Ezra Pound Contra Metaphorical Imagery: Imagism, “Concrete Directness,” and New Criticism

Abstract

Having argued for a concrete, direct, and pristine sense of imagery freed from metaphors, the Imagist movement (1913-1917) established concrete directness and the economy of language as its main principles. Under the influence of literary figures such as W. B. Yeats, Ford Madox Ford, and T. E. Hulme that Ezra Pound had met during his London years, this movement added on the ideas included in Pound’s Vorticist period and constituted the essential core of his collages used in his Cantos. This article has the aim of contextualizing the primary ideas, activities, and spheres of influence that shaped the Imagist movement, by also giving voice to the negative remarks uttered by the New Critics with regard to Pound’s poetry and imagism. Having overlooked the ideas of collage imagery and direct concreteness, the scholars of New Criticism often accused Pound of being meaningless, convoluted, and incoherent. Yet, even in his later works, not only did Pound prioritize concrete/objective and direct imagery, but also continued this vision in his late Cantos.

Keywords

• Ezra Pound
• modernist poetry
• imagisme
• vorticism
• French symbolism
• vers libre
• metaphorical vs. concrete imagery
• New Criticism

Ezra Pound Mecazi İmgeye Karşı: İmgecilik, Somut Doğrudanlık ve Yeni Eleştiri

Abstract

1915 yılında yayımladıkları bir bildiriyle spekülasyona dayalı mecazi imgeye karşı nesnel, doğrudan ve arı bir imge anlayışını öne çıkaran Londra merkezli İmgecilik Okulu (1913-1917), somut doğrudanlığı ve sözcüklerin ekonomik kullanımını çağdaş şiirin en hakiki ilkeleri olarak belirlemiştir. Ezra Pound’un sonraki yıllarda yazdığı şiirlerde de takip edeceği bu anlayış, Londra’da ilişki kurduğu W. B. Yeats, Ford Madox Ford ve T. E. Hulme gibi edebiyatçıların da etkisiyle Girdapçılık (Vorticism) döneminin enerjisiyle birleşecek, ömrünün büyük kısmı boyunca kurguladığı Kantolar’daki metin kolajlarının özünü teşkil edecektir. Bu makale kendi tarihsel dönemi içinde İmgecilik Okulu’nun faaliyetlerinin, fikirlerinin ve etki alanının zihin haritasını çıkarmayı amaçlamakla beraber, Yeni Eleştiri ekolünün Pound’a ve imgeciliğine getirdiği eleştirilere yer verecektir. Pound’un sonraki yıllarda devam ettirdiği nesnel imgenin şiire kolaj olarak yedirilmesi ve somut doğrudanlık fikirleri, çağdaşı Amerikan eleştirmenleri tarafından göz ardı edilmekle kalmayıp, anlamsız, karmaşık ve tutarsız olmakla suçlanacaktır. Oysa Pound, son şiirlerinde bile somut/nesnel ve doğrudan imgeyi önceliklendirmekte, İmgecilik yıllarında savunduğu şiir anlayışını geç Kantolar’da da devam ettirmektedir.

Keywords

• Ezra Pound
• modernist şiir
• imgecilik akımı
• Girdapçılık
• Fransız sembolizmi
• vers libre
• mecazi/nesnel imge
• Yeni Eleştiri

References

1. Abi-Sâmara, Raquel. “Constellations and Ideograms: Eugen Gomringer’s Multilingual Concrete Poetry”. The Translation and Transmission of Concrete Poetry içinde, hazırlayanlar John Corbett ve Ting Huang, 127-49. Londra: Routledge, 2019.
2. Aiken, Conrad. “The Place of Imagism.” The New Republic 3 (22 Mayıs 1915): 75-6.
3. Akgül, Alphan. Anlamın Sesi: Yahya Kemal Beyatlı’nın Şiir Estetiği. İstanbul: Dergâh Yayınları, 2014.
4. Aldington, Richard, John Gould Fletcher, F.S Flint, D.H Lawrence ve Amy Lowell (haz.). Some Imagist Poets: An Anthology. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1915).
5. Asher, Kenneth. T. S. Eliot and Ideology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
6. Baumann, Walter. “Ezra Pound’s Metamorphosis During His London Years.” Paideuma 13.3 (1984): 357-73.
7. Beasley, Rebecca. “Dada’s Place in The Cantos.” Paideuma 30.3 (2001): 39-64.
8. Blackmur, R. P. T. S. Eliot. New York: The Hound & Horn, 1928.

