The Poetic Image

Images create a world the reader can enter. They are, as Wyndham Lewis said, ?the primary pigment of poetry.? They activate the senses, evoke emotion, and can be used to form similes, metaphors, and compelling patterns. We?ll read some ancient Chinese poems, classical Japanese haiku, and work by modern and contemporary poets for whom the Chinese and Japanese poems provided examples of the power of direct observation, spontaneity, and alertness. We?ll also try our hands at our own imagistic poems.