Blue plaque ends 60 years in the cold for Ezra Pound

English Heritage recognises poets' poet whose pivotal role in 20th century
literature was overshadowed by his anti-semitic views

John Ezard, arts correspondent
Thursday August 12, 2004
The Guardian

Ezra Pound, the "poets' poet" who has been ostracised for 60 years because
of his virulent anti-semitism and support for fascism, was honoured with an
official blue plaque yesterday.

The plaque, from English Heritage, is a first chink of light in the cloud
of infamy and disgrace which hangs over Pound's memory, although he was the
godfather of literary modernism and midwife to some of the 20th century's
greatest works - notably TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land.

The ceremony in London brought applause from an audience of those who
support him as an artist. One called it "an event long overdue" when the
plaque was unveiled at the house in Kensington Church Walk where the
US-born writer lived from 1909 to 1914.

The building is steeped in literary history. There Pound promoted the work
of then unknown writers including Eliot and James Joyce, worked alongside
WB Yeats and was visited by Robert Frost, DH Lawrence and the Nobel
prize-winning Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

 From there, he changed the course of poetry with his doctrine of Imagism.
This stressed clarity, precision and economy in verse, breaking free from
strict traditional rhymes and metres.

Eliot described Pound as "more responsible for the 20th century revolution
in poetry than any other individual". He followed Pound's advice in
revising The Waste Land and dedicated the poem to him, acknowledging him as
"il miglior fabbro" (the better craftsman).

But Pound is also credited with prompting a scatter of anti-semitic lines
in Eliot's verse. These still dog the more famous poet's reputation:

My house is a decayed house,
And the jew squats on the window sill, the owner,
Spawned in some estaminet of Antwerp (Gerontion, 1920)

 From the 1920s onwards, Pound grew obsessed with the Jewish people and
with a belief that usury, otherwise called "credit capitalism", was rotting
western civilisation. Living in Italy, he broadcast propaganda for
Mussolini and spoke in favour of Hitler.

He was found mentally unfit to answer charges of treason after the war and
was certified insane. In confinement, he wrote his admired Pisan Cantos.

Yesterday his daughter Mary de Rachewiltz, 78, said: "My father has been
subjected to much criticism ... He always stood by his belief that justice
is for everyone."

A US Pound scholar, Professor William Pratt, said: "For English Heritage to
say that Pound is part of the authentic heritage means a great deal.
There's a lot about Pound I don't like but he changed the history of
English poetry."

Emily Cole, English Heritage's plaques historian, said: "It obviously was
quite a controversial case. But the panel [which approved the plaque] were
very conscious of his place in literature."

The director general of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Neville
Nagler, said: "I hope the unveiling is not any kind of endorsement, of
Pound's anti-semitic and highly offensive views which pervaded his poetry."