On this day in 1914 Amy Lowell hosted an "Imagist" dinner party in London, attended by Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Ford and others prominent in the avant-garde movement. Though intended as a celebration of modern poetry and a joining of avant-garde forces, it became an early skirmish in a longer war between Pound and Lowell over who would lead whom, and in what direction.
Lowell, says one critic, was "the Liberace of modern poetry." She had some talent, lots of money and connections, and a Yankee approach to selling the product: "Publicity first. Poetry will follow." From the start, Pound seems to have welcomed Lowell not for her poetic talent or taste -- "the fluid, fruity, facile stuff we most wanted to avoid" -- but for her pocketbook and her promotional abilities ... FULL STORY »
