Modernism

The words of poet Ezra Pound, "Make it new," seem to sum up the sentiment of many of the poets in this genre.

You will learn of poets that considered themselves "imagists." Here is an explanation of imagism from Holt's Element's of Literature (with my color markings):

Imagists believed that poetry can be made purer by concentration on the precise, clear, unqualified image. Imagery alone, the imagists believed, could carry a poem's emotion and message. It could do this almost instantly, without all the elaborate metrics and stanza patterns that were part of poetry's traditional mode. The imagists took on the role of reformers. The would rid poetry of its prettiness, sentimentality, and artificiality, concentrating instead on the raw power of the image to communicate feeling and thought.

The imagists issued a "manifesto," or public declaration, proposing "to use the language of common speech," as well as "the exact word, not merely the decorative word." In the same spirit they called for a poetry "hard and clear, never blurred or indefinite." Some of the imagists' inspiration was drawn from Eastern art forms, particularly Japanese haiku, a verse form that often juxtaposes two distinct images and invites the reader to experience the emotion created by the juxtaposition.

Today poems with imagistic technique are commonplace.  BUt at the time the imagists published their manifest on poetry's nature and function, their theory created a great stir.  It insisted that the range of poetic subject matter might include the kitchen sink as well as the rising of the moon, the trash can as well as the Chinese porcelain vase.  The strongest opposition to the imagists was caused by their proposal "to create new rhythms--as the expression of new moods....We do believe that that individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in conventional forms."  To tradition-minded poets this free verse--poetry without regular rhyming and metrical patterns--was deplorable.  It meant a loosening of poetic standards and an assault on the very craft of poetry.  These poets did not yet realize that successful free verse was at least as difficult to create as verse written in traditional forms.  But the imagist program was not only a call for a new method of organizing line sand stanzas; it was also an invitation to a new way of seeing and experiencing the world.

Use the following website to explore the time period and beginnings of the poetry of the genre American Modernism.

My favorite imagist poets and poems are:
"The Red Wheelbarrow" and "This Is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" By Wallace Stevens
"9," "Buffalo Bill 's," "anyone lived in a pretty how town," and "r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r" by ee cummings.