This is a digitized version of an article from the timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Ezra pound, in a station of the metro haiku terebess. Literature, literature, literature publisher faber and faber. Hence the velocity of publication was much greater, aiming to. Broadly and retrospectively, four features were common. He became known for his role in developing imagism, which, in reaction to the victorian and georgian. Ezra pound is generally considered the poet most responsible for defining and promoting a modernist aesthetic in poetry.
Born in idaho in the united states, pound grew up and was educated in pennsylvania. Pound s intuitions to interpret the chinese characters and clarified, as well, pound s ambition to obtain a version that is effective as a poetical work and not as a trustworthy philological one. Yeats and ford madox ford, and his slogan, make it new, encapsulates much of what. In this book, ezra pound, with rancor and prejudice, examines topics such as literary instruction, publishing. The academy of american poets is the largest membershipbased nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets. Ezra weston loomis pound was an american expatriate poet, critic and intellectual who was a major figure of the modernist movement in earlytomid 20th century poetry. Modernism was a complex movement, including many unique and varied features in its odd period of development in european and american writers. Literary modernism, or modernist literature, has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in europe and north america, and is characterized by a selfconscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction. Some aspects of ezra pounds theories of poetry and translation. The best ezra pound poems everyone should read interesting. Sinologists criticized pound for the inaccuracies of the translations. Pdf this book develops key advances in pound studies, responding to newly available. Eliot replaced it with one in latin and greek from the satyricon, an ancient roman novel attributed to petronius.
Shocked by the behavior of civilization during world war 1, the poets were no longer content with the popular genteel poetry of the day. For this definitive collection of pound s literary essays, his friend and english editor t. Nov 17, 2007 a david moodys life of ezra pound is, at last, the ambitious, energetic biography the poet deserves, says andrew motion. Christian herter, under secre tary of state, in a letter to dr.
Jan 15, 2011 ezra pound s cantos represent some of the highest achievement in 20th century poetry. Ezra pound is destined to rank as one of the great translators of all time. Ezra pound turns up five times in peter gays big survey of the modern. Manuscript of t s eliots the waste land, with ezra pounds. In this volume, ezra pound rediscovers poets and traditions from various cultures and times. Ezra pound thought of the cantos as a container, an encyclopaedia, a way of storing information in relatively small compass. Pound and his buddies disagreed with the futurists and dadaists, who wanted to jettison everything from the past. The project gutenberg ebook of personae, by ezra pound this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. This excerpt from ezra pound s translation of an anglosaxon poem called the seafarer is a quintessentially poundian example in its treatment and translation. Invited to illustrate a new edition of shakespeares timon of athens. Make it new was pound s rendering of a passage in da xue, a historical chinese text.
Ezra weston loomis pound 30 october 1885 1 november 1972 was an expatriate american poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist sympathizer. One of the most influential poets of the period was ezra pound, who proclaimed the maxim make it new. Ezra pound s third walking tour in southern france, by gordon mckechnie. Pound came to believe that the cause of world war i was finance capitalism, which he called usury, that the solution lay in c. Make it new this chapter is completely focused on the study of pounds translations. A retrospect and a few donts by ezra pound poetry foundation. Pound, beatrice hastings, and the new age, by judith hendra.
But the more i gazed at the phrase, hoping to tease out its meaning, the more elusive and recondite it became. A poet, critic, translator, and literary force of the modernist era, ezra pound was born in idaho in 1885. Five of ezra pounds best poems selected by dr oliver tearle. Posted on december 2, 2017 february 4, 2018 categories ezra pound, guido cavalcanti tags if mercy were the friend of my desire, make it new by ezra pound, poetry, sonnet, sonnet xi by guido calvalcanti, t. Yeats and ford madox ford, and his slogan, make it new, encapsulates much of what modernist. Ezra pounds slogan was itself the product of historical recycling. Yet these three words did not appear in pound s work, it should be remembered, until 1928, well after the appearance of the major works of modernist art and literature, and the words did not become a slogan. American, european, and oriental history, both classic and modern. Ezra weston loomis pound hailey, idaho territory, united states, october 30, 1885 venice, italy, november 1, 1972 was an american expatriate poet, critic and intellectual who was a major figure of the modernist movement in the first half of the 20th century. Complete summary of ezra pounds personae and other poems. The poet wandering in the underworldthe only one alive in a world of the deadis a familiar theme in classical poetry.
