Definition of "imagism" [imagism]

• A literary movement launched by British and American poets early in the 20th century that advocated the use of free verse, common speech patterns, and clear concrete images as a reaction to Victorian sentimentalism. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "We were imagism, cubism, the conventicles and sects respected now by credulous universities."
• "I just finished a horrific literature class about the use of minimalism in post modern writing where my teacher degraded me in the most vitriolic manner because my style is so rooted in imagism."
• "Meanwhile, the other top two books are both by I think white poets -- one is overtly "political poetry" and the other is lyrical imagism."