Certain Noble Plays of Japan

by Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound (1885 ù1972) was an American expatriate poet who was a major figure of the Modernist movement in the first half of the 20th century. After moving to London Pound became Yeats's secretary, and developed an interest in Yeats's occult beliefs. They lived together and studied Japanese especially the Noh plays. Pound translated Chinese, Greek, Latin and Japanese poetry into English. Certain Noble Plays of from the manuscripts of Ernest Fenollosa, chosen and finished by Ezra Pound was published in 1916. The introduction was written by Yeats. Plays included are Nishikigi by Motokiyo, Hagoromo, Kumasaka, and Kagekiyo.

Genres: Plays, The United States Of America, Japan

68 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet, critic and intellectual who was a major figure of the Modernist movement in early-to-mid 20th century poetry.

Pound's The Cantos contains music and bears a title that could be translated as The Songs—although it never is. Pound's ear was tuned to the motz et sons of troubadour poetry where, as musicologist John Stevens has noted, "melody and poem existed in a state of the closest symbiosis, obeying the same laws and striving in their different media for the same sound-ideal - armonia."

In his essays, Pound wrote of rhythm as "the hardest quality of a man's style to counterfeit." He challenged young poets to train their ear with translation work to learn how the choice of words and the movement of the words combined. But having translated texts from 10 different languages into English, Pound found that translation did not always serve the poetry: "The grand bogies for young men who want really to learn strophe writing are Catullus and François Villon. I personally have been reduced to setting them to music as I cannot translate them." While he habitually wrote out verse rhythms as musical lines, Pound did not set his own poetry to music.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally have a copy at hand, #61 of 350, which saw me through a long Faculty meeting today. First book publication of Ezra Pound's work with Ernest Fenollosa's Nō manuscripts, the 'Irish lilt' versions. Published late in 1916 at Yeats's request and with Pound's blessings by Yeats's sister's press in Dundrum. Includes Nishikigi, Hagoromo, Kumasaka, and Kagekiyo in versions which vary both from earlier periodical publications of 1914-15 and also the versions of 'Noh', or Accomplishment of 1917. Includes the first appearance of Yeats's Introduction to the plays, left out of 'Noh', which did not appear in a readily-available edition until New Directions revived it as an appendix to the 1959 Classic Noh Theatre of Japan . Something like bliss (for me) to hold and reread, even whilst competing with din into unneeded microphones in the background.

Beware of certain modern print-on-demand editions: the title is not Certain Moble Plays of Japan.