I come to you as a grown child who has had a pigheaded father. For todays emerging poets, pound s exhortation to make it new has become a kind of whip, with stylistic originality becoming the test of a poets mettle. But in one of lifes little ironies, it turns out that this saying is actually very, very old. A draft of xxx cantos calendar of publication paris. Pdf the new ezra pound studies mark byron academia. Capturing and creating the modern, literature 19001950. Elliot, the seeing eye by ezra pound, the small dogs look at the big dogs leave a comment on make it new. Ezra pound 30 october 1885 1 november 1972 ezra weston loomis pound was an american expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry. Confucius at the apricot altar in ezra pounds canto xiii. Yet when ezra pound employed the phrase for the first time in 1928, modernisms major works had already appeared, and decades would pass before make it new gained significance and became a catchphrase and slogan. Eliot and james joyce, was friends with a number of leading modernist writers including w. A slightly abridged version of an article originally published on the occidental observer. Ezra pound, in full ezra loomis pound, born october 30, 1885, hailey, idaho, u. Pound s reading in various languages, from which one fragment after another is dragged to light, and illuminated by the beauty of his phrase.
Make it new refers to ezra pound s 18851972 modernist imperative and his 1934 collection of essays of the same name. Letters and essays by pound, ezra and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Make it new was not designed to replace paideuma, but rather supplement it with current information of interest. Pound s recent unfinished epic, three cantos of which appear in the american edition of lustra, proceeds by a very different method than that of joyce in ulysses. New directions has been the primary publisher of ezra pound in the u.
A retrospect there has been so much scribbling about a new fashion in poetry, that i may perhaps be pardoned this brief recapitulation and retrospect. While mapping the history of man, the cantos begin with an episode of homers odyssey, particularly the. Ezra pound 18851972 was a controversial but central figure in the history of modernist literature. The seafarer ezra pound translation of old english anglo. The new ezra pound studies edited by mark byron, university of sydney. Collection universallibrary contributor osmania university language. He grew up in pennsylvania and was educated at hamilton college and the university of pennsylvania, where he met william carlos williams and h. Ezra pound 18851972 was a worldrenown expatriate american poet who, when it came to writing, emphasized the importance of clarity, precision and, most of all, economy of language.
Pounds recent unfinished epic, three cantos of which appear in the american edition of lustra, proceeds by a very different method than that of joyce in ulysses. Here begins the great unwieldy poem, all light and mud, to which ezra pound devoted much of his life. Make it new this chapter is completely focused on the study of pound s translations. Five of ezra pound s best poems selected by dr oliver tearle. We have one sap and one root let there be commerce between us. He is a major figure in modernist literature that is, experimental literature written during the first part of the twentieth century, renowned for his remarkable knowledge of poetic forms, his experiments in style, and his interest in world literatures. Ranging through many languages, he chose for translation writers whose work marked a significant turning point in the development of world literature, or key poems which exemplify what is most vital in a given period or genre. Early in 1949, while under indictment for treason and hospitalized by court order at st. Ezra pound as translator michael alexander pound translated from nine european languages and four others, and from a wide chronological range within some languages, not counting sallies into remoter literatures. Ezra pound30 october 1885 1 november 1972 ezra weston loomis pound was an american expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry. Most of his readers are familiar with at least two versions of his metro poem. Make it new is the digital quarterly magazine of the ezra pound society. Make it new is the quarterly magazine of the ezra pound society it was created by roxana preda in the spring of 2014 and launched together with the website of the ezra pound society as a serial for scholars, students and fans of pound s poetry. Douglass idea of social credit, and that fascism was the vehicle for reform.
