Original Manuscript by John Gould Fletcher: "the Swan.

Als manuscript. 262 x 164mm.. ‘The Swan’ by John Gould Fletcher is a three-stanza poem which is made up of one set of six lines, or a sextet, and one set of seven lines, or septet, and one set of eight lines, or octave. Just as each stanza of this piece contains a different number of lines, each conforms to a separate rhyme scheme. A reader should note a number of lines in this work that do rhyme or are repeated. A few examples include line three of stanza one and line three of stanza two, which both end with the word, “water.” Another example is the rhyme which is found in the last stanza at the end of lines four and eight, “dim” and “him.” As well as the rhymes, “stride”, ”divide,” and “beside” also found in the last stanza. The speaker begins this piece by locating the main subject of the poem, the swan, within his surrounding landscape. Although the swan is not referenced directly until the last line of the first stanza, one should be able to infer what is being described because of the title.. John Gould Fletcher is considered by many literary scholars to be among the most innovative twentieth-century poets. He is closely associated with poet Amy Lowell and the Imagist movement she championed. In addition to being an adherent of Imagism, which was dedicated to replacing traditional poetics with a more concise use of language, new rhythms, and a concrete rather than discursive or symbolic treatment of subject, Fletcher also wrote poetry that drew from such varied sources as French Symbolism, Fletcher's work is most generally recognized for its idiosyncratic innovations, and the connections between his aesthetic choices and those of the prevailing literary trends of the first half of this century. After a clumsy but promising beginning, Fletcher's experiments gave rise to highly unusual and interesting results—poetic symphonies and paintings, and an emphasis on undidactic directness in the evocation of emotion. While he was always prey to criticisms about his coldness and verbosity, he was seen as part of a new wave in poetics, bringing in a fresh vigor and musicality. His later poems, which deal more openly with questions of salvation and social directions, are regarded by most as documents attesting to a particular trend, a reaction against full-scale industrialization. He enjoyed a rare connectedness with the brightest lights in poetry, and brought that cosmopolitan sensibility back to Arkansas.. This manuscript ended up in France and the Ministère de la Culture issued a Certificat d'exportation pour un bien culturel, no. 146586 in 2013.. Provenance: SAS Signatures, Paris. Expertise by Thierry BODIN Syndicat Français des Experts Professionnels en Oeuvres d’Art Librairie Les Autographes 45, rue de l’Abbé Grégoire 75006 PARIS. .

Fletcher, John Gould (1886-1950) - Original Manuscript by John Gould Fletcher: "the Swan.