Ezra Pound
By: Mike • Essay • 669 Words • February 6, 2010 • 990 Views
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From the reading, I gathered that Pound was a rather boisterous person. He was confident in his craft, and believed wholeheartedly that he had something new to bring to the table regarding poetic criticism.His poetry was interesting, in that I didn't
think it was too great until after watching the video. After reading his biography, I thought his poetry was going to be epic and the most magnificent piece of literature I have ever read, and I was disappointed to see that he was just an ordinary poet in my opinion. I was dissatisfied with the poetry, and when I watched the video, his character came to life, and made me appreciate his poetry more so
than before.
In the video, Pound was regarded as a very social person. He was thought to be innovative, sarcastically humorous, worldly, and thus quite confident. Although some admired him, others genuinely disliked Pound. He gathered many followers with his poetry, but also repelled others with his progressively political views and thoughts. Although the video attempted to be neutral in depicting his life, it greatly placed Pound on a pedastle, and joining the video with the reading gave me a greater appreciation for what Pound attempted to do in his life.
After he was charged with treason, he was placed in an open cage, but soon transferred to a room where he had access to a typewriter. He used his writing to effect politics, and even in economics he wrote cantos. In the reading, his poetry was varied in content, and often sounded like there was an underlying point he was trying make. One specific part of the video that depicted this was in the beginning when Pound was reciting poetry, they showed images of fascist France and post-war, then showing images of the calm rivers in France and people walking along the countryside. This related to the diversity of Pound and his poetry because it served as a reminder of his worldliness and the environment he had been in, which was relatively non-American. This foreshadowed for me his protests against America and President Roosevelt.
Another memorable and important part of the video is when images of his poetry appeared on screen as he recited them. This served as a way to visualize the form of the poem, and hearing Pound recite it did the poem more justice than when I read it to myself in the book. I was able to see what syllables he wanted stressed,