April 16, 2019
Nichole Robertson
When a butterfly lights upon it
"Even the iris bends when a butterfly lights upon it." - Amy Lowell
Amy Lowell worked tirelessly to make poetry relevant again in America. She was profoundly inspired by Keats, who she credited as the unofficial, early forbearer of Imagism—an early twentieth century movement instigated by Ezra Pound and T.E. Hulme that "emphasized simplicity, clarity of expression, and precision through the use of exacting visual images.” Amy Lowell criticized Pound’s myopic view of poetry and assumed leadership of the movement for a two year period before distancing herself as it was absorbed by modernists.
We were drawn to her fifteen syllable poem Nuance due to the rebellious nod to Haiku, use of clear language, and beautiful images to describe an abstract concept. In our illustration the position of entangled irises conspires to reveal a butterfly.
