Imagism was a brief, complex yet influential poetic movement of the early 1900s, a time of reaction against late nineteenth-century poetry which Ezra Pound, one of the key imagist poets, described as ‘a doughy mess of third-hand Keats, Wordsworth ... half-melted, lumpy’. In contrast, imagist poetry, although riddled with conflicting definitions, was broadly characterized by brevity, precision, purity of texture and concentration of meaning: as Pound stated, it should ‘use no superfluous word, no adjective, which does not reveal something ... it does not use images as ornaments. The image itself is the speech’. It was this freshness and directness of approach which means that, as Peter Jones says in his invaluable Introduction, ‘imagistic ideas still lie at the centre of our poetic practice’.

Over 180 well-chosen Imagist gems appear in this tribute to an important and influential poetic movement of the 20th century. Includes short verse by Pound, Lawrence, Hilda Doolittle, Joyce, Stevens, others.

"Some Imagist Poets" from Amy Lowell. American poet of the imagist school (1874-1925).

Provides translations of more than two hundred-fifty poems by over forty poets, from early anonymous poetry through the T'ang and Sung dynasties.

Alister Kershaw, Aldington's closest friend from 1947until his death in 1962, here presents ten trenchant and refreshing essays, not previously published in book form, by perhaps the last of the great literary critics to come to grips with the "jubilant illiteracy" of these times. In his highly personal and reflective Introduction, Kershaw discusses Aldington's deep involvement in life, the catholicity of his interests, and his con­siderable erudition, which gave his writing an unusual quality of spontaneity and eloquence.

For the first time all the war poems of Richard Aldington have been brought together. This collection is intended to reaffirm Aldington's position as a significant voice in the literature of the First World War.

Fine selection of early verse by influential ("no ideas but in things") American poet includes "Peace on Earth," "Willow Poem," "Queen-Anne's-Lace," "Tract," "El Hombre," "Danse Russe," "Keller Gegen Dom," "Portrait of a Lady," "The Widow's Lament in Springtime," many more.