Tim,
Thank you for your in-depth response to my thoughts.
I apologize if I seemed to suggest that all of Pound's poetry is as "high
toned as Stevens' old Christian woman. Clearly this is not the case, as you
have aptly demonstrated.
However, I still believe that Pound's sheer number of classical references
is worthy of note. I'd be the first to admit that I do not share the poet's
ethos in terms of languages and mythology. The problem with Pound is that if
one doesn't share his extensive classical education, then one cannot fully
grasp his images without referring to other texts. The meaning is not fully
contained in the poems.
Therefore I go back to my central question: To what extent did Ezra Pound
write in the "language of common speech," as others in his circle espoused -
sometimes with great success. Also: How can one get to images when the poem
refers to so many other works other than itself? Is Pound's poetry "hard and
clear?"
My questions are ones of Imagism.
Brennen
>From: Tim Romano <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: - Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
> <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Pound the poet
>Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 12:55:05 -0500
>
>Pound's diction is not uniformly "high toned". I wonder how much of his
>poetry you have actually read? I don't mean this as a snide remark; I
>mean, did the allusions you did not recognize and/or the languages you did
>not understand prevent you from reading the poems? Have you read any of
>Pound's early works?
>
>"A Girl"
>The tree has entered my hands,
>The sap has ascended my arms,
>The tree has grown in my breast--
>Downward,
>The branches grow out of me, like arms.
>
>Tree, you are,
>Moss, you are,
>You are violets with wind above them.
>A child--SO high--you are,
>And all this is folly to the world.
>
>or
>
>"Of Jacopo Del Sallaio"
>THIS man knew out the secret ways of love,
>No man could paint such things who did not know.
>And how she's gone who was his Cyprian,
>And you are here who are "The Isles" to me.
>
>And here's the thing that lasts the whole thing out:
>The eyes of this dead lady speak to me.
>
>
>What's so "high-toned" about the diction in those poems? There's a
>classical allusion in the first poem, true, but shouldn't the reader be
>willing to read classical myths? After all, they did provide the basis for
>most allusion in the western literary tradition. And the second poem
>alludes to some paintings, one of them by a Florentine (Botticelli's
>assistant) and the other, appropriately given the them of the poem, by a
>relative contemporary (for early Pound).
>
>I would suggest that you simply 'fess up to some ignorance and reconsider
>the phrase "littering his poetry". He who asks is a fool for a minute; he
>who does not is a fool for life.
>
>http://www.artmagick.com/images/j/ryland/ryland13.jpg
>
>Tim Romano
>
>At 11:29 AM 1/31/03 -0500, you wrote:
>>What was Pound's general pupose in littering his poetry, especially the
>>Cantos, with fairly obscure references, foreign phrases and dropped names?
>>I
>>wonder how this tendency gels with Imagist rule no. 1: "To use the
>>language
>>of common speech, but to employ the exact word, not the nearly-exact, nor
>>the merely decorative word."
>>
>>I would argue that Pound's reluctance to let go of the mythical references
>>of which he was so fond, combined with a high-toned diction, ultimately
>>restricted his ability to produce resonant poetry. Pound deserves great
>>credit for his part in the Imagist movement, but he was not the most
>>accomplished practitioner. I don't think this is entirely the poet's
>>fault.
>>We are all products of our times. T.S. Eliot's poetry sprung from the same
>>classical groundings, as evidenced be _The Waste Land_ and _Prufrock_,
>>among
>>other examples. But Eliot also knew how to cut to the quick of the human
>>condition with the language of common speech: "I shall wear the bottoms of
>>my trousers rolled." So even if Pound was "il miglior fabbro" (another
>>reference), Eliot was a better poet.
>>
>>Now this is not to say that Pound did not have his successes and that he
>>always leaned on his litany of references to achieve his effect. I simply
>>maintain that he was perhaps too much a die-hard intellectual to really
>>produce poetry that matched his own Imagist standards.
>>
>>I welcome your comments.
>>
>>Brennen Lukas
>>Annandale, Virginia
>>
>>
>>>
>>>But Pound's writing, line by line, is perfectly clear. The references,
>>>foreign phrases, can be cleared up with a gloss, or one can skip them to
>>>begin with.
>>
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