9. ––––. “Masks of Ezra Pound.” Form & Value in Modern Poetry içinde, 79-112. New York: Anchor, 1957.
10. Breunig, Le Roy C. “F. S. Flint, Imagism’s ‘Maître D’école’.” Comparative Literature 4.2 (İlkbahar 1952): 118-36.
11. Borges, Jose Luis. “After Images (1924).” Selected Non-Fictions içinde, hazırlayan Eliot Weinberger, 10-11. New York: Viking, 1999.
12. Clearfield, Andrew. “Pound, Paris, and Dada.” Paideuma 7.1/2 (1978): 113-40.
13. Colón, David. “Borges off Pound”. Jacket 2 (Nisan 21, 2016). https://jacket2.org/commentary/borges-pound.
14. Davie, Donald. Ezra Pound: Poet as Sculptor (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964).
15. Day, Douglas. “The Background of the New Criticism.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 24.3 (Mart 1966): 429–40.
16. de Bosschère, Jean. The Closed Door. Çeviren F. S. Flint ve önsöz May Sinclair. Londra: John Lane, 1918.
17. Epstein, Andrew. “How Did T. S. Eliot Go From Young and Wild to Old and Stodgy?” The New York Times (2 Eylül 2022). https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/books/review/robert-crawford-eliot-after-the-waste-land.html.
18. Fletcher, John Gould. Irradiations: Sand and Spray. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1915.
19. ––––. Goblins and Pagodas. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916.
20. Flint, F. S. “Contemporary French Poetry.” The Poetry Review 8 (1912): 355-414.
21. ––––. “The French Chronicle.” Poetry and Drama 1.3 (1913): 76-84, 217-31, 355-62 ve 473-84.
22. ––––. “Imagisme.” Ezra Pound, Early Writings: Poems and Prose içinde. New York: Penguin Books, 2005.
23. Ford, Ford Madox. Thus to Revisit: Some Reminiscences. Londra: Chapman & Hall, 1921.
24. ––––. “On Impressionism” ve “Notes for a Lecture on Vers Libre”. The Critical Writings of Ford Madox Ford içinde, hazırlayan Frank MacShane, 33-55 ve 155-62. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964.
25. Frank, Joseph. “Spatial Form in Literature: Part I.” Sewanee Review 53.2 (İlkbahar 1945): 221-40.
26. ––––. “Spatial Form in Literature: Part III.” Sewanee Review 53.4 (Güz 1945): 643-53.
27. Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957.
28. Furbank, P. N. Reflections On the Word ‘Image’. Londra: Secker & Warburg, 1970.
29. Gomringer, Eugen. Konstellationen. Bern: Spiral Press, 1953.
30. Gündoğdu, Servet. Mimesis, İfade ve Gösterge: Şiirin Özgünlüğü Bağlamında Poetika Sorunu. Ankara: Hece Yayınları, 2001.
31. Güntan, Ahmet. Şiirgeldikelimedeboğuldu. İstanbul: 160. Kilometre Yayınları, 2011.
32. ––––. Parçalı Ham. İkinci baskı. İstanbul: 160. Kilometre Yayınları, 2016.
33. H.D. Tribute to Freud: Writing On the Wall/Advent. Boston: David R. Godine, 1974.
34. Haeusermann, H.W. “W. B. Yeats’ Criticism of Pound.” The Sewanee Review 57.3 (1949): 437-55.
35. Harrs, Luis. “Borges Before Borges.” Hispanic Journal 6.2 (İlkbahar 1985): 87-95.
36. Holmes, John Clellon. “Unscrewing the Locks: The Beat Poets.” The Beats: Essays in Criticism içinde, hazırlayan Lee Barlett, 5-13. Londra: McFarland, 1981.
37. Homberger, Eric. “Pound, Ford and the Prose Tradition.” American Studies 5.3 (1971): 281-92.
38. Hulme, T. E. Further Speculations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955.
39. Hultberg, Teddy. Öyvind Fahlström on the Air—Manipulating the World. Stockholm: Sveriges Radios Förlag, 1999.
