#visual imagery

1914 - winter - blue - night - cold/warmth contrast - gaunt hugging his chest foreshadowing

1914 - Ellwood speaking about summer idylls as winter night falls, juxtaposition

April 1915 - contrast of heartache/grief for their friends + beautiful spring day at Preshute cemetery. Ellwood's summer imagery turns to spring

April 1916 - Ellwood visiting Preshute cemetery in spring again, this time on leave as a changed man who has lost Gaunt and his own spirit

April 1916 - Gaunt having weathered his first panic attack tunnelling. Your boy is coming for you Ellwood

June 1916 - Devi and Pritchard become Gaunt's confidantes about his sexuality - gaunt evokes winter again, contrasting Ellwood's lighter season imagery

July 1916, Somme - Ellwood's imagery becomes autumnal, nature waning, fading and dying - warmth of memory contrast to the horrific present

July 1916, Somme - Ellwood's 'England is magic' idyll is totally denied and erased by his own hand

August 1916 - visiting Preshute for the summer session. Gaunt has become the idealistic one, dreaming of England and summer

August 1916 - Ellwood's summer imagery becomes diluted - watery, milky, pale, faded, fecund, like autumn in the middle of summer

August 1916 - Gaunt's imagery encapsulates all seasons as he feels trapped by circumstance and the pain of remembrance/hope

December 1918 - two years later, Gaunt trapped in perpetual summer of the wrong sort, longing for milder weather/the wintry imagery he was so at home in at the start of the book

The philosophy of Imagism is grounded in clarity, precision, and directness in both thought and expression. Originating in early 20th-century poetry, Imagism was a literary movement that rejected the ornate and sentimental style of Victorian poetry in favor of clear, sharp imagery and economy of language. Philosophically, Imagism can be understood as a response to the changing perceptions of truth, language, and beauty in modernity.

Core Philosophical Principles of Imagism:

1. Direct Treatment of the “Thing”

Imagists believed that a poem should present an object, emotion, or scene without unnecessary abstraction or embellishment. This reflects a philosophical commitment to phenomenological clarity—capturing experience as it is perceived, not mediated by convention or vague generalities.

2. Precision and Economy of Language

Imagists strove for linguistic minimalism, where every word earned its place. This economy reflects an anti-rhetorical stance, opposing the idea that more words equal more meaning. In this way, it shares ground with analytic philosophy and logical positivism, which also value precision and clarity in language.

3. Image as Epiphany

The image in Imagism is not merely descriptive—it is revelatory. A single image, rendered cleanly and truthfully, can convey complex emotions and insights. This approach resonates with Zen philosophy, where truth is often transmitted through the immediate and the concrete.

4. Rejection of Traditional Forms

Imagists often broke away from strict meter and rhyme, favoring free verse that matched the natural rhythm of thought and speech. This rebellion mirrors a broader modernist critique of tradition, questioning inherited structures in both art and life.

5. Sensory Experience as Truth

Imagism’s reliance on visual and sensory imagery places it close to empiricism, the philosophical view that knowledge arises from sensory experience. The image becomes a primary unit of meaning, conveying truth without requiring conceptual explanation.

Philosophical Influences and Parallels:

Ezra Pound (a key Imagist) was influenced by Chinese and Japanese poetry, especially haiku, which share a focus on simplicity and immediacy.

T.E. Hulme, another foundational figure, drew on Bergson’s philosophy of intuition, arguing that art should convey the essence of experience, not abstract ideas.

Symbolist poetry and phenomenology are also close cousins to Imagism in their emphasis on perception and inner experience.

Summary:

They come from the marrow,

forged in fire and the cold breath

of icy gods long lost to the mires of time.

I am Raven.

Quick witted and keen eyed.

I collect words, memories, deeds;

like cast away buttons and

bits of sea glass.

I ride the winds: drifting

between this world and the vale

my forever-eye sole witness

to the terror, the love, the wise and insane.

I do not flinch or dip my wing to change direction.

In all these souls I see what has crafted humanity.

Forged in fire and burning bright,

until you return your bones to the earth.

I am Raven.

I speak in songs, signs, riddles.

In my black feathers I hide truths,

like stars behind clouds.

Mystery is my craft,

Cunning my cloak.

My blood is made of magic;

ancient as the bones of the Mother.

Malice nor virtue rule me,

I go where the wind takes me.

unfathomable from its conception

the impossible chain of events rummaging through my mind

exhaustive were the lucky charms in my life

you who should not have occurred

now my conscience left in a bind.

making fire out of logic

the intellect of the divine

romance that cannot be defined

cannot be allowed, cannot be bought

how foolish of me to try and avoid

soon after I learned that oh, you had been mine.

with the sun drowning one more time, i realized

what peculiar comfort it had brought to me

knowing it hurt you to hurt me

knowing that you cannot make me happy

knowing that you’re trying to see the me that hid behind blackened clouds

a thick charcoal layer forming above my heart

the ink became blocks, the blocks turned into bricks

soon enough the hammering of your weightless spirit would turn me into a wreck.

a demolished bottomless pit, falling steadily into the grime

reaching a destination where your illusion resides

could it be greed, the essence of wanting to be cared for?

the impossible cannot be stopped from happening.

soon when you showed me what it meant to not be blind.