A Retrospect

A good deal of confusion has arisen over the name "Imagiste." I wish to make my use of it clear. Imagisme is not intended to cover any very restricted set of principles. It is not one thing; it is many things; it is not a school; it is a tendency, it is an attitude of mind toward poetry and toward literary expression generally.

That said, I have been asked to formulate, for the American reader, a few of the more obvious technical principles which have guided the Imagistes.

A Few Don'ts by an Imagiste.

1. Direct treatment of the "thing" whether subjective or objective.

2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.

3. As regarding rhythm: to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome.

Examples:—

I. In a Station of the Metro. The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.

II. Sea rose, are you sad, are you sweet, / Growest where the waves meet; / And the sun loves you, and the wind that blows / O’er the salt sea-seats your head, / So are you not my dead? / —What did I know of it, but this— / Your little dead mouth, blown to a kiss?

III. The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough.

The three examples show the principle of direct treatment and economy of language. The first is a single image; the second, a longer lyric composed of brief phrases; the third repeats the first to show the effect of variation.