. The great break with Romanticism takes place in Imagism, not in the Victorian era. It was based on the aesthetic philosophy conducted by T.E. Hulme, which was anti-sentimental.
Characteristics of an Imagist Poem
- An Imagist poem is short; they focused on the composition of very short poems, unlike the long Victorian poems.
- The poems are composed of very short lines which are very musical and completely aligned with metrical regularity.
- They had a complete rejection of abstraction (things that cannot be perceived with senses, like love, happiness). They thought it was enough to speak about these abstract things and wanted complete visuality in their poems, focusing on things that can be perceived by the senses.
- They thought poetry was the victim of rhetoric, pomposity, an excess of words that hid the meaning of the poem.
Imagist Devices
The devices used by Imagism are images, metaphors, similes, and any device that allows the poet to introduce visuality into the poem.
Vorticism
Founded in 1914 by Ezra Pound and Wyndham Lewis. The idea of Vorticism was to add movement, energy, dynamism, violence, and aggression to the idea of Imagism, which was basically static. They added new dimensions to the idea of the image. Vorticism was articulated around a term: Blast, like their journal which was called Blast: The Review of the Great English Vortex (with the aim to renew what was before). They only published 2 issues; between the publication of the first Blast and the second, the outbreak of WWI began. This movement contributed dynamism to images, movement because they thought Imagism’s images were too static, an anti-sentimental movement, aggressiveness, and they wanted solidity and strength. Vorticism is not only poetic but also an artistic movement. They did not celebrate life, love, etc. They celebrated machinery because they wanted poetry to be as geometric as possible. They wanted to be authoritarian (they are related to fascism).
Modernism
Modernism is an umbrella term, which has a very general meaning. Modernism refers to all the specific movements that at the beginning of the 20th century contributed to sweeping away Victorianism and 19th-century thinking. It refers to a group of ephemeral movements like Vorticism, Imagism, or Cubism that made an effort to ‘destroy’ Victorianism and Romanticism. Also, to differentiate them, Imagism and Vorticism were ad hoc movements (created in a particular period of time to accomplish a particular purpose, with some rules). All these authors were very arrogant, with strong personalities, and would have refused to be called collectively Modernists. That’s why the term Modernism can only be used retrospectively.
Nature vs. Art
- Nature: Confined, Organic, Rounded, Imprecise.
- Art: Accurate, Mechanic, Angular, Precise.
Life must be eliminated from art; art and humanity should not be mixed up.
La deshumanización del arte (Ortega y Gasset)