Erik,
Pound's turn from lyric to epic (and the turn has a very wide radius) occurs
during and after the First World War. It is chronicled in the Propertius
poems and in Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. The poet-personae are broadening their
attention. Love becomes intertwined with War. The 'inward gazing' does
continue in The Cantos; these themes are not abandoned but they occur in a
wider context and involve meditation on historical purpose and duty.
This gradual transition from a focus on one's Place in the Cosmos to one's
Place in History (though with a continued awareness of the cosmic plane) is
not the same thing as a 'metamorphosis' --at least not in the sense in
which Pound uses the word -- the busting through the quotidian into the
divine and permanent world. Metamorphosis for Pound refers, as you have
indicated, to a psychic phenomenon that occurs with a time-stands-still
suddenness, an epiphany --what you called a 'magic moment.'
Tim Romano
----- Original Message -----
From: Erik Volpe <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, 07 Sep 1999 8:46 AM
Subject: Re: Pound's Tragic Flaw
> I like your point, but is there no "inward gaz(e)"ing in The Cantos? or
> continuation of his earlier obsession with advancement of craft?
> Sincere question: where is the bisect or turning point in The Cantos
> when Pound departs his:
> Live man goes down into world of Dead
> The 'repeat in history'
> The 'magic moment' or moment of metamorphosis, bust thru quotidien into
> 'divine or permanent world.
> When does Pound abandon these guidelines for The Republic? Is the Pisan
> Cantos the return of these earlier intentions and the "inward gaze?"
>
> --- Tim Romano <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > When Pound turned himself from a poet of 'the
> > obscure reveries of the
> > inward gaze' into a poet who would 'sing war' --
> > from a lyric poet into an
> > epic poet -- his subject matter became The Republic.
> > Aesthete Pound could
> > have been content to be remembered as a poet "whose
> > greatest achievement may
> > have been to advance the art in terms of craft and
> > technique, pushing it in
> > new directions..." But Epic Pound wanted to leave a
> > larger legacy: EP
> > sought to rejuvenate and restore The Republic and to
> > return It to its First
> > Principles. EP chose to enter what is called Public
> > Life--public not in the
> > debased sense, where the famous artist is the
> > darling of paparazzi for a
> > fleeting 15 minutes, but public in the sense of
> > Patria and Statesmanship and
> > Civic Duty. EP had faith that Art could shape Life.
> > Artifice (today we call
> > it "spin") shapes opinion, so why not Art? But he
> > was no Machiavel: Pound's
> > tragic flaw was innocence.
> >
> > Reading over what I've just written before sending
> > it out, I realize that
> > my view of Pound has been influenced by things
> > Wyndham Lewis has written
> > about the poet as much as it has evolved from my own
> > close readings of
> > Pound's poetry and prose. But it's been a very long
> > time since I've read
> > anything Lewis. Am I remembering his The Lion and
> > The Fox? Or is it The Art
> > of Being Ruled?
> > Tim Romano
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: C.Brandon Rizzo <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Saturday, 04 Sep 1999 7:23 PM
> > Subject: Re: FIRE!
> >
> >
> > > Can EP's Poetics be split? Namely, via Williams'
> > old saying: "It's not
> > what
> > > you say, but how you say it". The HOW seems to be
> > imperative. And i'm
> > talking
> > > FORM THEORY here, used by Pound, pragmatically.
> > This is not to simply
> > brush
> > > aside politics, economics, et al, but to change
> > the scope. Pound's
> > greatest
> > > achievement may have been to advance the art in
> > terms of craft and
> > technique,
> > > pushing it in new directions, so to speak. Food
> > for thought.
> > >
> > > --CB
> > >
> > >
> >
>
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