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Selected Prose 1909–1965
In making this selection, writes William Cookson in his introduction to this paperback edition of early and out-of-print writings, my aim has been to show the unity of Ezra Pound's concern. The sixty-six pieces in Pound's Selected Prose 1909-1965 are arranged thematically, and while they are organized chronologically within several groupings, there are natural cross-currents of thoughts among them. Particular emphasis, however, is given to the article concerned with Civilization, Money and History. This section contains such essential texts as the ABC of Economics and What is Money For? as well as two essays - Gold and Work and A Visiting Car - translated from Pound's Italian and never before published in English in their entirety. Much space is devoted, too, to Pound's evaluation of his native America, its history, culture, economy, and his 1913 essay, Patria Mia, is reprinted.
484 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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About the author
Ezra Pound
507 books1,015 followersEzra 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 21, 2020
Everything that Pound's written except for his italian essays, literary essays, musical essays, jefferson/and or Mussolini and Guide to Kulchur, good use of my time so far in terms of reading the Pound bibliography
September 12, 2021
A second rate sort of volume within the Pound oeuvre; could round out a fair Cantos-preparatory trilogy of Translations (mostly 1910s), Literary Essays (mostly 1920s), and then this one mostly written in the 1930s, each representing some facet of conceptual-literary development on Pound's end. Contained here are some essays on Confucius, poetic manifestos, and article reviews of poetry Victorian and Modernist, but which were heretofore uncollected probably for reason of their slightness and habit of recapitulating/precursing dully things Pound wrote more clearly in the aforementioned volumes (or the ABC of Reading, or The Guide To Kulchur).
Most of what's interesting here is a 250 page core where Pound gives in prose the political, cultural and above-all economical arguments structuring the main work of his Cantos. In the lengthy (and early) 'Patria Mia' he disfocusedly presents a picture of the pluralistical American fastidiousness, apparently discerned from Whitman and Emerson, in contrast to the hyper-connotated European 'geists' (or Paiduema, as he would eventually learn to call 'em). From there, we go into familiar themes in America, issues of credit centered around an unexpected obsession with Martin Van Buren, and his immense faith in the foresight and humanitarianism of the Jefferson-Adams letters. The economic writings follow, and reveal in more naked terms the fairly basic presumptions hammered-on throughout the Cantos - first, a discomfort with the idea of Credit and financial networks that he associates strongly with his Douglasite conviction as to the importance of art/culture works and durable production structures. From there, he takes up an interest in a lad named Gesell whose work suggests (to Pound) a bust to supposedly usurious credit-structures, by means of automatically depreciative currency, preventing money as a lasting ticket and emphasizing intelligent and durable spending. All of this appears to be the result of a mostly false and generally idiosyncratic misinterpretation of econ as a social science; his argumentation style even in his most definitively-intended works resembles to an almost perfect degree the schizophrenic free-association that he brought to a point in the Pisan Cantos, an endless quantity of pithy quotations given without context or ellaboration, and often without any immediately apparent connection. It's a bit unfortunate to read these, since the effort here really is more artistic than anything, an effort to create something of a symphonic tone-poem out of these ideas which he connects to an existential importance, and his initial motivations (attempting to find ideal circumstances in which artists may work, as well as a general humanitarian advocacy) get smothered in the obsessive compulsions that come to dominate these works, and indeed much of this is almost like a building plot of distorted ideals until he got to the point where he was unironically, unqualifyingly quoting Mein Kampf and singing religious hymns to 'Il Duce'.
The reading is interesting in that way, anyways, although Pound's economics are (bon gré mal gré) of little interest outside of a Cantos-studying context (except maybe for some branches of History of Econ?); a volume best and perhaps only for the consideration of one trying to dissect the conceptual cross-section of socio-political and philosophico-literary elements of The Cantos ...
