Analysis on Imagism in Poetry of China and America

Ma Yuhua

(College of Foreign Languages　Zhongzhou University,Zhengzhou　Henan　450044)



Analysis on Imagism in Poetry of China and America

Ma Yuhua

(College of Foreign LanguagesZhongzhou University,ZhengzhouHenan450044)

This article starts with concept and description of image,and then analyzes imagism in poetry of China and America based on presentation methods and subjective expression.

poetry of China and America;imagism

The most important characteristic of Chinese classical poetry is emphasizing the style of writing.The poet could express the colorful emotion by simple words.And imagism is the essence of Chinese classical poetry.Imagism has a long history,for example,Lao Zi (philosopher in the Spring and Autumn Period,founder of Taoism) came up with “the profound image is invisible”.“Image” of Chinese classical poetry belongs to artistic expression.American literary theorist Susanne K.Langer once said,“works of art are images of feeling”.“This is an irrational image beyond the expression by language”.He comprehensively noted the connotation of image which expresses the particular view,understanding,visual sense,and specific feelings of the poet,and they are the carrier of sense,idea and emotion.“Artistic conception” refers to subjective emotion of the poet，and “Image ” refers to objective image reflected by the poet.Thus,Image is the figure in poet’s mind,which is integrated with the emotion of author.Image is ideographic object which could be perceived,and at the same time it is real and specific.German philosopher Kant once described image as “vigor perfusion”.〔1〕Many poems of imagist are with special literature effects for using superposition nouns and spatial transformation.

Image includes emotions and ideas of the poet in specific environment or time;it not only objectively describes things,but also contains subjective desire of the poet.One of the obvious features of image is spatial expression,and that is the depth and width of connotation.And it is often expressed by description of visual object and scene.Images have internal relationship.The expression of image depends on distinctiveness as well as the effects it brings to the whole poem.

Image is real existence that reflected by artistic expression.For example,in Bai Pu’s Autumn Thoughts,“The isolated village is shrouded by evening glow,over old trees are mist and flying crows;the shadow of birds leave on the ground.Around the green mountains and rivers,the grass is withered when yellow flowers bloom among green leaves.” Connotation of the poem is reflected in autumnal scenery,spatial transformation among images vividly presents a gorgeous picture which contains deep feeling of the poet.The poem named Sunny Sand.Autumn Thoughts is written by Ma Zhiyuan through vivid combination of images.“Rotten vines,old tree,and the evening crow” are used in this poem to express the loneliness and homesickness of the poet,and it belongs to a good poem which expresses emotion by beautiful images.“Over old trees wreathed with rotten vines fly evening crows;under a small bridge near a cottage a stream flows;on ancient road in the west wind a lean horse goes.Westward declines the sun;far,far from home is the heartbroken one.” In order to form a picture,the poet use “rotten vines,old tree,the evening crow,ancient road,west wind,lean horse,sunset,heartbroken person,and far from home”,and these nouns vividly create the bleak and desolate atmosphere.Emotion of the poet is expressed by four images which directly create four desolate pictures.The first image “Over old trees wreathed with rotten vines fly evening crows” describes a depressed and grey scene through tree pictures created by “rotten vines”,“old tree”,and “ the evening crow”;secondly,“under a small bridge near a cottage a stream flows” expresses that the poet is yearning for ease and quietness when “small bridge”,“stream” and “cottage” form a harmonious image;the essence of this poem is in “on ancient road in the west wind a lean horse goes”,which reflects dolefulness and sadness of the poet through “ancient road”,“west wind”,and “a lean horse”;the fourth image is “Westward declines the sun;far,far from home is the heartbroken one”,among which “person”,“far from home” and “sunset” present a picture that the author is lonely and sad for living far away from hometown alone.In this poem,the four images are in parallel arrangement.Analyzing from space,these images start from the near to the distant,however they have close connection,thus they form a general picture — “Autumn Thoughts”.

The method of imagist is to express the meaning by creating images as well as achieve spatial extension with arrangement or superposition of nouns.Masterpieces of Chinese classic poetry belong to imagism which creates images by nouns.“After cock crows,departing from lodge in the moonlight;the bridge with few people is covered by frost”,“Night snow covers the boat in ferry,the cavalry go to the frontier with autumn wind ”,and “autumn will arrive in the north areas,but the south region is in blossom and misty rain” also express emotions by creating images.Analyzing from the method of imagist,these sentence are very extreme and representative.Silk-Washing Stream written by Qin Guan also belongs to masterpiece of imagism.

