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Founded by Alfred Kreymborg in 1915, Others exuded its purity of purpose through its plain, yellow cover. Dedicated to new poetry and committed to freedom of expression for the poet, Others became notorious for publishing free verse and other forms of poetic “queerness.” The uproar was aroused less by any sexual subject matter than by the formal improprieties; as Kreymborg said of the public reaction to Mina Loy's "Love Songs": "To reduce eroticism to the sty was an outrage, and to do so without verbs, sentence structure, punctuation, even more offensive” (History 489). Thriving on the public outrage, Others secured a small, yet intelligent and reactive audience.
Others’ contributors were more involved with the magazine
than just publishing their work—many gathered weekly to discuss
their writings, first at the Grantwood art colony and later in New York
City. At these gatherings, the writers realized they were not alone in
their unconventional forms and were stimulated to keep pursuing new ways
of writing. Others published a variety of new writing, opening
its pages to all the latest “isms” without committing itself
to any group or school. The magazine illustrates the diversity of modernist
poetic practice, as well as the fashionable trends and formal innovations
of the free verse movement in America. It helped launch the careers of
major American poets such as Williams, Stevens, Moore, and Loy, situating
them on equal footing with now forgotten figures such as Jeanne D’Orge,
Orrick Johns, and Adolf Wolff.
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Last Update 12/04