It was the work of a poet too ambitious, too afraid of being cramped, to work according to a plan. It was you that broke the new wood, now is a time for carving. The version printed later that year does indeed remove the conrad quotation, a decision which eliot apparently later regretted. Oct 03, 2012 a reading of the poetry of ezra pound. Radically new interpretations of writers, genres and literary periods have. Ezra pound was a cool dude with alot of poetry he had written. This slogan compels the writer to create out of the material of art work that is distinctively innovative. Ezra pounds third walking tour in southern france, by gordon mckechnie. I make a pact with you, walt whitman i have detested you long enough. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date from 1922 onwards. Ranging through many languages, he chose for translation writers whose work marked a significant turning point in the development of world literature, or key poems which exemplify what is. Ezra pound 18851972 is now recognised as the central figure of angloamerican modernism, the man who did most to shape the movement which in turn did most to shape the 20th century cultural landscape in the west. T s eliots the waste land is full of references to other literary. Poetry is the beginning and end of the cantosa poetic attitude towards experience, a way of listening.
Pavannes and divisions 1918, instigations 1920, how to read 1931, make it new 1934, and polite essays 1937. The making of make it new make it new is now such common shorthand for modernist novelty that it is easy to assume that it was always so. Pound chose a word in translation because of the history, culture, and tone we associated with it. The first edition of pound s work with any claim to completeness. Aug 15, 20 the making of make it new make it new is now such common shorthand for modernist novelty that it is easy to assume that it was always so.
Manuscript of t s eliots the waste land, with ezra pound. Cantos of ezra pound for the beginning of a poem of some length now first made into a book. Wilim yip, in his ezra pound s cathay, admitted, one can easily excommunicate pound from the forbidden city of chinese studies. Pound s short poem provides us with a solid example of how he took an ancient traditiontwo actuallyand made them into something yup new. Make it new is widely attributed to ezra pound and assumed to be the slogan he used to lead the charge for the modernist literary movement of which he was a champion.
Ezra pounds battle cry make it new influenced many young writers and poets of the early 1900s. Tenzone from photoportrait by alvin langdon coburn. The project gutenberg ebook of personae, by ezra pound. Yet these three words did not appear in pounds work, it should be remembered, until 1928, well after the appearance of the major works of modernist art and literature, and the words did not become a slogan. In recognition of his editorial work, he also included a dedication to ezra pound. Pound s subject matter and language university of arkansas, conference on literature and the humanities, spring 2010. Yet these three words did not appear in pound s work, it should be remembered, until 1928, well after the appearance of the major works of modernist art and literature, and the words did not become a slogan until some. The making of make it new guernica guernica magazine. The cantos by ezra pound is a long, incomplete poem in 116 sections, each of which is a canto. View make it new by ezra pound, on the british librarys website. The art of poetry, the tradition, and contemporaries.
Pound worked as a literary editor in london during the early 20th century, where he mentored and helped to promote now famous contemporaries of his, such as t. Yet, ultimately, new and experimental tell us little about the quality and character of an emerging writers work and the context in. Instead of a plan, pound devised new cantos out of his schemes to make. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, as exemplified by ezra pound s maxim to make it new. He was an early champion of a number of avantgarde and modernist poets. Ezra pound, first edition abebooks passion for books. Ezra pound is widely considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th century. That false logic has helped to destroy pounds literary legacy and make him academically disreputable.
Pounds reading in various languages, from which one fragment after another is dragged to light, and illuminated by the beauty of his phrase. Pound is particularly fascinated with the troubadours and poetry written in the provencal language. Ezra pound 18851972 is one of the most influential, and most controversial poets of the twentiethcentury. At the request of new directions, roxana assembled a board of scholars who agreed to supervise the project as a whole.
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