imagist
UK[ˈɪm.ə.dʒɪst]US[ˈɪm.ə.dʒɪst]
n
A poet or artist who practices or advocates imagism, an early 20th-century movement in poetry that emphasized the use of precise, clear images.
Morpheme Breakdown
image
ist
image
ist
Etymology
The term 'imagist' is a modern compound, coined in the early 20th century to name a practitioner of the literary movement 'imagism'. Its first element, 'image', descends from the Latin imago, meaning a likeness or mental picture, which itself may derive from the PIE root aim-, suggesting 'copy'. The suffix '-ist', a prolific agent-noun ending in English, traces back through Latin to the Greek -istes, denoting one who performs an action. Thus, an 'imagist' is literally 'one who works with images', a fitting label for poets who championed concrete, vivid imagery over abstract verbosity.
Analysis
Structure: image + ist
- image: From Latin imago (likeness, copy, idea), functioning as the core noun denoting a mental picture or representation.
- ist: From Greek -istes (agent suffix), via Latin -ista, functioning as a noun-forming suffix meaning a person who practices or is concerned with something.
Examples
Ezra Pound was a leading figure among the early imagists.
Her concise, visual poetry is clearly influenced by the imagist movement.
The anthology featured several poems by lesser-known imagists.