Carrol,
I haven't made a study of Pound's manuscripts and don't know if the format
on the pages in the New Directions edition that I have reveal authorial
intent. But one can, I think, legitimately argue the point both ways with
respect to Pound's poetry.  Pound likens the poetic line to the musical
phrase. In the musical context, lineation is primarily a rhythmic cue. But
since, in the passages I've cited, the rhythmic units are consistently
indicated by punctuation, the line-breaking is not critical to the music.
But if  lineation were being used to highlight a passage's formal structure,
in ways that punctuation cannot because it is signalling the breathings and
pauses and pace, then to change the lines could easily obscure meaning.

In this context, you might find interesting the following criticism from
Wyndham Lewis's TIME AND WESTERN MAN:

"That actually seems to belong to the repetitive hypnotic method of Miss
Stein and Miss Loos....The whole passage [i.e. the Nerea-within-her-cave
passage in Canto 17]  with its abrupt sententious pauses is unpleasantly
reminiscent  of the second-rate actor accustomed to take heavy and emotional
parts." Lewis goes on to say that the poetry "is composed upon a series of
histrionic pauses, intended to be thrilling and probably beautiful."

Tim Romano


Carrol Cox wrote:
> ... doesn't the formatting on the
> page make a difference?
>