Tim,
Pound's magic moment or moment of metamorphosis seems at first Ovidian,
but from what you are saying sounds more like Heracleitus by the time
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley is written? Possibly the difference in the
transformation that takes place in early poems like The Tree from the
flux which is presented in Mauberley symbolizes Pound's turn from
romance poet to political poet. "The poet writes about love and not
about the empire": what happened to that? Heracleitan flux seems to be
what Pound later was trying to sculpt form from. Pound wished to stop
this motion or river, quite the antithesis of a "metamorphosis" that
occurs with no intention of pausing for anyone, let alone a poet. These
transformations, for Ovid and the young Pound, attempt to capture or
mimic the transformation as it is taking place; possibly like a vortex?
--- Tim Romano <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
> >
> >
>
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