To the late Lamented

IT IS rare that so unique a school of modern poetry has received such prompt attention as has Imagism, The movement, which to all events died with Amy Lowell, flared into the public eye in 1930 with "Imagist Anthology, 1930," purporting to be the last time the group would appear in print together.

Now comes Professor Hughes work,--an exhausting analysis of the origins and development of Imagism, and a group of essays on the original Imagists: H. D., Richard Aldington, F. S. Flint, John Gould Fletcher, D. H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, and Amy Lowell. The book is a combination of history and criticism, therefore, but it is intended to be chiefly the former, as the author states in his preface.

As an historical document it is invaluable. Whoever in the future may wish to write about the Imagists will find Professor Hughes' book a storehouse of facts. The bibliography of Imagist verse, criticism, etc., is, if not complete, so nearly so that no one can find fault with it. The author appears to have scoured every publication which ever mentioned the world "Imagism", and the result is an amazing collection of reference material.

Despite the historical intent of the book, there is in it of necessity a great deal of criticism, although, to be sure, most of it is not Professor Hughes'. Therein, I think, lies the fault of the book. It is too much a compendium of information to be valued for any other qualities. It might almost be called a "Guide to future works on Imagism," so thoroughgoing is its historical organization.

The "Father of Imagism," according to the author is T. E. Hulme, an aesthetic philosopher to whose immediate influence in pre-War days on Ezra Pound and F. S. Flint may be traced the beginnings of the movement. With Hulme as a starting-point, Professor Hughes comes down the line of chronological development, quoting freely as he advances.

His sketches of the poets themselves, are, some of them, excellent. Here again the studies are not so much critical as historical, and the work loses interest for the ordinary reader. H. D. and John Gould Fletcher are well done; he is less successful with Amy Lowell.

"Imagism and the Imagists" is the only recent book to treat singly and as a whole the writers of the movement. The history has been covered; it remains for someone to publish the critical material. Contemporary critics are not lacking who could do the task; the problem is to find one who will not disregard the subject as "insignificant." The last word on Imagism is still unsaid.