An author that was very enlightning, comforting, put it as you like it, to
me was Plotinus, whose 'Enneads' are regarded as highly important for the
background of Pounds aesthetics. The complete text can be downloaded under
http://classics.mit.edu/Plotinus/enneads.html
Though this text is highly densed and sometimes vague, it had the deepest
impact on the neopagan renaissance philosophers like Mirandola, Ficino &c
(s. E. Wind, 'Pagan mysteries in the renaissance') and throws light on
Pounds sources for his anima concept 'That the body is i n s i d e  the
soul...' and the recurring motifs of perception, especially in the latest
cantos. Do I have to mention that Eva Hesse wrote on this in a most
enlighted way? (Chapters 'Poetry as a form of male desire' pp.331 ff in
E.H.: EP Munich 78)
Love
Martin
 
>Hi:
>
>I took a modern poetry class last semester and REALLY enjoyed it.  It was my
>first look at poetry since I was forced to read Shakespeare in ninth grade --
>way too dense for a walking hormone.
>
>In my university class we started with Yeat's went to Eliot and finally read
>Personae and The Pisa Cantos -- at the tail end of that class I signed on to
>this list, realized it was over my head but when I saw that there were flames
>being thrown from academics I stayed...
>
>Anyway, I want to read the Cantos from beginning to end and would like some
>advise on literary prerequisites to help me digest it.  On my own I started
>with Homer, "The Metamorphosis", "The Aenied".  Recently I've been working
>through the Greek tragedies and comedies.  I'm really surprised at how
>intense, vivid, and fun these "classics" have been!
>
>Didn't Pound wonder what the world would be like if we just read the
>classics?  I want to read them.  Can you help me?
>
>Thank you much,
>
>Steven
>
>PS: If anyone responds with a non English text could you also recommend a
>specific translation.  I'm sorry, but Penguin's "Odyssey" was lame against
>Loeb's.