Imagist poetry creates focus

I admire the quality of the research writing of “Orientalism” by Edward Saïd.  Whereas theoretical writing can be obtuse and inaccessible, his work can be read and understood with relative ease because of the clarity of his sentences, paragraphs, and larger structures.  The historical research in the piece constructs a coherent narrative that binds the work together.  His principal idea concerns “orientalism” and he packages the word with meaning so that the reader recognizes its significance; by defining this single, thesis term with care, the author does not need a paragraph of explanation each time he works with the concept.

Good research does not just answer a question; it invites new ones.  For this reason, I find that reading Imagist poetry sets my mind in a good place for writing.  Its clear, evocative style focuses my mind on a single idea.  One of the reasons I like Imagist poetry so much is the way I first engaged with it; in undergrad, my modernist lit professor (Miranda Hickman) gave lectures that were clear, understandable, engaging, open, and dialogic.  Her lectures were truly artful and they also represent a kind of ‘writing’ or articulation that I admire.

Oread

By H. D.

Whirl up, sea—

whirl your pointed pines,

splash your great pines

on our rocks,

hurl your green over us,

cover us with your pools of fir.