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Product Description
Product Description
If the invention of literary modernism is usually attributed to Joyce, Eliot and Pound, it was Pound's personality and position in the artistic world that enabled the experiment to transform itself into an international movement. In 1926 Pound brought together the body of his shorter poems into a definitive collection which would illustrate the hallmarks of the new style. This collection, where Pound presented himself in a variety of characters or 'masks', was called Personae. In 1926, Personae's publication gave solidity to a movement; today the work stands as one of the classic texts of the twentieth century.
About the Author
Ezra Pound was born in 1885 in Hailey, Idaho. He came to Europe in 1898 and settled in London, where he was to meet Yeats, Eliot, Ford, Hulme and Gaudier-Brzeska. In 1920 he moved to Paris, and later to Rapallo. His acquaintances by now included Joyce, Hemingway, Brancusi, Picabia, Cocteau, Antheil and C. H. Douglas. During the Second World War he broadcast over Rome Radio - for which, eventually, he was tried for treason in Washington. He was committed to a hospital for the insane, where he was held for thirteen years. He was released in 1958 and returned to Italy, dying in Venice in 1972. His main publications include The Cantos (I-CXVII), Collected Shorter Poems, Translations, The Confucian Odes, Literary Essays, Guide to Kulchur, Selected Prose and ABC of Reading.
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I stood still and was a tree amid the wood, Knowing the truth of things unseen before; Of Daphne and the laurel bow And that god-feasting couple old That grew elm-oak amid the wold. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I stood still and was a tree amid the wood, Knowing the truth of things unseen before; Of Daphne and the laurel bow And that god-feasting couple old That grew elm-oak amid the wold. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hooray! Pound's shorter poems are finally available in Britain in a good edition! The old Faber 'Collected Shorter Poems' was rather inadequate (full of mistakes, and unwarranted interference in the layout of the poems). 'Personae' makes available a much more recent, more accurate text, being a reprint of the edition brought out by New Directions in America.
These shorter poems are, to a large extent, the work of Pound's pre-Canto days, but in no way merely immature work. (Much of which Pound excluded when he collected his shorter poems. It is available elsewhere, and not of interest to the general reader.) The earlier poems in 'Personae' see Pound grappling with voice, models (Browning is a great presence in his earlier poems, and Yeats is an influence too), and also searching about for something to write about. 'Cathay' sees him answering all of these questions: in Fellanosa's prose translations from the Chinese, Pound was presented with great poetry that called challenged him to respond with a coherent voice and method. Other poetic enterprises here include the 'Lustra' -- a collection of mostly satiric verse, and the great 'Hugh Selwyn Mauberly' which uses the satirical voice on a fitting subject, English postwar society.
It is indisputable that any account of Modernism must somewhere mention Ezra Pound. He produced critical writings, anthologies, translations (the best of which are included in 'Personae', as deserving to stand beside his original poems), political and social writings (including writings on economics and versions of Confucious), and of course his own poetry. In all these, and in his personal influence, Pound was a vivifying, galvanising force. His poems include some of the greatest written in the Twentieth Century (perhaps the greatest); certainly some of the strangest, most tortuous and perplexing, as well as some of the most lyrical, beautiful, alert and funny.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Pound accessible. Particularly the Chinese poems shows what poetry can do - recover fragments of emotional history. Highly recommended for just this reason.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
An Excellent Collection
30 Mar 2001
Format:Paperback
I don't know what the other reviewer is talking about, but the book is arranged just fine. In fact, one would think that with the addition of the Note on the Text it would be irrefutably clear how it was arranged & selected, but I guess at least one guy didn't think so. The majority of the book is roughly chronological in the way Ezra Pound chose. The poems are broken into groups: Poems of 1908-1911, Poems from Ripostes (1912), Poems from Blast (1914), Poems of Lustra (1913-1915), Cathay (1915), Poems of Lustra (1915-1916), & Poems of 1917-1920. There are then Appendixes added, the first consisting of Three Cantos (1917); the second, uncollected poems from 1912-1917; & the third, The Complete Poetical Works of T. E. Hulme, which was originally an appendix to the book Ripostes. & then there's the Note on the Text explaining this layout. They removed the post-1926 work, as this shall appear in a future revision of Pavannes and Divagations, and they left out a few previously appendixed poems since they are already printed in The Translations or in Collected Early Poems. & then they added a few extra poems in appendix, the two recently-published war poems of 1914-1915, the original version of "In a Station of the Metro," & the prose poem "Ikon." & that's all of it, as is clear from the table of contents & note on the text. Now then, all that aside, these are absolutely brilliant poems. They contain stunning beauty, humor, originality, depth, & unbelievable intelligence & imagination. Pound completely changed what poetry was capable of, paving the way for countless innovators since with his inimitable driving voice. It would be a terrible shame if folks passed over this book just because one guy gave it less than its deserved five stars. The editors certainly didn't lie about anything - just because Pound wrote three cantos in 1917 that weren't part of the famous Cantos doesn't mean you've been swindled. (If fact, the conclusion to the third early canto later became, with some modification, Canto I.) So, hopefully this clarifies things, so that more people will have the chance to read these terrific poems. I'd also suggest, if you like this book, getting the readings that Pound made of "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley," "Moeurs Contemporaines," & some other poems. The tape is still in print, & Ezra Pound is one of the best readers around, up there with John Cage, William Burroughs, James Joyce ... Enjoy.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Artist of the beautiful.
5 Oct 2005
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This collection of Pound's earlier poems is the necessary companion of any modern poet. Especially noteworthy, and on display here, is the Pound Rhythm. Pound wrote poetry that embodied its own music. There is much to learn from Pound and in this volume he can be approached without the annotated index that is needed to tackle The Cantos.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Before you swim, you first must wade
12 Feb 2012
Format:Paperback
Ezra Pound was the heart of the American poetry modernist revolution. But I found his poetry hard to digest. His masterwork 'Cantos' swept me helplessly out to sea. I tried reading the definitive Pound affair 'A Pound Era'. It buried me alive. But I yearned to feel Pound.
Then I came upon this collection of Pound poems. A bevy of short intense early works which I could wrap around and begin my friendship as such, without being trampled by his emotional and intellectual complexity.
There is a whole Pound galaxy out there. And this is a great collection to start with.
Then I came upon this collection of Pound poems. A bevy of short intense early works which I could wrap around and begin my friendship as such, without being trampled by his emotional and intellectual complexity.
There is a whole Pound galaxy out there. And this is a great collection to start with.
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