"Mina Loy, heard of last in the 1920's, remains a poet more than thirty years later-which is the test of a poet"
-Louis Zukofsky
Mina Loy was born December 27, 1882 to a Protestant mother and Jewish father. Growing up, her mother was extremely religious and proved herself to bring more tension to her daughter’s life. Her father, in contrast, had a zeal for knowledge and he often encourages artistic creativity. Being that they were opposites in their ideals for Loy, both had a profound influence on her. As Joshua Weiner states, “Like many members of this centuries first generation of modernists, bent on self invention and making it new,” (152) Mina Loy embodied a sense of breaking free from convention. Her influence can trace back to the initial impact her parents had on her. With the constant rebuke from her mother and her father’s love for intelligence, Loy basked in a rebellious energy which can attribute to her influence on the literary community today.
Through out the modernist era, based on Loy’s prevalent concept of breaking free from tradition, “she had made a reputation as one of the most avant of the avant-garde,” (Weiner 151). Not only was her poetic style and portrayal of sexual freedom seen as scandalous, the mere fact that she was a woman seeking change was all the more influential. As is states in Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy, in 1900, Loy left home to study the arts in Paris, fell in love multiple times and had children out of wedlock. It is then that she left her children in the care of a nanny to travel the world (Friedman 555). Not only did these instances help to label her as a new woman, but they were so obscene because of the time it occurred. However, through her work and finding of herself, she influenced those around her, including Ezra Pound who asked, “Is there anyone in America except you, Bill [William Carlos Williams] and Mina Loy who can write anything of interest in verse?”
Being that Loy was considered a modernist poet, breaking free from the “traditional” poetic elements was prevalent throughout her works. She was hugely influenced by “futurisms embrace of modernity and its violent rebuke of tradition,” (Modern Poetry 268) meaning with the idea of futurism, she was most able to identify. Her work did not use regulated grammar, punctuation and syntax which resulted in them being labeled as distasteful. Through this, Loy can be labeled not only as a modernist, but an experimentalist in that she sought change and broke the status quo.
In addition to breaking conventionalist notions, according to Julie Gonnering Lein, Loy had a profound interest in forms of light. Whether or not it was natural or man-made, Loy found influence in its concept. In relation to her ideals of experimenting with new style and breaking free from tradition, the concept of light and its metaphoric aspect of either being light or dark but providing perspective for ones path regardless is profound. In addition, “like electrical currents, her lines of meaning routinely jump gaps and sometimes risk short-circuiting the sense of a stanza all together,” (Lein 627) reveals the similarities between Loy’s poetic style and the concept of light.
Through out the modernist era, based on Loy’s prevalent concept of breaking free from tradition, “she had made a reputation as one of the most avant of the avant-garde,” (Weiner 151). Not only was her poetic style and portrayal of sexual freedom seen as scandalous, the mere fact that she was a woman seeking change was all the more influential. As is states in Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy, in 1900, Loy left home to study the arts in Paris, fell in love multiple times and had children out of wedlock. It is then that she left her children in the care of a nanny to travel the world (Friedman 555). Not only did these instances help to label her as a new woman, but they were so obscene because of the time it occurred. However, through her work and finding of herself, she influenced those around her, including Ezra Pound who asked, “Is there anyone in America except you, Bill [William Carlos Williams] and Mina Loy who can write anything of interest in verse?”
Being that Loy was considered a modernist poet, breaking free from the “traditional” poetic elements was prevalent throughout her works. She was hugely influenced by “futurisms embrace of modernity and its violent rebuke of tradition,” (Modern Poetry 268) meaning with the idea of futurism, she was most able to identify. Her work did not use regulated grammar, punctuation and syntax which resulted in them being labeled as distasteful. Through this, Loy can be labeled not only as a modernist, but an experimentalist in that she sought change and broke the status quo.
In addition to breaking conventionalist notions, according to Julie Gonnering Lein, Loy had a profound interest in forms of light. Whether or not it was natural or man-made, Loy found influence in its concept. In relation to her ideals of experimenting with new style and breaking free from tradition, the concept of light and its metaphoric aspect of either being light or dark but providing perspective for ones path regardless is profound. In addition, “like electrical currents, her lines of meaning routinely jump gaps and sometimes risk short-circuiting the sense of a stanza all together,” (Lein 627) reveals the similarities between Loy’s poetic style and the concept of light.