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Early Writings
Ezra Pound makes his Penguin Classics debut with this unique selection of his early poems and prose, edited with an introductory essay and notes by Pound expert Ira Nadel. The poetry includes such early masterpieces as “The Seafarer,” “Homage to Sextus Propertius,” “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,” and the first eight of Pound’s incomparable “Cantos.” The prose includes a series of articles and critical pieces, with essays on Imagism, Vorticism, Joyce, and the well-known “Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry.”
First time in Penguin Classics
Includes generous selections of Pound's poetry, as well as an assortment of prose
First time in Penguin Classics
Includes generous selections of Pound's poetry, as well as an assortment of prose
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
About the author
Ezra Pound
524 books1,033 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 6, 2018
“A man either is or is not a great poet, that is not within his control, it is the lightning from heaven, the “fire of the gods,” or whatever you chose to call it.”
Pound is a tremendously important literary figure from the 20th century and he certainly was a great poet. His own work helped to revolutionise poetry in the new age. He borrowed aspects from ancient Chinese and Japanese verse and infused it with own imagist principles to create a new style of poetry, a product of east meeting west, it’s poetry written in English but it depicts eastern content as well as mimicking its stylistic qualities.
Here’s the poem he is best known for:
The first time I saw this poem was during the first year of my English degree. I was baffled by it and came to the conclusion that because of its simplicity we cannot call it poetry. It’s easy to dismiss, and a few of Pound’s contemporary critics even slammed into it terribly. However, I think it’s a really significant piece of writing. I was, of course, very wrong the first time I read it.
Pound valued word economy. If a word did not add to the poem then it was superfluous, an unnecessary extension. He cut this poem down and edited it (it was originally 36 lines long) until he was left with the bare bones of the image he wanted to construct. And that’s the entire point of modernist poetry: the image. It’s poetry without narrative or any sense of authorial direction. It captures a moment in time free from metaphor or allegory. It is simple, precise but nevertheless pertinent; it is driven by aestheticism in its most clean and basic form. Take from it what you will.
This edition collects Pound’s earliest writing which is often his most experimental and also a little inconsistent. In some of the poems he has not quite discovered his voice and he is still learning his craft. His later pieces, and his Chinese collection Cathay, are amongst his best work along with The Cantos.
I will be reading and reviewing many of his works on here over the next year or so because I’m writing on him for my master’s dissertation. There’s a lot to say about his work and how influential it was on other writers. More Pound for me!
Pound is a tremendously important literary figure from the 20th century and he certainly was a great poet. His own work helped to revolutionise poetry in the new age. He borrowed aspects from ancient Chinese and Japanese verse and infused it with own imagist principles to create a new style of poetry, a product of east meeting west, it’s poetry written in English but it depicts eastern content as well as mimicking its stylistic qualities.
Here’s the poem he is best known for:
In a Station at the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
The first time I saw this poem was during the first year of my English degree. I was baffled by it and came to the conclusion that because of its simplicity we cannot call it poetry. It’s easy to dismiss, and a few of Pound’s contemporary critics even slammed into it terribly. However, I think it’s a really significant piece of writing. I was, of course, very wrong the first time I read it.
Pound valued word economy. If a word did not add to the poem then it was superfluous, an unnecessary extension. He cut this poem down and edited it (it was originally 36 lines long) until he was left with the bare bones of the image he wanted to construct. And that’s the entire point of modernist poetry: the image. It’s poetry without narrative or any sense of authorial direction. It captures a moment in time free from metaphor or allegory. It is simple, precise but nevertheless pertinent; it is driven by aestheticism in its most clean and basic form. Take from it what you will.
This edition collects Pound’s earliest writing which is often his most experimental and also a little inconsistent. In some of the poems he has not quite discovered his voice and he is still learning his craft. His later pieces, and his Chinese collection Cathay, are amongst his best work along with The Cantos.
I will be reading and reviewing many of his works on here over the next year or so because I’m writing on him for my master’s dissertation. There’s a lot to say about his work and how influential it was on other writers. More Pound for me!
