Ezra Pound- A Contradiction Justified

Ezra pound’s controversial life (1885-1972) saw him going from an ‘imagist’ perspective to that of ‘vorticism.’ His manifesto is important in evaluating his work as it shows a change in poetic literature that stays relevant to his later works even if they don’t comply with the original guidelines of the manifesto. In the following analysis of Pound’s manifesto and his work, I will explain how his manifesto remained important to poetry and Pound himself.

Ezra Pound

     His early theory of the imagist structure was formed at the turn of the twentieth century. “An ‘image’ is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time” (Loeffelholz 1506). The best example of Pound’s imagist poems I feel is ‘In a Station of the Metro.’ Here, Pound wishes to translate his perception of beauty in the midst of ugliness into a single image in written form. He does this by linking two metaphors together. The first one: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd” (1482), I feel is the transformation of these faces to something beautiful that mean something instead of just passing obscured objects in a crowded dirty subway. The “[p]etals on a wet, black bough” (1482) seem to represent the beauty of life shining through the dank underground. To me the faces symbolize a purpose and a radiance that is life. They are in the subway now but they are travelling towards something wonderful.

     Many twentieth century poets were influenced by imagism but the fact that even the rules of grammar seemed artificial made this new poetry work in disconnected fragments (1478). Pounds early advice was hard to follow telling readers to “[u]se no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something” (1507). More modern poets may argue that adjectives make poems more enjoyable to read. Pound eventually moved from the bland form of imagism to vorticism which “still espousing direct and bare presentation, sought for some principle of dynamism and energy in the image” (1478). One such poem is ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (Life and Contacts)’ (1484). Pound’s vorticist poems seem to be longer and also seem to have more dynamism and energy: “Quick eyes gone under earth’s lid” (1487). This is very descriptive of a person that died highlighting the person’s energetic clever personality ‘Quick eyes’ now gone beneath the earth’s surface. I like how ‘lid’ is used to describe the passing of life to death as if the earth is closing those eyelids.

Pound giving the fascist salute

     Pound found himself propagandizing against the poetry that made him initially want to be a poet (1477). However he was proud of all his work seeing his old work as an inspiration for new forms of poetry to take hold and seeing his new work as another essential change: “on the one hand, a desire to ‘make it new’; on the other, a deep attachment to the old” (1477). Even through his contrasting perspectives Pound remained controversial throughout his work with his rebellious and colourful personality shocking his audience. He also remained convinced that the United States had no place for him and regarded it as a culturally backward nation.

     Even though Pounds manifesto is outdated even to himself in his later years, it still has relevance in how it brought about change in poetic styles. His amazing ability to downgrade old poems along with those of contemporary poets at the same time annoyed people but they listened nevertheless: “The actual language and phrasing is often as bad as that of our elders without even the excuse that the words are shovelled in to fill a metric pattern or to complete the noise of a rhyme-sound” (1506). At times he referred to certain poets describing works as being “as stale and hackneyed as any pseudo-Swinburnian” (1506). He is talking about Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909) who would have been famous before poetic styles such as imagism and vorticism began to emerge. I think I see what Pound is talking about when I looked at ‘A Ballad of Burdens’ by Algernon Swinburne. In the third line of the third verse he writes “that buy thy white and brown” (Swinburne 6). I feel this has no other purpose than to just rhyme with ‘down’ in the first line. This may have inspired young poets to think more carefully of what they are writing.

     I feel that the majority of Pounds work does not exemplify what he wrote in his manifesto as he changed his perspective from imagism to vorticism. However he was part of a movement at the time his manifesto was published where literature was changing and this may have influenced his opinion. He is open minded knowing that change will always happen and his manifesto may even be subject to change: “All this, however, some may consider open to debate” (Loeffelholz 1507). I think he feels change is good introducing new styles of literature and I think he sees his manifesto as a stepping stone to a transformation of literature which is set to become more complex and diverse than ever before: “But it is, on the whole, good that the field should be ploughed. Perhaps a few good poems have come from the new method, and if so it is justified” (1506).

     In conclusion I think Ezra Pound was looking at the big picture in literature. He saw there was more to literature than the current styles and I feel his manifesto was an early attempt to bring about changes and introduce new styles. It was the idea of change behind his manifesto that made it a great influence at the time and it can still be credited for sparking new styles like that of vorticism which Pound himself took up later on. Pounds controversial life and rebellious attitude saw him bring about change beyond his manifesto and beyond literature but in society itself. When he won the Bollingen Prize for poetry, a tremendous debate commenced on his stature as a poet as well as a citizen. A committee of writers won his release ten years later. He was a patient and prisoner in St. Elizabeth’s hospital for the criminally insane in Washington, D.C. for his involvement with the Italian government broadcasting English-language radio to England and the United States during World War II in which he vilified Jews, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and American society in general. His release can be seen as a step forward for liberty and freedom of speech.

Works Cited

Loeffelholz, Mary. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th. D. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. 1477-1507. Print.

Swinburne, Algernon. Algernon Charles Swinburne. PoemHunter.com-The Worlds Poetry Archive, 2004. 6. eBook.