As a current undergraduate student very interested in Ezra Pound, I joined this list serve with high hopes for mature, academic discussion of Ezra Pound's works, most especially his poetry, as it is a formidable and challenging (but also invigorating, and, at its best, moving and affecting) collection. At times, I have found this kind of discussion at its best. But more often, I tend to find meaningless squabbles over the relative merits of completely unrelated books (i.e., the Seamus Heaney discussion) and bitter academic infighting. If this is the life of academia, perhaps I should reconsider my choice of careers... Is there any way the list serve could perhaps sped more time on actual, worthwhile discussion and less time on these more trivial matters. Of course, I realize that most of the contributors to this list serve probably have quite similar feelings. To those, my apologies for taking up both valuable time and e-mail space. --Jake I don't agree with you about the discussion of Heaney's Beowulf, which has been, I think, a thoughtful exploration of the principles involved in the translation of poetry. But I agree that this list is the scene of a excessive amount of egoistic posturing. Pound himself was prone to such behavior. In his prose especially, he was in the habit of announcing his opinions in a strident tone of voice, usually without benefit of supporting argument, as if any sensible person should be able to SEE the obvious truth of what he was saying. In discussions of poetry, where he was challenging an entrenched academic establishment, this mode of discourse was energizing, sweeping away great tracts of unexamined assumptions, and thereby opening a space for what has become the most exciting poetry of the last half of the 20th century. As applied to social and political issues, on the other hand, this habit of mind and this mode of discourse issued in appalling results. But for better or for worse, many readers (I include myself here) were initally attracted to Pound by the sheer bravura of that VOICE, slashing through to what he claimed was the gist of the matter. Therefore it isn't surprising that Poundians often try to talk LIKE Pound. The problem begins when some of these readers identify with "their" poet to the point that they begin to imagine that they ARE Pound, and that their own snap judgements are as interesting as his. But if you want a more serious discussion, why don't you start by telling us why YOU, as an undergraduate student, have become interested in Pound, and that might prompt others to try to explain why THEY have been drawn to Pound; and THAT could, I think, be an interesting discussion. Burt Hatlen