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A Preface to Ezra Pound
About This Book
Provides an introduction to the life and works of Ezra Pound, a major modernist poet, theorist and literary critic. Throughout his life Pound was regarded by many to be a contentious and controversial figure, and since his death in 1972, theoretical, literary, political and biographical comentators have done much to perpetuate this view. Peter Wilson's survey, however, presents a balanced view of his life and work allowing the reader to judge for themselves. The major sections of the book offer introductions to the complex life and work of Pound, outlining the various cultural, political and literary issues which are important to a full understanding of his place in twentieth century English literature. Critical commentaries are then given on all of Pound's major poetry, adopting some analytical techniques from stylistics. Brief biographies of important figures in Pound's career, and in the development of literary modernism are provided. A gazeteer, glossary, and suggestions for further reading complete the book.
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Part One
The Writer and his Setting
POUNDâS LIFE | OTHER EVENTS | |
1885 | Born 30 October in Hailey, Idaho. | D.H. Lawrence born. |
1887 | Alfred Krupp, German industrialist and arms manufacturer, dies. | |
1888 | T.S. Eliot born. | |
1889 | Robert Browning dies. Adolf Hitler born. | |
1890 | Idaho becomes a state of the United States. | |
1892 | Family finally settled in Wyncote, a suburb of Philadelphia. | Walt Whitman dies. Alfred Lord Tennyson dies. |
1894 | Aubrey Beardsleyâs drawings for Oscar Wildeâs Salome. | |
1895 | W.B. Yeatsâs Poems published. | |
1898 | First European tour, visiting London, Paris and Venice. | Ernest Hemingway born. Paris Metro opened. |
1900 | The Wallace Collection opened in London. John Ruskin dies. | |
1901â06 | Student at University of Pennsylvania and Hamilton College: B Phil and MA degrees. | |
1901 | Wigmore Hall opened in London. | |
1902 | Begins lifelong friendship with William Carlos Williams. | |
1902 and 1906 | Further visits to Europe, including London, Venice, Spain and Paris. | |
1903 | Henry Jamesâs The Ambassadors published. James Whistler dies. | |
1905 | F.T. Marinettiâs Futurist Manifesto published. Jacob Epstein settles in London. | |
1905â07 | Intensely romantic friendship with Hilda Doolittle, writes the poems collected in Hildaâs Book. | |
1907 | Teaching post at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, terminated because of a minor âscandalâ. | |
1908 | Leaves for Europe. William Brooke Smith, Poundâs âfirst friendâ, dies, aged 25. A Lume Spento published in Venice. Settles in London. | Lord Northcliffe buys The Times newspaper. |
1909 | Meets and begins literary associations with W.B. Yeats, Ford | A.C. Swinburne dies. Wassily Kandinsky paints first abstract paintings. |
Madox Ford and Wyndham Lewis. Personae and Exultations published. | ||
1910 | The Spirit of Romance published. | H.G. Wellsâs The History of Mr Polly published. The first Post-Impressionist Exhibition is mounted in London. |
1911 | Canzoni published. | Marie Curie wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry. |
1912 | Influenced by T.E. Hulme. First reference to âImagistesâ in Ripostes. | Woodrow Wilson wins US presidential election. Amy Lowellâs A Dome of Many-Colored Glass published. |
1913 | Poems by âH.D. Imagisteâ first appear in Poetry. Begins friendship and artistic association with Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. | Suffragette demonstrations in London: Mrs Pankhurst imprisoned. Rabindranath Tagore wins Nobel Prize for Literature. John D. Rockefeller founds the Rockefeller Institute. |
1913â16 | Spends three consecutive winters at Stone Cottage with Yeats, working on Fenollosa manuscripts, Japanese Noh plays and the early cantos. | |
1914 | The first imagist anthology, Des Imagistes, published. Marries Dorothy Shakespeare. Meets and begins literary association with | James Joyceâs Dubliners published. Outbreak of First World War. |
T.S. Eliot. Vorticism and the first issue of Blast. Promotes the serialization of Joyceâs A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in The Egoist. | ||
1915 | Cathay published. | Henri Gaudier-Brzeska killed in the trenches. |
1916 | Lustra published. | James Joyceâs A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man published. Henry James dies. |
1917 | Three Cantos published. | America enters the war against Germany. The Russian Revolution takes place. T.S. Eliotâs Prufrock and Other Observations published. T.E. Hulme killed at the front. |
1918 | Promotes the serialization of Joyceâs Ulysses in the Little Review. | Women over 30 get the vote in Britain. Rebecca Westâs The Return of the Soldier published. Wyndham Lewisâs Tarr published. Armistice between Allies and Germany ends First World War. Claude Debussy dies. |
1919 | Homage to Sextus Propertius published in full. Discovers the economic theories of Major C.H. Douglas. | Benito Mussolini founds Italian Fascist Party. Thomas Hardyâs Collected Poems published. Treaty of Versailles signed. |
1920 | Hugh Selwyn Mauberley published. Meets Joyce for the first time. | |
Leaves London for good. | ||
1921 | Settles in Paris. Writes an opera, Le Testament de Villon. Musical association with American composer, George Antheil. | |
