Pound for Pound: A Great Literary Form

Change is crucial to people. In some ways, change is what makes life a worthwhile journey, and in fact is often the reason for journeying at all. Some people wish to remain the same, but often become close-minded. Ezra Pound, an American poet born in Idaho, seemed to be a believer in this philosophy. He created a new kind of poetry initially called “imagism” which later evolved into “vorticism.” These poetry styles sought to state their messages clearly and (especially vorticism) administer moving, imaginative images to the reader. And I think that this desire to defy the norm (or at least, the ending result of perhaps inadvertently defying the norm) made Pound a very effective poet.

One does not have to read Pound’s poetry long to see manifestations of “vorticism:” the “principle of dynamism and energy” according to The Norton Anthology of American Literature. I note this because I feel that the effectiveness can be immediately experienced. What I particularly enjoyed was how some of his poetry mirrored the common “human eye” perspective that humans (or myself at least) use to perceive the world around them. By “human eye” I mean that sort of jerky, IMAGE, IMAGE, THOUGHT IMAGE way of processing the visible world around us. I muse that if one could remember all the things he thought as he walked from place to place, he would find his mind a richer place; simply because we forget many of the thoughts we have about the images that flash around us. We are observing and absorbing pieces of visual information all the time.

All this to say, I think Pound’s more visual poetry works because he realizes that a person does not sit upon a log and think of the grass underneath his feet in terms of what it could symbolically mean, or of how each blade goes this way and that. Now, this is not to say that people do not have those thoughts or that they have no worth. But those thoughts come after the initial recognition. And in many ways, this is what the goal of Pound’s poetry philosophy: present the initial message and create an image; impact comes after.

One of the best examples, I feel, can be found in Pound’s seventeenth Cantos. The whole poem is filled with vivid images. Here is a small example:

Flat water before me,

and the trees growing in water,

Marble trunks out of stillness,

On past the palazzo,

In the stillness,

The light now, not of the sun,

Chrysophrase,

And the water green clear, and the blue clear;

On to the great cliffs of amber.

Between them.

It seems as if Pound is scanning the area around him and naming what he sees (Whitman-esque but without cosmic conceptions of unity more coherency). Thus, the reader is able to feel that “presentness” of being there, without being there.

The other element of vorticism involves addressing issues in a very direct, basic way. His “Portait d’une Femme” and his forty-fifth Cantos display this trait prominently. In “Poartait d’une Femme,” Pound seems to be talking to an acquaintance with misplaced values (value in material goods) and he finally concludes:

These are your great riches, your great store…

No! there is nothing! In the whole and all,

Nothing that’s quite your own.

Yet this is you.

The hammer of accusation comes blazing down upon his guest, without which the “nail” of conviction would not be nearly as well administered. This is assuming that Pound is talking to the reader too, but the point remains: a direct message has been given. Throughout the entirety of his forty-fifth cantus he denounces the evils of “usury:” “lending money at interest” (p.1497). He mentions usura nearly fifteen times in the fifty line poem. There really is not much debate as to what he thinks about this “evil,” and indeed that would seem to be his aim. This does not mean that there is nothing to think about in this poem, but it presents clearly what the issue at hand is.

I think this bluntness is very beneficial to analyzing the work. Often literary folk spend hours pondering over what a certain line may mean in relation to socio-psycho-geo- political environments of the current era, or something like that. I poke fun at interpretation (which I do, in fact, give worth to), but different kinds of discussions can indeed be had when the proposed message is clearly stated and does not need to be wheedled out of a thicket of potentialities.

Modernism, which is a category I believe Pound as a poet would fall under, is something I sometimes have trouble appreciating. Occasionally, taking a traditional form and contorting it can result in a confusing or mangled outcome. Here, however, I feel that Pound’s messages and poetry are enhanced by the innovation they present. Simplicity and “human eye” reliability create a literary habitat for great reading. So, besides allegations of treason, I think it good that Mr. Pound didn't change a thing.