una donna “Immagista” – Amy Lowell

Amy Lowell (1874 – 1925) was, together with Ezra Pound , one of the founders of the Imagist movement.

Born of a  prominent family and educated at home, Amy Lowell had a lively social life and travelled a lot.  She went to Europe and Egypt and also started  a severe diet (dura dieta) to improve her health (salute) trying to solve her increasing weight problem (problemi di peso che aumentavano).

She was fascinated by the theatre;  in 1902 she met actress Ada Dwyer Russell who then became her  travelling and living companion (compagna di viaggi e di vita) until Amy’s death.

In the January 1913 issue (numero) of Poetry, Amy read a poem signed by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) , Imagiste and  decided that she, too, was an Imagist. She went to London to meet Ezra Pound and other Imagist poets, introduced by a letter from Poetry editor Harriet Monroe.

In 1915 Amy Lowell argued (discusse) with Ezra Pound who termed her version of Imagism “Amygism.”  In 1925, she was struck with a massive cerebral haemorrhage (emorragia cerebrale) and died.

Ada Russell published three  volumes of Lowell’s poems posthumously.

The Imagist movement was nearly forgotten (quasi dimenticato) till recently when Amy Lowell was seen as part of a continuing tradition of women poets like Emily Dickinson and Elisabeth Barrett Browning as suggested in Lowell’s poem Sisters.