In the following essay, de Chasca examines Fletcher's works of the mid-1910s, noting his philosophical alignment with Imagism but citing technical departures from Imagist precepts.

SOURCE: "Fletcher's Poetry—1916-1918," in John Gould Fletcher and Imagism, University of Missouri Press, 1978, pp. 179-222.

Prior to his association with the imagists, Fletcher was able to manage only derivative verse, and after 1916 his production fell off sharply for several years, but from the spring of 1913 to the fall of 1916 he turned out a surprising amount of mature work.¹ Imagism was at least partly responsible for this remarkable output; certainly an atmosphere of friendly (and not so friendly) competition encouraged him to write poems. In any case, Fletcher's participation in the imagist movement coincided with the most fecund and brilliant period of his artistic life.

While most of the poems Fletcher wrote during these three and a half years are in free...