The small dogs look at the big dogs; They observe unwieldly dimensions And curious imperfections of odor. Here is a formal male group: The young man look upon their seniors, They consider the elderly mind And observe its inexplicable correlations. Said Tsin-Tsu: It is only in small dogs and the young That we find minute observation. (May this song from Lustra serve as a salutation towards Jonathan and Cindy, but I want to add a thought of my own:) when I subscribed to this NG I was very impressed by all those big dogs which most of them at least had a dinner or ten with Pound, while I was born when he already had dropped in silence etc... And still I somehow feel honored to share all these insights & puzzlepieces with you, having nothing to offer but a deep respect & love for EP but - when Cindy raised her question about Whitman/Pound it was the first time I somehow felt motivated for 'researching' on a raised topic on my own, which gave me the pleasure of reading parts of 'Leaves of Grass' again, and so some Carpenter and a very recommendable Book of Eva Hesse, titled 'Ezra Pound - von Sinn und Wahnsinn' (1978 München; a deep study, I wonder if it has ever been translated into english, 't would be one of my few advantages as a native german speaker if not;-) and Pound's poems o.c., but that's a weekly routine. Not to show off here with sparkling new ideas on this nor to write for its own sake but being a study beginner most time of my life I know how difficult it can be to find the right start, and thought, I had to answer quickly before poor Cindy is flamed out of this group - in a most highly educated way, I had no doubt ... Due to this my remarks on parallels Whitman/EP hade become quite unsharp; I agree that Pounds appeal towards il populo is quite different from Walt Whitman's. But an orchestra is set together of many different tunes, and you can lay different verses over the same melody. Does one say so? O my Germish. So thanks to Cindy, to me your question was very reviving, and imhop any topic regarding Pound should be permitted to discuss here - yet there will never be as many students for Pound than for Faulkner, I'm sure. But to Eva Hesse's book, she quotes Pound on Widman from his Essay collection 'Patria mia' - I have must use the german translation, I have to apologize - : "[E.H.:Schon 1913 hatte er das, was er als 'unseren amerikanischen Grundton' bezeichnete, als eine Eigenschaft definiert, die für ihn selber genauso zutrifft wie für Walt Whitman, von dem hier die Rede ist:]Es ist, soweit ich es ausmachen kann, eine gewisse Sorglosigkeit und Gelöstheit ['nonchalant and relaxed manner', I'd retranslate] wenn man so will; ein Hass auf alles Muffige [stuffiness], eine Gabe um des Ganze willen über Einzelheiten hinwegzusehen; ein Denken in grossen Räumen; der Mut, Angriffsflächen [point of attack] zu bieten. 'Camerado, dies ist kein Buch, Wer dies berührt, berührt einen Menschen.' Der Kuenstler ist bereit, fuer seine Person Belastungen auf sich zu nehmen, die sein Schaffen fast zunichte machen können... [to bear endurances in charge of annihilation of his artistic work] er macht sich anheischig, in seiner Kunst nichts zu unternehmen, wofür er nicht mit seiner Person einsteht." E.Hesse, S. 277-78 - Patria Mia quoted in the Zurich Edition 1960. (This final part of the quotation perhaps might link to Wayne Pounds' question of the 'willing to die'-remark...) Love Martin