‘The Art Should Cause a Shock’: Echoes of the English-Speaking Imagism in the Creative Practice of the Russian Imaginists

About the author:

Tatiana K. Savchenko, DSc in Philology, Senior Researcher, Professor, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Akademika Volgina, 6, 117485 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1230-5624

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Abstract:

The article is devoted to the some general points in theory and poetic practice of the English imagism and the imaginists: the idea of synthesis of arts, the interoperability of its various species, the liberation of poetry from the old frozen clichés, its enrichment with new forms, the clarity of visual images, the desire for lexical savings and at the same time a wide rhythmic and melodic range. It is shown how the renewal of the poetic language, the struggle for which was proclaimed by the imagists, has become an important part of the art programs of Russian imaginists. Special attention is paid to comparative analysis of the works of Pound, Sandberg, Lowell with the problems and poetics of the Shershenevich’s poems.