40. Hutchins, Patricia. “Yeats and Pound in England.” Texas Quarterly 4 (1961): 203-16.
41. Hynes, Samuel. “Whitman, Pound, and the Prose Tradition.” The Presence of Walt Whitman içinde, hazırlayan R. W. B. Lewis, 110-36. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962. Jones, Peter. Imagist Poetry. New York: Penguin, 1972.
42. Josephon, Matthew. Life Among the Surrealists. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962.
43. Kenner, Hugh. The Pound Era. New York: New Directions, 1970.
44. Leavis, F. R. “Ezra Pound.” New Bearings in English Poetry: A Study of the Contemporary Situation içinde, 133-58. Londra: Chatto & Windus, 1938.
45. Lewis, Wyndham (haz.). BLAST 1. Berkeley: Gingko Press, 2009.
46. Lowell, Amy. “A Consideration of Modern Poetry.” The North American Review 205.734 (Ocak 1917): 103-17.
47. MacNeice, Louis. Modern Poetry: A Personal Essay (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1968).
48. Martin, Wallace. “Freud and Imagism.” Notes and Queries (Aralık 1961): 470-1 ve 474.
49. Materer, Timothy. Vortex: Pound, Eliot, and Lewis. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1979.
50. McCabe, Chris. “Metaphor and Material in Concrete Poetry.” The Translation and Transmission of Concrete Poetry içinde, hazırlayanlar John Corbett ve Ting Huang, 203-16. Londra: Routledge, 2019.
51. Mikriammos, Philippe. “Ezra Pound in Paris (1921-1924): A Cure of Youthfulness.” Paideuma 14.2/3 (1985): 385-93.
52. Mlinko, Ange. “Timeless Correspondence.” The New York Review of Books (6 Ekim 2022). https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/10/06/timeless-correspondences-hermione-h-d/. Murad, Efe. Serbest Çalışmalar: Madde-Şiir Yazıları 2004-14. İstanbul: 160. Kilometre Yayınları, 2014.
53. Münsterberg, Hugo, Theodore Ribot, Pierre Janet, Joseph Jastrow, Bernard Hart ve Morton Prince. Subconscious Phenomena. Boston: The Gorham Press, 1910.
54. Naremore, James. ‘The Imagists and the French “Generation of 1900’.” Contemporary Literature 11.3 (Yaz 1970): 354-74.
55. North, Michael. “The Architecture of Memory: Pound and the Tempio Malatestiano.” American Literature 55.3 (Ekim 1983): 367-87.
56. Nist, John. “The Word-Group Cadence: Basis of English Metrics.” Linguistics 2.6 (1964): 73-82.
57. O’Hara, Frank. “Personism: A Manifesto.” The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara içinde, hazırlayan Donal Allen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
58. Özüdoğru, Nüvit. “Ezra Pound.” Milliyet Sanat Dergisi 7 (17 Kasım 1972): 6-10.
59. Parker, James. “The Secret Cruelty of T.vS. Eliot.” The Atlantic (6 Nisan 2020). https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/04/what-ts-eliot-love-letters-reveal/609535/.
60. Parkinson, Thomas. “Yeats and Pound: The Illusion of Influence.” Comparative Literature 6 (1954): 256-64.
61. Perloff, Marjorie. “Writing and Re-Writing: Concrete Poetry as Arrière-Garde”. Ciberletras 17 (Temmuz 2007). http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v17/perloff.htm.
62. Pound, Ezra. “Status Rerum.” Poetry 1.4 (Ocak 1912): 123-7.
63. ––––. “I Gather the Limbs of Osiris XI.” The New Age 10 (15 Şubat 1912): 369-70.
64. ––––. “Prologomena.” Poetry Review 1 (Şubat 1912): 72-81.
65. ––––. “High Germany.” Poetry Review 1 (Mart 1912): 133.
66. ––––. “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste.” Poetry 1.16 (Mart 1913): 200-6.
