Exploring Modernist Poetry: Imagism and The Lost Generation

Imagism

Imagism is considered the first important school in modernist poetry written in English. It rejected didacticism—poetry that tried to teach something—oversentimentalism, artificiality of diction (pomposity), and the constraints of meter and stanza. It aspired to less didacticism; morality was not stated; fewer feelings and more intellectualism; plainer language, closer to everyday diction; and free rhythm, meters, and stanzas.

The Lost Generation

The Lost Generation is a group of American writers who lived through World War I. They were lost in the sense that their inherited values were no longer relevant in the post-war world and because of their spiritual alienation. They did not feel that they belonged to the US or anywhere else; they were homeless. Their protagonists tend to be honest men who lost hope and faith in modern society. The name was given by Gertrude Stein and it includes writers such as Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and E.E. Cummings, among others.

Two crucial backgrounds influenced these writers: the war and the post-war contexts. Their work appears plotless and full of random violence. We are often introduced to the stories without any previous relevant information; at the same time, endings are inconclusive. The last representative works of the era were Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night and Dos Passos’ The Big Money.

The Birth of the New Negro

The New Negro is a black nationalist and Afrocentrist who defended the idea of blacks becoming politically independent and separate from whites to avoid the exploitation and segregation they have suffered throughout history. He or she demands political equality; their methods are radical, using education and physical action in self-defense. Between 1910 and 1920, a movement called ‘Back-to-Africa’ took place, where land was bought in Africa and sold to black Americans wanting to return to their homeland. The New Negro also represented cultural nationalism, proud of black cultural heritage. This heritage was celebrated in the book ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ (1903) by W.E.B. Du Bois. He believed that black people should defend their heritage and continue to develop in order to create a specific ‘black American culture,’ not an imitation of white culture.