When read Silk-Washing Stream,it seems difficult to find the feeling of the author.But the author uses common images to express his sorrow in spring.The light colored and vague imagery describe the slight sorrow and loneliness of a young lady.All images in the poem seems peaceful,however,they create boundless implication for readers to comprehend.“With regard to the form of artistic expression,the author highlights the implication within images by combining great time and space span,thus the non-continuous images and emotions of the author reflect the “ Elegant and graceful ”expression as well as perfectly present new artistic conception of imagist poetry” (Wu,Sheng,2000:26).〔2〕

“Going up stairs in cold mist,cloudy morning likes autumn;pale smoke and running water make the painted screen such quiet.” It simply describes the action of going up stairs,and the images including cold,cloudy morning and painted screen seem irrelevant to it,however,the author combines the images by spatial transformation.And readers could grasp the feelings that the author wants to express.The superposition of words seems very common,and none of them express the loneliness and sad.Meanwhile,except superposition of images,the author only describes the action as “going up stairs”,however the scene is vivid and unforgettable.

“The flying petals likes a dream,endless rain seems to be tiffany-twisted.The curtain is hung by a silver hook” describes that falling flowers are free,they fly as dreams;the rain just like gloomy mood and it is endless.“The flying petals like a dream;endless rain seems to be tiffany-twisted.” Is recomposed from “Spring melancholy likes the willow catkin,it is isolated from dreams” of Feng Yansi(a poet in the Five Dynasties),however the artistic effects seems to be even better.“Waning moon is hung outside the window” is recomposed from Li Jing’s “Jade hook on the hand-rolled bead curtain”.Imagination which is greatly admired by imagist Pound also used in this poem.After these two sentences,the poet transfer to describe the real scene and that is the curtain hung by a silver hook.The scene is very common;however,the action shows the feeling of the woman.Qin Guan grasped the emotion of the woman,and it may also be his true feeling:it is seems to be lethargic and lonely,and a hint of sadness is in the air.Light dream likes the flying flowers when slight sorrow seems like drizzle.The words are free,easy,and very plain.In this poem,the poet did not describe who has dreams and who is lonely;he also did not say what is the dream or loneliness.The poet only uses the superposition of images to implicitly express the true feeling.This is the characteristic which contrasts sharply with the western poetry expressing emotions frankly.Imagism is also promoted in the western,and poets try to change the style of poems by creating images,as a result,the famous imagist poetry appears in America.

In western literature,Imagism was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision of imagery,and clear,sharp language.The Imagists rejected the sentiment and artifice typical of much Romantic and Victorian poetry.This was in contrast to their contemporaries,the Georgian poets,who were by and large content to work within that tradition.Group publication of work under the Imagist name appearing between 1914 and 1917 featured writing by many of the most significant figures in modernist poetry in English,as well as a number of other Modernist figures prominent in fields other than poetry.At the time Imagism emerged,Longfellow and Tennyson were considered the paragons of poetry,and the public valued the sometimes moralizing tone of their writings.In contrast,Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more Classical values,such as directness of presentation and economy of language,as well as a willingness to experiment with non-traditional verse forms.The focus on the “thing” as “thing” (an attempt at isolating a single image to reveal its essence) also mirrors contemporary developments in avant-garde art,especially Cubism.Although Imagism isolates objects through the use of what Ezra Pound called “luminous details”,Pound’s Ideogram Method of juxtaposing concrete instances to express an abstraction is similar to Cubism’s manner of synthesizing multiple perspectives into a single image.

In 1915,Pound edited the poetry of another 1890s poet,Lionel Johnsonfor the publisher Elkin Mathews.In his introduction,he wrote:

“No one has written purer imagism than (Johnson) has,in the line

Clear lie the fields,and fade into blue air,

It has a beauty like the Chinese.〔3〕”

Pound’s note opened with a definition of an image as “that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time”.Pound goes on to state,“It is better to present one Image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works”.〔4〕His list of “don’ts” reinforced his three statements in “Imagism”,while warning that they should not be considered as dogma but as the “result of long contemplation”.Taken together,these two texts comprised the Imagist programme for a return to what they saw as the best poetic practice of the past.F.S.Flint commented “we have never claimed to have invented the moon.We do not pretend that our ideas are original.”〔5〕

Pound was deeply influenced by Chinese classical poetry.He was the promoter of American imagist poetry and the representative imagist.Attracted by the eastern poetry and philosophy,he used all time of his life to introduce them into America.As a translator,he rearranged and translated many masterpieces of the Confucian,the most famous among which are Cathay and The Book of Songs.Influenced by Chinese classical poetry,he never stops the promotion of Chinese poetry in his life.Once he said “For me,Chinese poetry is unpredictable treasure,and we could seek driving force from it just as people in renaissance seek inspiration from Greek Philosopher.”.〔6〕English poets could use pure image-oriented technique,which is resulted from difference between languages.Pound’s famous poem In a Station of the Metro is usually regarded as the masterpiece of the western imagist poetry.The poem is very short,however the images are clear and artistic conception is thought-provoking:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet,black bough.

