Re Epedocles
 
Here is a thread worth following, I think, particularly when thinking
about Pound's interest in alchemy as a figure for poetry.  Empedocles was
well-known in Pound's circle around the turn of the century as the father
of alchemy.
 
Pound quotes Empedocles (using the spelling "Empedokles") in the epigraph
to "Anima Sola," from A Lume Spento, translating the Latin into terms that
explicitly suggest alchemy. I'm also of the opinion that Pound's father's
work at the Philadelphia Mint was, in Pound's mind, a form of alchemy, and
therefore an important model for the assaying and purifying of
language that goes on throughout Pound's writing.
 
For those who want to know what's been done so far, I did the work once
upon a time in what ended up in a footnote in my dissertation.  Marshall
McLuhan's introduction to Helle Lambridis's book on Empedocles mentions
general affinities between Pound and the philosopher, but suggests no
specific texts.  Elizabeth Bruce mentions Empedocles briefly in relation
to Pound's late poetry.  Ian Bell does more with Empedocles, particularly
in relation to Pound's probable source (Burnet's Early Greek Philosophy),
but doesn't address "Anima Sola."  The poem is Pound's only published
mention of the philosopher as far I can tell, other than a 1954 letter to
Wyndham Lewis that mentions Burnet.
 
There's an article here, for someone with an interest in Pound and
pre-Socrcatic philosophy.
 
Jonathan Gill
Columbia University