That difficult figure, Ezra Pound – (and, given his politics, that highly polarizing figure).
We discuss this, and much more on Pound, in our extensive birthday posting in 2021 –
(and also – see here)
& there’s plenty more Pound on The Allen Ginsberg Project worthy of perusal.
For example, see here, here, here, here, here, here and here
Allen’s extensive recollections and observations of him (from a visit in 1967) appeared in 2022’s The Fall of America Journals – see here
Michael Washburn writes here on Pound and Ginsberg – “Ezra Pound – Prototypical Beat?”
(and also, if you can find it!), see Alessandro Tessauro’s monograph (in Italian) – Pound Beat
R.O.Bletchman in the New York Times blithely cartoon-izes Pound’s tragic eclipse – “The Downfall of Ezra Pound” – “A poet who was undone by his own words”
Typically, Bletchman’s doodles elicited response from both sides of the fence:
“Ezra Pound was not betrayed by his words. He was a blatant antisemite, not just someone who used antisemitic language…His words did not betray him, his actions did.”
Then again:
“R.O Bletchman’s Sketchbook makes an absurd omission of the poetry for which Ezra Pound has been rightly recognized and celebrated for decades…Bletchman’s serve-him-right simplistic zeal betrays the complexities of the poet..”
We have no intention today, on Pound’s birthday, to disregard Pound’s extra-ordinary poetic achievement. On the contrary, we draw your attention to the rich array of materials (audio materials) made available on (one of our favorite sites) the incomparable PennSound.
“Only emotion endures” – Pound endures.
Good to note Allen’s visit to Rapallo, where he spent time with Pound; an important measure of the later Pound is found in Allen’s “Encounters with Ezra Pound: Journal Notes” in City Lights Anthology, ed. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. City Lights Books, 1974. In a discussion of poetics, Pound admitted “my worst mistake was the stupid suburban prejudice of anti-semitism.” Allen points out that Pound’s great accomplishment was “to make a working model of yr own mind . . . a working model all along, , with all the dramatic imperfections, fuck-ups. . . Pound repeats his “worst mistake” and Allen replies from I Ching, “No harm.” (pages 14-15).
See also (as noted in our post) – https://allenginsberg.org/2020/10/f-o-30-488/ – Allen and Pound and that singular encounter
Yes, that’s it. I wonder if it could be reposted in the current posting. THANKS! David
The link is there in the current posting, David, alongside many other links. We encourage our readers to go deeper via the links on The Allen Ginsberg Project – “Allen’s extensive recollections and observations of him (Pound) (from a visit in 1967) appeared in 2022’s The Fall of America Journals – see here” – see there