Introduction
Imagism in poetry advocates for the use of precise and direct language to create an evocative visualized picture for the audience or readers. Imagist poems are characterized by the directness, meanness of the language used, reduction of generalities, and use of exact phrases over a contemporary poetic meter.
It normally puts emphasis on the line of poetry. In this poem, an adult world is seen through the eyes of children full of possibilities of imaginations, as the world is reduced to dimensions of the child’s imagery (Islam). Seamus indicates this, “We thought words traveled the wires, in the shiny pouches of raindrops” (lines 8-9). In this quote, the poet and fellow children are trying to invent their explanations to cure their lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of what they have seen which looks like miracles. The imagist nature of this poem comes out in the hidden modernism the poet is trying to communicate using imagery with sharp language. The poem is demonstrating the real world including social class differences, and telecommunication sophistication in the imaginary minds of the children.
Imagism is in this poem is achieved through concentrating the poet’s message on how they understand telecommunications in a precise and vivid image than using meter and rhyme. The poem is easy to understand, with excellent clarity of expression, as well as accuracy in the use of visual images in the right context. As was emphasized by Seamus, “Sagging under their burden of swallows” (lines 5-6), showing exactly the children’s interest, their passion, the preoccupation and obsession they had about their new adventure.
Ezra Pound’s Manifestation of Imagism
According to Ezra pound, an ideal imagist poem must observe and obey the three principles of imagism including “Direct treatment of the ‘subject’.” That is, the poem must deal directly with the message it is supposed to talk about, and not use fancy words and phrases to decorate the subject. Second, resist the use of words that do not offer a meaningful contribution to the presentation of the subject, and adhere to the rule of using as few words as possible (Imagism). Lastly, when composing a poem, insist on using the rhythm of the musical phrase, but not the rhythm of the metronome, meaning creating news rhythms in place of the old ones.
Ezra then explained the rules of imagism as directness in the use of language, economy of words, specific to the subject, avoiding generalities, and the use of precise phrasing over adherence to the poetic meter. These principles and characteristics lead Ezra to coin the poetry slogan, “make it new,” as he believed that good poetry must attempt to be original and unique. The poem “The Railway Children” is imagist because it follows these philosophies in its directness to the subject, precision of the language, and the use of rhythm of the music.
The subject of the Poem
The poet and the other children are encountering a new phenomenon in their lives. They were still young below the age of the school, but meet a new idea of sophistication, which looks exotic because it is unusual to them but very interesting. This new discovery opens up the narrator and other children to a fertile world of imagination as shown by Seamus, “We were small and thought we knew nothing worth knowing” (lines 7-8). The subject of this poem is the real world of telecommunication as depicted by young children. They are naive about railway lines and telephones wires around their neighborhood but brave enough to envision what see is all about. Further, the childhood innocence of the characters is developed through symbolic images of the light and the way in which the poem focuses on the endless imaginations oftentimes common among the children. This is demonstrated by Seamus, “When we climbed the slopes of the cutting we were eye-level with the white cups” (lines 1-2). Symbolically they imagine they are at the same height with the overhead cables as they climb the slopes.
Language of the poem
This poem is written the language of common speech, employing exact words but not just mere decorative words. It is very clear and direct in language application, which separates it from romantic and Victorian poems. Additionally, it is also economical with words, not too general in the expression of the feelings and emotions, and precise phrases which rule about the number of feet in a line and its rhythmic structure. The language expression of the poem is such that, it creates a picture whereby the poem is seen to directly deal with what is being talked about. That is the telecommunications system and the children characters in the poem including the poet, and not trying to fancy words and phrases to decorate talking about the subject. In addition, all the words used in the poem contribute and brings out the true image and picture of the presentation.
Image of the poem
The poet has used words that make the poem exact and not vague nor does general. The image selection of the poem make the readers infer the reality and emotions of the characters as the narrator puts it forward. For example, the use of similes was captured by Seamus, “Like lovely freehand, they curved for miles” (line 4). Which highlights the poet and other children’s admiration of the cables and what nature is subjecting them to. The images as depicted by the narrator in the poem are very concrete and not abstract, they are things that are visible to their senses and they see them. Additionally, the poet creates the image of the poem by using onomatopoeia to form words from a sound associated with it. As demonstrated by Seamus, “the sizzling wires” (line 3), giving them the real experience of telephone wires. Throughout the poem, the narrator is clearly not talking about the themes behind the images; but he brings out the images themselves as the focus of the poem.
Rhythms of the poem
The poem is written in the rhythm of the musical phrase, not in the conventional rhythm of the metronome. In other words, the poet created new rhythms instead of relying on the old or the conventional ones. It is written with recurrence of notes and rests with a series of notes repeats and form a rhythmic pattern which creates different accent types. The poet essentially created expressions of new moods, without copying the old rhythms. This means that the poem is free verse, without limitations of regular meter, and does not have fixed forms, nor follow schemes of rhythm, but are still giving artistic expression of the poet.
The theme of social class
In ‘The Garden’ by Ezra Pound, the conflict arising from changes in the social classes of English people when world war one was ending is elaborated. Through a rich woman who is graceful and would like to embrace the poor, because they are free, submissive, and are the future inheritance of the earth. The changes are sweeping across England and the rich will no longer have the monopoly of power and resources. The poet portrays the poor children as very hard, can survive, cannot die, and will inherit the earth as stated by Pound, “unkillable infants of the very poor. They shall inherit the earth” (lines 6-7). The woman wants to change and engage the poor children but she fears her family. The upper class status is draining her psychologically and emotionally and she does not like it. In “The Railway Children,” social class is shown through the power of imagination of the narrator and other children using bible verse. That it is hard for the rich to go to heaven than for the camel to pass through the eye of the needle. They believe through imagination, that their innocence would make them go to heaven.
Conclusion
“The Railway Children” is a typical imagist poem because it observes the principles of imagism like directly dealing with the subject, it is economic with the words, and the language precise and clear. It was written with a rhythm of the musical phrase, and not the rhythm of the metronome. Lastly, the words used in the poem contribute and bring out the true image and picture of the presentation.
Works Cited
Heaney, Seamus. “The Railway Children.” The Broadview Anthology of Poetry, edited by Amanda Goldrick-Jones and Herbert Rosengarten, Broadview Press, 2008.
Pound, Ezra. “The Garden”. Poem Hunters, 2003, Web.
Islam, Julia. “Ezra Pound and Imagism”. Odyssey, 2017. Web.
“Imagism”. Poem Solutions Limited, 2021, Web.
“A Brief Guide to Imagism”. Poets. Org, 2017, Web.