Thanks so much for your direction! I actually have no grasp of Pound, these
are questions asked by a teacher that are supposed to help with insight
into Pound's feelings about Whitman. You have been very helpful, and I
appreciate your information!
 
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> From: Jonathan P. Gill <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Pound/Whitman "A Pact"
> Date: Friday, November 12, 1999 9:51 AM
>
> Cindy--
>
> A good place to start would be what Pound himself wrote in prose about
> Walt Whitman--or at least his writings about the American poetic
> tradition. You might try Pound's Selected Poems.  Emerson's writings
> (especially The American Scholar) might also help, since Emerson was so
> important to Whitman. Donald Allen's anthology The New American Poetry
> would be very accessible and help you get some primary exposure to the
> differences between Whitman and his descendants. I don't know anyone with
> a love for literature who wouldn't benefit from Hugh Kenner's Pound Era.
> William Carlos Williams's Autobiography has lots to say about the
> relationship of the American Modernists to the past (and the future).
> Finally, there was a pretty good article about Whitman in National
> Geographic about two years ago.
>
> By the way, the questions you are asking indicate that you seem to have
an
> excellent grasp of what's at stake in Pound's "Pact."
>
> As for carving, remember that it was no idle figure--Pound knew two of
the
> great sculptors of the day, and any day: Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (forgive
my
> spelling?) and Jacob Epstein.
>
> This may be too involved for your project, but keep in mind that Pound
> wrote two different versions of the "Pact."
>
> Jonathan Gill
> Columbia University