Customer Reviews

Ezra Pound: Poems and Translations (Library of America)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not long ago English Departments were busy with dissertation after dissertation on Ezra Pound. At the time, many complained of a Pound Factory or Pound Industry. Yet today, there is not one Amazon review of this important collection of modern poetry. We all know the charges against Pound, anti-American, Anti-Semite, etc... and there can and should be no justification for any of the truly ugly things that he said and believed. If I am not mistaken, though, Richard Wagner is once again being played without challenge. I suspect that it has to do with the unfortunate fact that he produced works of amazing genius. Though I am no fan of Wagner or his music and despise his and Pound's racism, I do feel it necessary to acknowlege his place within the realm of modern/romantic music and/or the history of opera. Pound was, though we may not like the fact, a poet of genius who mentored Joyce, Eliot, Hemingway, Frost, Lowell, and yes even Yeats. He is an important bridge from modernism back to the Edwardian and Victorian poets. We ignore him and his works of genius at our own loss.
The Library of America edition has brought together many individual works of Pound from the Personna to his verse translations from the Chinese (in a manner of speaking). They have provided a significant service to Arts and Letters in this country by filling in this gape in their catalogue. This work contains all of Pound's poetry excluding the Cantos. Dig in deep, open this work anywhere and discover Pound afresh. You will see why A.S. Byatt considered using Pound's verse for her masterful, Possessions. As he said of Eliot, "Read him."

With the complete exception of any and all of Pound's Cantos this collection is simply exhaustive. I cannot imagine that there exists very much more than is contained herein. This volume along with The Complete Cantos I would consider to be sufficient as, more or less, the completion of any poetry enthusiasts Pound collection and I certainly recommend it (especially to aspiring poets). If you already enjoy Pound's work this is definitely for you.

Great collection in a wonderful long lasting binding from a non profit group that want's to preserve American Liturature. How can you go wrong.

If you are a Pound fan or just curious, this will be an important well read book in your library.