Not A Devilish Salesperson Be But A Self-Proclaimed Imagist

Therefore, amongst the Imagists rose the commanding and distinctive poetical voice of Amy Lowell. She lived her life as she saw fit, almost from the age of a young girl. Lowell was born into a wealthy family, but unlike her brothers, she was not privy to the financial, emotional, nor social support they received. Therefore, she earned her education through self-taught knowledge. Her studies laid the foundation for her mastering the writing craft. She honed her poetry with dedication and diligence, studying poets like Keats as well as Tennyson.

Although later in life she wrote woman to woman erotic love poetry that was decades later analyzed as early lesbian literature, elements of imagism remain at the center of her poetry. For example, the following poem "Lady" exhibits the Imagist attributes: imagery of a focused object in an almost lyrical tone:

You are beautiful and faded
Like an old opera tune
Played upon a harpsichord;
Or like the sun-flooded silks
Of an eighteenth-century boudoir.
In your eyes
Smoulder the fallen roses of out-lived minutes,
And the perfume of your soul
Is vague and suffusing,
With the pungence of sealed spice-jars.

For the poem in its entirety, click http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/amylo...

Here again, one can conclude that Lowell exquisitely and eloquently writes Imagist poetry, full of passion that perhaps superceded others' perception of Imagism. T.S. Eliot "called her the "demon saleswoman of poetry." Of herself, she said, "God made me a businesswoman and I made myself a poet." http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/amylo...

The last poem will perhaps spur readers to discover more of Amy Lowell's Imagist poetry, entitled, "Late September."

Tang of fruitage in the air;
Red boughs bursting everywhere;
Shimmering of seeded grass;
Hooded gentians all a'mass.
Warmth of earth, and cloudless wind
Tearing off the husky rind,
Blowing feathered seeds to fall
By the sun-baked, sheltering wall.
From http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/amylo...
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Everyone enjoy!

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