ABSTRACT
An image in a poem is language that evokes a vivid, sensory, concrete presence. The predilection for image arose around the time of World War I in opposition to the vagueness, generality, and abstraction that were the staples of much sentimental, nineteenth-century poetry. The image holds a special place in the annals of twentieth century poetry. From the pre-World War I era up to the millennium, it has been a touchstone for many different poets. The image first was promoted as a cure for what ailed poetry in pre-World War I London, England. The ailments ascribed to poetry included sentimentality, vagueness, muddle headedness, and emotional torpor. A poetry governed by the image presented "an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time". And an instant was a sufficient amount of time; a poem did not have to natter on in search of immemorial truths. An alert image was a truth.
