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

Year 2023, Issue: 5, 105 - 133, 18.10.2023

Efe Murat Balıkçıoğlu

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

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