The poem has many Chinese versions,but the most famous one may be paraphrased by Du Yunxie:these faces in the crowd appear as ghost,but petals are on the wet and black bough.Readers could comprehend the intention of the poet from these images.The defect of Chinese version translated by Du Yunxie is that the translator adds a verb to it.But the original of Pound is without any verbs,and its images are created by adjectives and prepositions.

In a Station of the Metro has two sentences in fourteen words,but it creates four images:faces,the crowd,petals,and bough.The poem was regard as the masterpiece of imagist poetry for including the features of Chinese classical poetry.In this poem,the poet used “superposition of images” which is used frequently by imagists.Affected by Chinese classical poetry,Pound also promoted the superposition of images which creates special artistic effect by superposition of space and time when without using prepositions.Similar to the technique of expression used in classical Chinese poetry,Pound present the images by nouns,and no verb in included in it.The superposition of images is successively and logically,it reflects that “Image presents rational and emotional complex in a moment of time” promoted by Pound.〔7〕

The poet creates two opposite images in this poem.The images are composed by direct feels when the metro station is noisy and crowded,and among the faces,the poet found some are gentle and beautiful.“Petals on a wet,black bough” reflects the instant inspiration of poet:the crowd looks like wet and black bough,but their faces like petals.Contrast between images and feels makes the poem have extensive implication.What is the poet what to express by superposition of spatial implication? He may be disconsolate because good things are always temporary;He may yearn for the peaceful life in countryside;or he may yearn for the nature when he lives in crowded and noisy city.In this poem,the superposition of images expresses the rich emotion of the poet,thus we can feel the true life experience of ourselves from it.Pound believed that poem should be specific and not abstract.And unnecessary contents of the poem should be removed.Once he pointed in A Few Don’ts by an Imagist:“tedious and abstract adjectives should be avoided…therefore,do not be abstract…use few decorations even they seem to be good.”〔8〕thus,“ faces” and “petals” are true feels of the author,and the author thought they are specific and could been comprehended.Brief sentences of this poem completely present the direct feel of the poet toward the metro.In a Station of the Metro shows the creation principles of imagism,so it belongs to the masterpiece of imagist poetry.Meanwhile,it also plays a very important role in western modern literature,because it directly denies the formalistic and dull expression style in the 19th century as well as brings new vitality to western modern literature.

Both Chinese classical poetry and the western poetry express the feeling of poets by superposition of brief nouns.And the broad connection between intension and extension of poems has been created by imagism,and then the implication and images of poem are in perfect unity.

〔1〕Zheng Min,Poetry and Philosophy are Neighbors -Construction-Deconstruction Poetics,Beijing:Peking University Press,1999.

〔2〕Wu Sheng,Exploration of Chinese Imagery Poems,Guangzhou:Sun Yat-sen University Press,2000．

〔3〕Ming Xie,Ming Hsieh,Ezra Pound and the Appropriation of Chinese Poetry:Cathay,Translation,and Imagism,Routledge,1998,p.80.ISBN 0-8153-2623-8.

〔4〕Pound,“A Retrospect”,Reprinted in Kolocotroni et al.,1918,p.374.

〔5〕F.S.Flint letter to J.C.,Squire 29 Jan 1917.

〔6〕Kang Lianxing,Pound and Chinese Classical Poetry,Journal of Hebei Normal University,2004,05 vol.27,No.03.

〔7〕Yang Xingsong,Bo Jun,Ezra Pound and Imagist Poetry,In a Station of the Metro,Comments,Journal of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology(Social Science Edition),2003,vol.25,No.3.

〔8〕He Qing,Imagery Theory of Pound and Chinese Classical Imagism,Journal of Sichuan Normal University (Social Science Edition),2002,vol.29,No.4.

About the author：Ma Yuhua,associate professor at College of Foreign Languages,Zhongzhou University.