Deep Image

"Dawn Behind the Dawn" by Blaise Domino


Deep image is a term coined by Jerome Rothenberg and Robert Kelly in the second issue of Trobar, and was used to describe poetry written by him and by Robert Kelly, Diane Wakoski and Clayton Eshleman.

In creating the term, Rothenberg was inspired by the Spanish canto jondo (deep song), especially the work of Federico Garcia Lorca and by the symbolist theory of correspondences.

In general, deep image poems are resonant, stylised 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 used.

It was later redeveloped by Robert Bly and used by many, such as Galway Kinnel 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.



Trobar, a Magazine of the New Poetry, nos. 1–5. Brooklyn, New York, 1960–1964.
Trobar, named for the Troubadour tradition in Provencal poetry, published just five issues. However, it was tremendously influential in spreading knowledge about Deep Image Poetry. According to Robert Kelly, Deep Image Poetry is “poetry not necessarily dominated by the image, but in which it is the rhythm of the images which forms the dominant movement of the poem.” Of the three editors (who also included Joan Kelly and George Economou), Kelly was the most tireless and enthusiastic poet, reader, and teacher, exerting a charismatic influence. His essay “Notes on the Poetry of Deep Image,” which appears in Trobar 2, is a provocative statement about an important thread in modern poetry and is central to the concept of Trobar.