February 8, 2017
Poetry is a sort of inspired mathematics, which gives us equations, not for abstract figures, triangles, squares, and the like, but for the human emotions. If one has a mind which inclines to magic rather than science, one will prefer to speak of these equations as spells or incantations; it sounds more arcane, mysterious, recondite.
Superb verse, the essays belie a certainty which made me recoil. Within the prose there is a dose as well of the overlap a la Slavoj: anecdotes are reused liberally in various pieces. Recommended.
Superb verse, the essays belie a certainty which made me recoil. Within the prose there is a dose as well of the overlap a la Slavoj: anecdotes are reused liberally in various pieces. Recommended.
May 8, 2018
I neither like nor hate Pound. I appreciate his prose far more than I do his poetry, but I adore listening to him read his own work out loud. If you haven't done this, please make your own day. Seriously, you're welcome.
As an English major, I somehow find ways to appreciate great works without actually enjoying them. I think it's just been pounded into my brain after one too many lit classes.
Pound is just not for me. I find him to be arrogant and I always feel it showing through in his works. He has a beautiful way with words, but it never clicks for me. Personally, I would prefer Baudelaire over Pound any day, but hey, to each it's own.
As an English major, I somehow find ways to appreciate great works without actually enjoying them. I think it's just been pounded into my brain after one too many lit classes.
Pound is just not for me. I find him to be arrogant and I always feel it showing through in his works. He has a beautiful way with words, but it never clicks for me. Personally, I would prefer Baudelaire over Pound any day, but hey, to each it's own.
September 3, 2020
Wonderful, illuminating and at times tiring, early writings of Ezra Pound is full of information. It is packed with meaning, from various schools and languages. I learned a lot; but through the end, I was a bit exhausted from the essays. Nevertheless, it was definitely worthwhile, and everyone should read it at some point in their lives.
February 22, 2024
never has a book of any kind caused me so much suffering as to conjure tears of joy as i close it for a final time. this took me almost four months to finish and i couldn’t recount a single thought that was expressed in this compilation. i must be irretrievably stupid or pound had a dictionary of pretentiousness open while he sat down to write these things. to put it simply: bro was yapping fr 😭😭💯 if i had ever had the unfortunate luck of being one of his acquaintances he’s the person that would make me skip out on events because he definitely cornered people at social events and conjured up conversation that would be so repulsively dull that the other party would have to fake a heart attack to get out of it. out of the entire 341 pages i probably completely understood less than 3, and the rest was just force feeding myself so i could donate this and never have to see this man EVER AGAIN.
January 21, 2025
I am homesick after mine own kind,
Oh I know that there are folk about me,
friendly faces,
But I am homesick after mine own kind.
Oh I know that there are folk about me,
friendly faces,
But I am homesick after mine own kind.
July 16, 2017
Pound is Pound; you can't argue with the Alps. But reader beware: the introductory essay isn't memorable or informative, downright sin when treating the man who wrote that "Gloom and solemnity are entirely out of place in even the most rigorous study of an art originally intended to make glad the heart of man." Even worse, though, is that the Kindle edition I read has no tags or index; there is no way to navigate this as an ebook besides flipping and searching.
(NB: most of these poems are available for free from Gutenberg)
(NB: most of these poems are available for free from Gutenberg)
September 16, 2018
ezra pound would be a redditor today
August 12, 2019
Dull and boring. Hard to understand.
Read
March 21, 2023he was very funny actually. and kinda insane too
August 6, 2012
When reading his poetry, one can clearly tell that Ezra Pound was an intellect with a mastery of the classics and a passion for intertextuality; in fact, a wealth of meaning for his poetry can be lost if the reader is not well versed in classic mythology themselves. The Penguin classics edition offers an appendix that is both comprehensive and crucial for the modern reader. In addition to a number of poems, this book provides several of Pound's essays, including those pertaining to his promotion of Imagism. Pound's fascination with Chinese poetry is also invigorating and stimulating to read. While it is a great compilation of poems and prose, Pound is not for the weak of heart.
October 20, 2011
i don't know, the good ones are really good, but the other ones are kind of like "what?". i probably didn't really understand them. if this book contained only the seafarer i probably would have given it 6 or 7 stars.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews