Deep image is a term coined by U.S. poets
Jerome Rothenberg and
Robert Kelly in the second issue of the magazine ''Trobar'' in 1961. They used the term to describe poetry written by
Diane Wakoski,
Clayton Eshleman, and themselves.
In creating the term, Rothenberg was inspired by the
Spanish ''
cante jondo
''Cante jondo'' () is a vocal style in flamenco, an unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music. The name means "deep song" in Spanish, with ''hondo'' ("deep") spelled with J () as a form of eye dialect, because traditional Andalusian pronunciation ...
'' ("deep song"), especially the work of
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...
and by the
symbolist theory of
correspondences.
In general, deep image poems are resonant, stylized and heroic in tone. Longer poems tend to be catalogues of free-standing images.
The deep image group was short-lived in the manner that Kelly and Rothenberg defined.
It was later redeveloped by
Robert Bly and used by many, such as
Galway Kinnell and
James Wright. The redevelopment relied on being concrete, not abstract, and to let the images make the experience and to let the images and experience generate the meanings. This new style of Deep Image tended to be narrative, but was often lyrical.
[For more on Bly's take on the Deep Image se]
Bushell, Kevin, "Leaping Into the Unknown: The Poetics of Robert Bly's Deep Image"
/ref>
Resources
Literary movements
Modernist poetry in English
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