67. ––––. “In Metre.” The New Freewoman 1.7 (15 Eylül 1913): 131-2.
68. ––––. “As for Imagisme.” The New Age XVI (28 Ocak 1915): 349-50.
69. ––––. “The Approach to Paris.” The New Age XIII (2 Ekim 1913): 662-4.
70. ––––. Pavannes and Divisions (New York: Knopf, 1918).
71. ––––. “For a New Paideuma.” The Criterion 17 (Ocak 1938): 208.
72. ––––. “Vortex.” Guide to Kulchur içinde, 63-72. New York: New Directions, 1970.
73. ––––. “Marianne Moore and Mina Loy.” Selected Prose 1909-65 içinde, hazırlayan William Cookson, 424-5. New York: New Directions, 1973.
74. ––––. The Letters of Ezra Pound (1907-1941). Hazırlayan D. D. Paige. New York: Faber & Faber, 1951.
75. ––––. “James Joyce için.” Çeviren Sibel Akı-İtah Eroğlu. Yeni Dergi 2.19 (1966): 222-3.
76. ––––. “A Retrospect.” Literary Essays of Ezra Pound içinde, 3-14. New York: New Directions, 1968.
77. ––––. A Memoir of Gaudier-Brzeska. New York: New Directions, 1974.
78. ––––. ABC of Reading. Londra: Faber and Faber, 1991.
79. ––––. “İmajizm Üzerine.” Çeviren Mehmet H. Doğan. Kitap-lık 74 (Temmuz-Ağustos 2004): 93-4.
80. ––––. Kantolar. Çeviren Efe Murad. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2021.
81. Pfannkuchen, Antje. “From Vortex to Vorticism: Ezra Pound’s Art and Science.” Intertexts 9.1 (2006): 61-76.
82. Putnam, Samuel. Paris Was Our Mistress. Londra: Plantin, 1987.
83. Ransom, John Crowe. “Criticism Inc.” The World’s Body. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968.
84. Running, Thorpe. Borges’ Ultraist Movement and its Poets. Michigan: International Book Publishers, 1981.
85. ––––. “Borges’ Ultraist Poetry.” Modern Critical Views: Jose Luis Borges içinde, hazırlayan Harold Bloom, 199-225. New York: Chelsea House, 1986.
86. Schneidau, Herbert N. “Pound and Yeats: The Question of Symbolism.” ELH 32 (1965): 220-37.
87. ––––. Ezra Pound: The Image and the Real. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969.
88. Sezer, Engin. “Dilde ve Edebiyatta Yol Metaforu.” Kitap-lık 65 (Ekim 2003): 88-91
89. ––––. “Pratik Eleştiri-I.” Hece 153 (2009): 121-37.
90. ––––. “Pratik Eleştiri-II.” Hece 154 (2009): 121-34.
91. Shaheen, Mohammad. “The Reception of Pound in Arabic: Immature Response of Gibran and Bayati.” Paideuma 34.1 (2005): 89-95.
92. ––––. “Teaching Pound: Teaching “In a Station of the Metro” and “The Return”: A Case in Point.” Make It New 3.2 (Eylül 2016). http://makeitnew.ezrapoundsociety.org/en/volume-iii/3-2-september-2016/shaheen-article-make-it-new-3-2.
93. Skaff, William. “Pound’s Imagism and the Surreal.” Journal of Modern Literature 12.2 (1985): 185-210.
94. Steiner, George. In Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture (The T. S. Eliot Memorial Lectures for 1970). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973.
95. ––––. Language and Silence: Essays and Notes, 1958-66. Londra: Faber and Faber, 1985.
96. ––––. After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
97. Tate, Allen. “Ezra Pound’s Golden Ass.” The Nation 132 (10 Haziran 1931): 632-4.
98. Taylan, Cem. Modern İngiliz Şiiri: William Butler Yeats ve Ezra Pound. İstanbul: Korsan, 1992.
99. Terrell, Carroll F. A Companion to the Cantos of Ezra Pound. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
100. Yates, Fances A. The Art of Memory. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.
101. Wieners, John. Beyond the State Capitol. Boston: The Good Gay Poets, 1975.