1922 | Helps to raise money for the first publication of Ulysses in book form. Gives Eliot substantial editorial help with the manuscript of The Waste Land. | Mussolini marches on Rome and forms fascist government in Italy. Eliotâs The Waste Land published. Joyceâs Ulysses published. Marcel Proust dies. |
1923 | Begins a lifelong relationship with the violinist Olga Rudge. | Yeats wins Nobel Prize for Literature. Katherine Mansfield dies. |
1924 | Lenin dies. Sigmund Freudâs Collected Writings published. | |
1924â25 | Moves to Italy and eventually settles in Rapallo. | |
1925 | A Draft of XVI Cantos published. Mary, daughter of Pound and Olga Rudge, born. | Hitlerâs Mein Kampf published. Amy Lowell dies. |
1926 | Omar, son of Dorothy Pound, born. Personae: The Collected Poems of Ezra Pound published. | General Strike followed by minersâ strike in Britain. |
1926 onwards | The âEzuversityâ at Rapallo: new literary associations with Basil | |
Bunting, Louis Zukofsky, James Laughlin and others. | ||
1928 | Poundâs parents, Homer and Isabel, settle in Rapallo. | Thomas Hardy dies. Lawrenceâs Lady Chatterleyâs Lover published. Virginia Woolfâs Orlando published. Mussoliniâs My Autobiography published. |
1929 | George Antheilâs opera Transatlantic first performed. Hemingwayâs A Farewell to Arms published. | |
1930 | A Draft of XXX Cantos published. | |
1932 | Major work on Cavalcanti, resulting in the publication of Guido Cavalcanti Rime. | |
1933 | Audience with Mussolini. ABC of Economics published. Begins innovative series of yearly musical concerts in Rapallo. | Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany. Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president of the USA. Gertrude Steinâs The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas published. |
1934 | Eleven New Cantos XXXIâXLI, Make It New and ABC of Reading published. | |
1935 | Jefferson and/or Mussolini published. | Italy invades Abyssinia. |
1936 | Outbreak of Spanish Civil War. | |
1937 | The Fifth Decad of Cantos published. | Pablo Picassoâs Guernica exhibited in Paris. Maurice Ravel dies. |
1938 | Guide to Kulchur published. | |
1939 | Visits America to promote economic theories and prevent American involvement in a future European war. | Joyceâs Finnegans Wake published. Yeats dies. Freud dies. Outbreak of Second World War. |
1940 | Cantos LIIâLXXI published. | Winston Churchill becomes British prime minister. F.D. Roosevelt elected president of the US for a third term. Italy declares war on the Allies. |
1941 | Begins to broadcast on Rome Radio. | Germany invades the Soviet Union. Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and America enters the war against the Axis powers. James Joyce dies. Virginia Woolf dies. |
1942 | Homer Pound dies. | |
1943 | Indicted for treason by the United States government for broadcasting what is judged to be Axis propaganda. | Mussolini overthrown. Italy surrenders and declares war on Germany. Eliotâs Four Quartets published in full. |
1944 | Wartime circumstances force Pound, Dorothy and Olga to live together in SantâAmbrogio, above Rapallo. | |
1945 | Arrested by Italian partisans and transferred to Detention Training Centre, Pisa. Writes Pisan Cantos. Flown to Washington for trial, but found unfit to stand on grounds of insanity. Begins confinement in St Elizabethâs Hospital for the insane. | Mussolini executed. F.D. Roosevelt dies. Second World War ends with the surrender of Germany and Japan. |
1946 | Charles Olson becomes the first of many regular visitors Pound has throughout his incarceration. | H.D.âs Trilogy published. |
1948 | Isabel Pound dies. The Pisan Cantos finally published. | T.S. Eliot wins Nobel Prize for Literature. |
1949 | Awarded the Bollingen Prize for the Pisan Cantos. | |
1951 | Marianne Mooreâs Collected Poems wins the Pulitzer Prize. | |
1954 | The Classic Anthology defined by Confucius and The Women of Trachis published. | Ernest Hemingway wins the Nobel Prize for Literature. |
1955 | Section: Rock-Drill de los cantares published. | |
1956 | Allen Ginsbergâs Howl published. | |
1957 | Wyndham Lewis dies. | |
1958 | Indictment for treason dismissed, thirteen years after his first imprisonment in Pisa. Returns to Italy, initially to live with his daughter. | |
1959 | Thrones de los cantares XCVIâCIX published. | Jacob Epstein dies. |
1959â62 | A period of restlessness, domestic tension and illness at the end of which he begins to live with Olga Rudge for the rest of his life. | |
1961 | Ernest Hemingway dies. | |
1963 | William Carlos Williams dies. | |
1964 | Hemingwayâs A Moveable Feast published posthumously. | |
1965 | Visits London for Eliotâs memorial service and Dublin to see Yeatsâs widow. | T.S. Eliot dies. Winston Churchill dies. |
1967 | Visits Joyceâs grave in ZĂźrich. | |
1969 | Drafts and Fragments of Cantos CXâCXVII published. Visits America for the last time. | |
1971 | Mary de Rachewiltzâs Discretions published. | |
1972 | Dies in Venice on 1 November. |
1 Biographical background
âA man on whom the sun has gone downâ
âBom in a half savage countryâ
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part One: The Writer and his Setting
- Part Two: Critical Survey
- Part Three: Reference Section
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- Index