Motive and Method in the Cantos of Ezra Pound

by Lewis Gaston Leary

MOTIVE AND METHOD IN THE CANTOS OF EZRA POUND, EDITED BY LEWIS LEARY, 1954 EDITION, COLLECTIBLE BOOKS.

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Mat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb little book which provides an excellent introduction to anyone new to Ezra Pound's work, including myself. It contains four essays, many of them based on lectures or talks that were originally given, and the topic of each essay focuses on a different major theme in Pound's grand masterpiece, The Cantos. Hugh Kenner's opening essay is absolutely superb; if only all literary critics wrote like him, a lot more criticism would be so much more enjoyable to read.
The essays focus on Ovid's Metamorphosis and its influence on Pound (especially Arthur Golding's beautiful but liberal translation of it), Homer and The Odyssey, especially how Pound sees himself as a 20th-Century Odysseus, and the influence of the German anthropologist Leo Frobenius, and more. All of these are different aspects or 'keys' which need to be absorbed in order to turn the many locks to open up all the complex doors behind which lies the real Ezra Pound.
This should be considered as a type of primer or introduction to The Cantos so I recommend reading this first before diving into the difficult, but immensely rewarding, poems.