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Objectivist Movement

Historical And Literary Periods
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

A 1930s American poetic movement emphasizing formal precision, clarity, and the poem as a distinct object. Associated with poets like Louis Zukofsky and Charles Reznikoff who pursued linguistic rigor.

Detailed Definition
The Objectivist Movement established a tradition of formal precision and linguistic clarity. Poets treated poems as autonomous aesthetic objects. This movement appears in poetry through attention to language's materiality and formal precision, minimalist aesthetics, engagement with syntax and grammar, rejection of sentimentality, visual clarity, and establishment of objectivism as influential tradition in American experimental poetry.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem by George Oppen, characterized by a dedication to the clear, precise presentation of objects and the belief that ideas inhere in things, central to the Objectivist Movement; A work that uses minimalist, declarative language and rigorous attention to the visual field; A poem focused on the social and political meaning of common, material objects—a wrench, a bus ticket, a house; A lyrical piece that seeks 'sincerity' by stripping away excessive metaphor and sentiment.
Additional Notes
The Objectivist Movement (1930s) valued sincerity, clarity, and craftsmanship. Poets like Louis Zukofsky and William Carlos Williams treated the poem as a precise object, grounded in perception and material reality.
Also Known As
Objectivism Objectivist Poetry
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