Page 208 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

Unit 27: Realism, Naturalism, Imagism and Surrealism

there tends to be in naturalist novels and stories a strong sense that nature is indifferent to Notes
human struggle. These are only a few of the defining characteristics of naturalism, however.
Naturalism is an extension of realism, and may be better understood by study of the basic
precepts of that literary movement. The term naturalism itself may have been used in this sense
for the first time by Emile Zola. It is believed that he sought a new idea to convince the reading
public of something new and more modern in his fiction. He argued that Naturalism innovation
in fiction-writing was the creation of characters and plots based on the scientific method.

Task Write a short note on realism.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. .................... often refers more specifically to the artistic movement, which began in France
in the 1850S.
2. Realism in France appears after the 1848 .................... .
3. .................... is the outgrowth of literary realism, a prominent literary movement in mid-
19th- century France and elsewhere.
4. Naturalistic writers were influenced by .................... theory of evolution.
5. Naturalism is an extension of realism and may be better understood by study of the basic
precepts of that .................... .

27.3 Imagism
Imagism was a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry that favored precision
of imagery and clear, sharp language. The Imagists rejected the sentiment and discursiveness
typical of much Romantic and Victorian poetry. This was in contrast to their contemporaries, the
Georgian poets, who were by and large content to work within that tradition. Group publication
of work under the Imagist name appearing between 1914 and 1917 featured writing by many of
the most significant figures in Modernist poetry in English, as well as a number of other Modernist
figures prominent in fields other than poetry.

Based in London, the Imagists were drawn from Great Britain, Ireland and the United States.
Somewhat unusually for the time, the Imagists featured a number of women writers among
their major figures. Imagism is also significant historically as the first organised Modernist
English language literary movement or group. In the words of T. S. Eliot: “The point de repere
usually and conveniently taken as the starting-point of modern poetry is the group denominated
‘imagists’ in London about 1910.”
At the time Imagism emerged, Longfellow and Tennyson were considered the paragons of
poetry, and the public valued the sometimes moralising tone of their writings. In contrast,
Imagism called for a return to what were seen as more Classical values, such as directness
of presentation and economy of language, as well as a willingness to experiment with non-
traditional verse forms. The focus on the “thing” as “thing” (an attempt at isolating a single
image to reveal its essence) also mirrors contemporary developments in avant-garde art,
especially Cubism. Although Imagism isolates objects through the use of what Ezra Pound
called “luminous details”, Pound’s Ideogrammic Method of juxtaposing concrete instances to
express an abstraction is similar to Cubism’s manner of synthesizing multiple perspectives into
a single image.

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