Customer Reviews

Selected Poems of Ezra Pound (New Directions Paperbook)

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This book is a very good introduction to the work of Ezra Pound. There's a little bit of everything! You get some of his earlier, shorter poems, like "In a Station of the Metro," some translations, like "The Seafarer," or "Homage to Sextus Propertius," the famous Mauberley sequence (this book includes both the "original" poem "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" and Pound's later poem "Mauberley" whereas most books reprint only the earlier poem), and, of course, some of the cantos.

I'm pretty sure that Pound made the selections for this edition himself, though the editor adds a few cantos. Ezra Pound's work is exciting and really important for poets writing today. It's impossible to see how we got to where we are now without reading Ezra Pound.

Hard to reconcile Ezra Pound the poet, with such a beautiful sense for the rhythms and melodies of the English language, and so sensitive to his time and place in the literary tradition, with the man who broadcast propaganda for the Italians during the Second World War, whose preference was for the Fascists because of their sense of style. Mishima also comes to mind, with impeccable aesthetics, totalitarian politics.

In any case if the politico-poetic schism doesn't bother you, this slim collection is a wonderful introduction to this important Modernist. His Cantos were overreaching and sprawling -- some of the poems here have the glint of lyric perfection. I am especially fond of the Cathay poems, and of those Exile's Letter is my favorite. His translation is crystalline, the words flow like water, of all his poems, translations or otherwise, I feel this is among the most perfect -- not for greatness of idea or emotion, but for its subtlety and lyricism.

He reaches such moments in parts of the Pisan Cantos ("What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross"), but it's a bit funny that he had T.S. Eliot whittle down The Waste Land, but he himself didn't have the discipline to pare down his own work. This might be why his translations (The Seafarer, The River Merchant's Wife) seem to be more anthologized, and considered the more accessible portion of his work -- the limits of these poems were already in place, holding his ambition in check, thus allowing him to concentrate on the language, which he really did so well.

Reading Ezra Pound is a remarkable experience. I find it amazing how attentive Ezra Pound is when it comes to the 'sound of poetry.' Reading his poems are aesthetically pleasing to the ear. It is consistent with his doctrine, "Behave as a good musician will do" when it comes to poetry. I find his translation of "River-merchant's Wife: A Letter" as one of the greatest highlight in modern poetry, along with many other poem included in this book.

I like all the poems here, which vary tremendously in content and date from the beginning to the end of Pound's life.

Homage to Sextus Propertius is one of the greatest achievements in poetry during the 20th century. But don't read it without your Webster's dictionary and a classics encyclopedia!

Length:: 7:09 Mins

I hope the reading from this new selection of Pound's poems will encourage others to discover his earlier (pre-Cantos) poems, or to rediscover them, as I have.

This collection of Pound is representative of his immensely bewitching gifts. It includes some of the best early poems and translations, including Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, as well as a number of the Cantos. Pound's poetry transformed the modern artistic climate and radicalized the Imagist movement. His creations are stunning articulations of the inner chronicle of all poetic achievement. His fine musicality and attention to linguistic texture is a true event in the history of poetry. This collection will serve to encapsulate the timeless beauty and mystery of his finest work.

If you care at all about modern poetry then you have to know something about Ezra Pound. His own poetry is beautiful, lyrical, sometimes mystical, and has a delicate respect for language. In addition he translated much Chinese poetry and produced the best translations of poems in the Catalan language. His influence is virtually endless. He was a very strong influence on T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, Hemingway, Hilda Dolittle, Marianne Moore, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and many more.

Yes, personally and politically he was strange to say the least, but this doesn't detract from the sheer artistry of his work.

This volume is a reasonable place to start if you aren't familiar with Pound and is also a reasonable volume to keep around for quick review. It contains samples of his Chinese and Catalan translations. There is good selection of his shorter poems and also a substantial sampling of the Cantos, his epic work.

Be aware that the design of the book is annoying; no index, no arrangment, no apparent plan of any kind.

But after all that you are left with the poetry and you can skip the design questions and read the poems. These poems are not difficult to read, the language is simple and simply beautiful. The rhythms carry you along and then sometimes drop you into understanding.

I give this selection 5 stars for the content and take one back for the poor book design.

If you are not familiar with Pound read them for your education, if you are familiar with Pound read them for the enduring beauty; but do read them and read them out loud.

I think this book is a good representation of Pound's work, and certainly one that Pound fans will enjoy. Personally, though, I've always had mixed feelings about Pound. I often feel like he had two very different voices--one, a pompous academic; the other, a humble haiku-esque observer of the world--and I wish the latter consistently outshined the former. I enjoy Pound's shorter poems like "Alba", "Salutation", "The Encounter", "And the days are not long enough", and "An Immortality" (the latter two not in this book), but many of his other poems irk me with their clunky syntax. For example, consider this book's much-quoted poem, "A Pact":

A Pact

I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman -
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has had a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root -
Let there be commerce between us.

This is actually one of my favorite Pound poems, but it is not without problems. The beginning is solid, but in line 4, "Who has had" is needlessly awkward; obviously, "who had" would suffice. The last four lines are better, but Pound seems to be working against himself here. "Now is a time for carving" rather elegantly responds to the previous line and ties it up with maximum economy of syllables, not to mention a passionate call to arms. But Pound weakens it by continuing with two more lines metaphorically referencing sap, roots, commerce, etc., effectively giving the poem a second more academic ending that strays from his own extended metaphor!

Then again, I admit that Pound's critics (myself included) are probably at least partially responding to the academy's overblown response to Pound, rather than Pound himself. That is certainly the case with "In a Station of the Metro", which presents an interesting metaphor, but like the famous William Carlos Williams poem, "So much depends", seems to be the poetic equivalent of a good song played way too often on the radio.

All that being said, I find myself returning to the bittersweet imagery and wit of my favorite Pound poem, "Salutation", which seems as different from his more pompous works as night from day:

Salutation

O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.

In conclusion, more power to those who enjoy Pound's work; they will enjoy this book as well, and that's what matters. It's just my opinion that Pound's talents were often inconsistent, and sadly, he often seems to be writing against himself, or leaving his chief talent (the creativity and humility of a haiku poet) out of his poems.