Inspired by the Italian actress Eleonora Duse who she saw
while travelling in Europe, Amy began to study and write poetry in 1902. She
travelled to England where she spent some time during the First World War and
where she met Ezra Pound, the Imagist poet whose work she admired. “Free verse” was Amy’s preferred style and
she frequently dispensed with line breaks in a system she called “polyphonic
prose”.
While in London, Amy attended a poetry reading given by the
poet Rupert Brooke* at the Poetry Bookshop, which opened in 1913 and was run by Harold Munro in
Devonshire Road off Holborn. Rupert’s
voice was apparently rather soft and Amy, who was at the back, called out “Speak
up!”
Some of Amy’s work was published in “Atlantic Monthly” and
she also had volumes of her poetry published.
She was working on a biography of the poet John Keats when she died on
12th May 1926. Amy was
buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Lead Soldiers
Tommy’s
soldiers march to battle,
Trumpets
flare and snare drums rattle.
How the
horses sweat and prance!
Cannon drawn
up in a line
Glitter in
the dizzy shine
Of the
morning sunlight. Flags
Ripple
colours in great jags.
Red blows
out, then blue, then green,
Then all
three – a wearing sheen
Of prismed
patriotism. March
Tommy’s
soldiers, stiff and starch,
Boldly
stepping to a rattle
Of the
drums, they go to battle.
*British WW1 soldier poet Rupert Brooke joined the Royal Naval Division in WW1 and died on the way to Gallipoli in April 1915 - see www.forgottenpoetsofww1.blogspot.co.uk
