Ezra Pound (1885-1972) Of all the major literary figures in the twentieth century,Ezra Pound has been one of the most controversial;he has also been one of modern poetry's most important contributors.In an introduction to the Literary Essays of Ezra Pound,T.S.Eliot declared that Pound "is more responsible for the twentieth-century revolution in poetry than is any other individual."Four decades later,Donald Hall reaffirmed in remarks collected in Remembering Poets that "Ezra Pound is the poet who,a thousand times more than any other man,has made modern poetry possible in English." Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an expatriate American poet and critic who was a major figure of the early modernist movement.His contribution to poetry began with his development of Imagism,a movement derived from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry,stressing clarity, precision and economy of language.His best-known works include Ripostes(1912).Hugh Selwyn Mauberley(1920)and the unfinished 120-section epic,The Cantos(1917-69). Working in London in the early 20th century as foreign editor of several American literary magazines,Pound helped discover and shape the work of contemporaries such as T.S.Eliot, James Joyce,Robert Frost and Ernest Hemingway.He was responsible for the 1915 publication of Eliot's "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock"and the serialization from 1918 of Joyce's Ulysses Hemingway wrote of him in 1925:"He defends [his friends]when they are attacked,he gets them into magazines and out of jail....He introduces them to wealthy women.He gets publishers to take their books.He sits up all night with them when they claim to be dying...he advances them hospital expenses and dissuades them from suicide." Outraged by the carnage of World War I,Pound lost faith in England and blamed the war on usury and international capitalism.He moved to Italy in 1924,and throughout the 1930s and 1940s embraced Benito Mussolini's fascism,expressed support for Adolf Hitler and wrote for publications owned by the British fascist Oswald Mosley.During World War II he was paid by the Italian government to make hundreds of radio broadcasts criticizing the United States,Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jews,as a result of which he was arrested by American forces in Italy in 1945 on charges of treason.He spent months in detention in a U.S.military camp in Pisa,including three weeks in a six-by-six-foot outdoor steel cage that he said triggered a mental breakdown,"when the raft broke and the waters went over me".Deemed unfit to stand trial,he was incarcerated in St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Washington,D.C.,for over 12 years. While in custody in Italy,he had begun work on sections of The Cantos that became known as The Pisan Cantos(1948),for which he was awarded the Bollingen Prize in 1949 by the Library of Congress,triggering enormous controversy.He was released from St.Elizabeths in 1958, thanks to a campaign by his fellow writers,and returned to live in Italy until his death.His political views ensure that his work remains as controversial now as it was during his lifetime;in 1933 Time magazine called him"a cat that walks by himself,tenaciously unhousebroken and very unsafe for children".Hemingway wrote:"The best of Pound's writing-and it is in the Cantos- will last as long as there is any literature
Ezra Pound (1885–1972) Of all the major literary figures in the twentieth century, Ezra Pound has been one of the most controversial; he has also been one of modern poetry's most important contributors. In an introduction to the Literary Essays of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot declared that Pound "is more responsible for the twentieth-century revolution in poetry than is any other individual." Four decades later, Donald Hall reaffirmed in remarks collected in Remembering Poets that "Ezra Pound is the poet who, a thousand times more than any other man, has made modern poetry possible in English." Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an expatriate American poet and critic who was a major figure of the early modernist movement. His contribution to poetry began with his development of Imagism, a movement derived from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry, stressing clarity, precision and economy of language. His best-known works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) and the unfinished 120-section epic, The Cantos (1917–69). Working in London in the early 20th century as foreign editor of several American literary magazines, Pound helped discover and shape the work of contemporaries such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Robert Frost and Ernest Hemingway. He was responsible for the 1915 publication of Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and the serialization from 1918 of Joyce's Ulysses. Hemingway wrote of him in 1925: "He defends [his friends] when they are attacked, he gets them into magazines and out of jail. ... He introduces them to wealthy women. He gets publishers to take their books. He sits up all night with them when they claim to be dying ... he advances them hospital expenses and dissuades them from suicide." Outraged by the carnage of World War I, Pound lost faith in England and blamed the war on usury and international capitalism. He moved to Italy in 1924, and throughout the 1930s and 1940s embraced Benito Mussolini's fascism, expressed support for Adolf Hitler and wrote for publications owned by the British fascist Oswald Mosley. During World War II he was paid by the Italian government to make hundreds of radio broadcasts criticizing the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jews, as a result of which he was arrested by American forces in Italy in 1945 on charges of treason. He spent months in detention in a U.S. military camp in Pisa, including three weeks in a six-by-six-foot outdoor steel cage that he said triggered a mental breakdown, "when the raft broke and the waters went over me". Deemed unfit to stand trial, he was incarcerated in St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., for over 12 years. While in custody in Italy, he had begun work on sections of The Cantos that became known as The Pisan Cantos (1948), for which he was awarded the Bollingen Prize in 1949 by the Library of Congress, triggering enormous controversy. He was released from St. Elizabeths in 1958, thanks to a campaign by his fellow writers, and returned to live in Italy until his death. His political views ensure that his work remains as controversial now as it was during his lifetime; in 1933 Time magazine called him "a cat that walks by himself, tenaciously unhousebroken and very unsafe for children". Hemingway wrote: "The best of Pound's writing – and it is in the Cantos – will last as long as there is any literature