IMAGINISM

Russian poetic movement of the post-Revolutionary period that advocated poetry based on a series of arresting and unusual images. It is sometimes called Imagism but is unrelated to the 20th-century Anglo-American movement of that name. The Imaginist movement was founded in 1919 by its leading poet, Sergey Yesenin (q.v.), who rivaled the leading Futurist poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, in popularity. Like the Futurists, the Imaginists read poetry in cafs during a time of social upheaval when few books were published, but, unlike the Futurists, they were unable to adapt to the demands of Soviet life. Instead they expressed their alienation in acts of irresponsible bohemianism. The Imaginists dissolved at the time of Yesenin's suicide in 1925, and their techniques had little lasting effect on Soviet poetry, although Yesenin himself remained a popular poet and cultural hero.