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Imagism

Movement
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Early 20th‑century movement emphasizing precise imagery and clear language.

Detailed Definition
Imagism was an early 20th-century poetic movement led by Ezra Pound, H.D., and Amy Lowell that championed precision, clarity, and economy of language through sharp, concrete imagery; rejecting Victorian abstraction, Imagists advocated “direct treatment of the ‘thing’” and free verse, profoundly shaping modernist poetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
Imagism: A movement favoring precise, clear images over abstraction, as in H.D.’s “Oread”: “Whirl up, sea— / whirl your pointed pines” — direct, vivid, and economical.
Additional Notes
Imagism: Early 20th-century poetic movement (Pound, H.D., Williams) emphasizing precision, clarity, and economy of language; favors concrete images over abstraction; influenced free verse and modernist aesthetics.
Other Meanings of “Imagism”
Also Known As
Clear image movement Precise picture verse Concrete imagery school Direct presentation Imagist style
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