Modern Poetry

C.

The early Twentieth century saw the rise of many new poetic movements, which can also be considered “-isms,” some of which were Imagism and Objectivism. Imagism came about in 1909 just as the Twentieth century was beginning and was successor to the symbolism movement. While symbolism consisted of intense complexity and was often difficult to interpret, Imagism brought about intellect and emotions in the common language of the Twentieth century audience. As in Ezra Pound’s, “In a Station of the Metro,” she writes, “faces in a crowd;” which was not only a common sight in the early Twentieth century, but also common language of the people of the time? In addition, Imagism consisted of much freedom of the subject upon which it was written and of sight and sound usage. Opposing its predecessor, Imagism created an image rather than an entire scene or picture. “In a Station of the Metro” consists of two lines that express a simple image of every day, Twentieth century life. It creates and provides the images of multiple “faces in the crowd;” and “Petals on a wet, black bough,” as opposed to describing the entire metro station or the tree in whole. In the creation of the single image, imagism also kept the language simple in respect that it was very punctual and often terse just as the two lines of “In a Station of the Metro.”

Imagism soon gave rise to another “-ism”; Objectivism. Just as Imagism, Objectivism consisted of simple language and terse subjects; it was short, sweet, and to the point. Objectivists, such as William Carlos Williams, often stressed the value of the objective world. In his poem, “This Is Just to Say,” Williams expresses the value of “the plums that were in the icebox.” Objective poetry was meant to capture t...

... middle of paper ...

...f the “Black Logos.” While not necessarily being religious, he makes reference to God, Heaven, and the Star of Bethlehem. In addition to this characteristic, McKay also expresses the complexity of being Black in a White world by using intense imagery such as, “eyes of steely blue” (in reference to eyes of a white women), and “little lads, lynchers that were to be.” He refers to the White people as Fate for the Black people and yet, contradicts God as both White people and Black people. He says that while White people think they are a high and mighty God, Blacks truly are God because just as Jesus was persecuted as a minority, so are the African-American people. This poem, in addition to many other poems by Claude McKay, truly gives voice to the emotions and difficulties of an African-American poet during the times of slavery up to the end of the Harlem Renaissance.