Most of what's interesting here is a 250 page core where Pound gives in prose the political, cultural and above-all economical arguments structuring the main work of his Cantos. In the lengthy (and early) 'Patria Mia' he disfocusedly presents a picture of the pluralistical American fastidiousness, apparently discerned from Whitman and Emerson, in contrast to the hyper-connotated European 'geists' (or Paiduema, as he would eventually learn to call 'em). From there, we go into familiar themes in America, issues of credit centered around an unexpected obsession with Martin Van Buren, and his immense faith in the foresight and humanitarianism of the Jefferson-Adams letters. The economic writings follow, and reveal in more naked terms the fairly basic presumptions hammered-on throughout the Cantos - first, a discomfort with the idea of Credit and financial networks that he associates strongly with his Douglasite conviction as to the importance of art/culture works and durable production structures. From there, he takes up an interest in a lad named Gesell whose work suggests (to Pound) a bust to supposedly usurious credit-structures, by means of automatically depreciative currency, preventing money as a lasting ticket and emphasizing intelligent and durable spending. All of this appears to be the result of a mostly false and generally idiosyncratic misinterpretation of econ as a social science; his argumentation style even in his most definitively-intended works resembles to an almost perfect degree the schizophrenic free-association that he brought to a point in the Pisan Cantos, an endless quantity of pithy quotations given without context or ellaboration, and often without any immediately apparent connection. It's a bit unfortunate to read these, since the effort here really is more artistic than anything, an effort to create something of a symphonic tone-poem out of these ideas which he connects to an existential importance, and his initial motivations (attempting to find ideal circumstances in which artists may work, as well as a general humanitarian advocacy) get smothered in the obsessive compulsions that come to dominate these works, and indeed much of this is almost like a building plot of distorted ideals until he got to the point where he was unironically, unqualifyingly quoting Mein Kampf and singing religious hymns to 'Il Duce'.
The reading is interesting in that way, anyways, although Pound's economics are (bon gré mal gré) of little interest outside of a Cantos-studying context (except maybe for some branches of History of Econ?); a volume best and perhaps only for the consideration of one trying to dissect the conceptual cross-section of socio-political and philosophico-literary elements of The Cantos ...
August 23, 2025
"To scrape from the bottom of the cracker barrel is a mean task and Mr. Cookson {Editor} has made the best of it". Ezra Pound, Preface to SELECTED PROSE. Pound's mind was always working. His achievements were as monumental as his errors. His prose pieces, from the time he arrived in London until the "great silence" that befell him after 1965, address his twin concerns, and one might say obsessions, American culture and economics. Pound felt his native country had back slided since the early nineteenth century when "the money interests took over" the government. His blast in this volume is "And the Constitution in danger!". Bad government produced bad schooling, "teaching at Harvard? it cannot be done!" and a sterile literature. His economic pamphlets, ABC OF ECONOMICS, WHAT IS MONEY FOR? try to steer America back to a currency based on production, not speculation, and his cultural polemics, IMMEDIATE NEED OF CONFUCIUS, I GATHER THE LIMBS OF OSIRIS, hint at a new American civilization that draws strength from Greece and ancient China. Agree, disagree, these thoughts are still vital to understand where America went wrong and what may guide it right.
January 19, 2024
Und du denkst dass, ich fertig war?
Durch die schreiben darüber den nachdem erste Weltkriegs Zeit, Pound hat ihm bekennt er war ein Faschist. Fur die 10 bis 15 (ich erinnere mich nicht) Jahren dass, Pound geschrieben hat, dort war eine Idee für viele Leute drin Europa und die ganzen Westen: etwas ist schief gelaufen und dort war einer materialistisch Grund.
Obwohl man war Fabian oder liberal der Konsens war eine kleiner Gruppe von Geschäftsleute hat Europa und Amerika erfassen mit Finanz, Manipulation, und besonders Wucher.
Wucher ist central. Wucher ist die großest böse die 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts haben gefördert. Muss ein Man wird bestraft für diesen Abschluss? Wirklich?
Durch die schreiben darüber den nachdem erste Weltkriegs Zeit, Pound hat ihm bekennt er war ein Faschist. Fur die 10 bis 15 (ich erinnere mich nicht) Jahren dass, Pound geschrieben hat, dort war eine Idee für viele Leute drin Europa und die ganzen Westen: etwas ist schief gelaufen und dort war einer materialistisch Grund.
Obwohl man war Fabian oder liberal der Konsens war eine kleiner Gruppe von Geschäftsleute hat Europa und Amerika erfassen mit Finanz, Manipulation, und besonders Wucher.
Wucher ist central. Wucher ist die großest böse die 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts haben gefördert. Muss ein Man wird bestraft für diesen Abschluss? Wirklich?
July 29, 2019
An important writer? Perhaps in context. A good writer? No.
September 20, 2025
This book left an impression. Pound is nothing if not convicted and enthusiastic, particularly about modern poetry, American letters, and the injustice of modern economics, and, indeed, he re-awoke in me to search for all these. Indeed, after reading this, I started reading and enjoying the poetry of Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, and Richard Wilbur; the Jefferson-Adams Correspondence, Henry Adams history of the administration of Jefferson and Madison; and the economic histories of Murray Rothbard. He made me consider reading Henry James as well. For all this, I am exceedingly grateful.
However, while the work encouraged me to read such works, I have to say the articles themselves were a bit lacking. They rambled and occasionally trumpeted a good phrase or exclamation, but nothing I really found worth preserving to revisit later.
I read this in part to prepare me to read Pound’s Cantos. I plan on returning to this o finish some articles and then moving on to other recommendations of the editor: the Personae poems, the translations of Confucius, the Literary Essays, The Spirit of Romance and the Guide to Kulchur. I look forward to reading some of these next.
However, while the work encouraged me to read such works, I have to say the articles themselves were a bit lacking. They rambled and occasionally trumpeted a good phrase or exclamation, but nothing I really found worth preserving to revisit later.
I read this in part to prepare me to read Pound’s Cantos. I plan on returning to this o finish some articles and then moving on to other recommendations of the editor: the Personae poems, the translations of Confucius, the Literary Essays, The Spirit of Romance and the Guide to Kulchur. I look forward to reading some of these next.
October 25, 2015
I read this book early in my explorations of fascist history and theory, mainly because I had heard that Pound did propaganda broadcasts for the Italians during World War II. The book wasn’t a very good starting-point for such studies, although there are some very interesting contributions to economic radicalism (more on this later), and other indications of how Pound became outside of the Anglo-American mainstream after the First World War. The main impression I remember taking away from it, lo these many years ago, was that Pound was from an era when “educated” people could read Greek and Latin as a matter of course.
That wasn’t quite true, and it is a good example of the dangers of using isolated sources to draw conclusions about history in general. Pound certainly knew those languages (plus French and Italian and possibly a couple of others), but he didn’t necessarily represent the “average” educated English-speaker of his day. He used his knowledge of them, in fact, as a kind of call to authority, demonstrating himself above the level of most of his readers, and hoping that they would acknowledge his superiority by agreeing with his arguments. This attitude permeates his writing, and I suspect that people who did agree with him on most any subject did so in the hopes of proving themselves (at least to themselves) worthy of being part of the “elite” Pound represented.
The editor seems to have been more interested in finding out how Pound’s prose illuminates his poetry, which makes his comments to this book near useless to anyone not familiar with the poems he cites. Since Pound as a poet is far more acceptable and known than Pound the economic reformist, however, this may have been the sensible strategy in terms of selling the book.
Pound was alive when this was first published, and contributes a brief “forward” (less than one page) in which he distances himself from racism, anti-Semitism, and some of the worse elements of the philosophy he was imprisoned for supporting. It comes across as a fairly sincere example of a smart but passionate man who had learned from his mistakes. It might have been more interesting had he written a longer contribution to the book from this period, regarding what he had learned and how, but this did not happen.
Pound’s biggest economic concern is “usury” (which he would correct per his Foreword to “avarice”). His solution is to create currency that cannot be horded because it automatically depreciates. In other words, if you have a dollar in your pocket that was printed this year, it is worth $1. A dollar printed five years earlier might only be worth 95 cents, or less. Really old cash would be nearly worthless. The longer you keep the money, the less valuable it becomes, hence you must spend it. This keeps it from piling up in one person’s possession and keeps it circulating, stimulating a growth economy. It also makes it very hard to loan at interest, because it is hard to have enough valuable money at one time to make it possible, and because the devaluation already implies a kind of “negative interest” from the borrower’s point of view. Interest, of course, is the source of the usury he wants to get rid of, although no fascist government ever took realistic steps to prevent it.
There are a lot of other topics covered in this book, including other poets such as TS Eliot, Chinese philosophy, especially Confucanism, educational systems and their weaknesses, and the state of American democracy, but I don’t remember them with enough clarity to go into detail. Pound was a smart man who read a lot, and also given to holding opinions on just about everything he knew about. Still, I’d recommend this book mostly to people who already have read his poetry and one or two biographies of Pound, and want to get to the source material, not to people who just have a passing interest in him or the subjects he discusses.
That wasn’t quite true, and it is a good example of the dangers of using isolated sources to draw conclusions about history in general. Pound certainly knew those languages (plus French and Italian and possibly a couple of others), but he didn’t necessarily represent the “average” educated English-speaker of his day. He used his knowledge of them, in fact, as a kind of call to authority, demonstrating himself above the level of most of his readers, and hoping that they would acknowledge his superiority by agreeing with his arguments. This attitude permeates his writing, and I suspect that people who did agree with him on most any subject did so in the hopes of proving themselves (at least to themselves) worthy of being part of the “elite” Pound represented.
The editor seems to have been more interested in finding out how Pound’s prose illuminates his poetry, which makes his comments to this book near useless to anyone not familiar with the poems he cites. Since Pound as a poet is far more acceptable and known than Pound the economic reformist, however, this may have been the sensible strategy in terms of selling the book.
Pound was alive when this was first published, and contributes a brief “forward” (less than one page) in which he distances himself from racism, anti-Semitism, and some of the worse elements of the philosophy he was imprisoned for supporting. It comes across as a fairly sincere example of a smart but passionate man who had learned from his mistakes. It might have been more interesting had he written a longer contribution to the book from this period, regarding what he had learned and how, but this did not happen.
Pound’s biggest economic concern is “usury” (which he would correct per his Foreword to “avarice”). His solution is to create currency that cannot be horded because it automatically depreciates. In other words, if you have a dollar in your pocket that was printed this year, it is worth $1. A dollar printed five years earlier might only be worth 95 cents, or less. Really old cash would be nearly worthless. The longer you keep the money, the less valuable it becomes, hence you must spend it. This keeps it from piling up in one person’s possession and keeps it circulating, stimulating a growth economy. It also makes it very hard to loan at interest, because it is hard to have enough valuable money at one time to make it possible, and because the devaluation already implies a kind of “negative interest” from the borrower’s point of view. Interest, of course, is the source of the usury he wants to get rid of, although no fascist government ever took realistic steps to prevent it.
There are a lot of other topics covered in this book, including other poets such as TS Eliot, Chinese philosophy, especially Confucanism, educational systems and their weaknesses, and the state of American democracy, but I don’t remember them with enough clarity to go into detail. Pound was a smart man who read a lot, and also given to holding opinions on just about everything he knew about. Still, I’d recommend this book mostly to people who already have read his poetry and one or two biographies of Pound, and want to get to the source material, not to people who just have a passing interest in him or the subjects he discusses.
September 28, 2012
What an arrogant bastard. Brilliant but long winded. Interesting to read from a historical perspective though.
Want to read
August 15, 2014For the essay "Patrie Mia"
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews