Lustra

by Ezra Pound

A collection of early poems by Ezra Pound which originally appeared in Smart Set, Blast, and Poetry. Included in this volume are such poems as Les Millwin, Exile's Letter, The Bellaires, Villanelle: the Psychological Hour, The Social Order, Near Perigord, To a Friend Writing on Cabaret Dancers and many others.

Genres: Poetry

126 pages, Library Binding

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

[Sweet Jane]

"Σ΄ένα σταθμό του μετρό
Τ΄όραμα εκείνων των προσώπων μες στο πλήθος
Πέταλα σε υγρό, σκούρο κλονάρι"

[d]

(From Rihaku)
FOUR POEMS OF DEPARTURE

Light rain is on the light dust
The willows of the inn-yard
Will be going greener and greener,
But you, Sir, had better take wine ere your departure.
For you will have no friends about you
When you come to the gates of Go.



Separation on the River Kiang

Ko-jin goes west from Ko-kaku-ro,
The smoke-flowers are blurred over the river.
His lone sail blots the far sky.
And now I see only the river,
The long Kiang, reaching heaven.




Taking Leave of a Friend

Blue mountains to the north of the walls,
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.
Mind like a floating wide cloud.
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each other
as we are departing.





Leave-taking near Shoku
("Sanso, King of Shoku, built roads.")

They say the roads of Sanso are steep,
Sheer as the mountains.
The walls rise in a man's face,
Clouds grow out of the hill
at his horse's bridle.
Sweet trees are on the paved way of the Shin,
Their trunks burst through the paving,
And freshets are bursting their ice
in the midst of Shoku, a proud city.

Men's fates are already set,
There is no need of asking diviners.




The City of Choan

The phœnix are at play on their terrace.
The phœnix are gone, the river flows on alone.
Flowers and grass
Cover over the dark path
where lay the dynastic house of the Go.
The bright cloths and bright caps of Shin
Are now the base of old hills.

The Three Mountains fall through the far heaven,
The isle of White Heron
splits the two streams apart.
Now the high clouds cover the sun
And I can not see Choan afar
And I am sad.

[trestitia ⵊⵊⵊ deamorski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ben ergenliğimde soyut sanatı çok severdim; özellikle sub -ism'lerinin hikayesini, manifestolarını ve teknik ile ürün arasındaki bağlantıyı ve süreci öğrenmeyi çok severdim.

Ama gördüğünüz gibi bilinen geçmiş zamandayız artık [pun intended]. Bugün en sevdiğim şey ortamlarda Picasso boklamaktır.

Cathay'i de okuduğumda aynı şeyi hissetmiştim. Ortada bir çaba var, amaç var, tavır var ama ulaştığımız nedir? Şüphesiz Pound modern şiirde pek çok kişinin kafasını açmıştır; fakat şiir dediğin şey (buna geri kafalı okuyuculuk da denilebilir) bana geçmeyecekse, işin hamurunu öğrenmeden içiniz mayalanmıyorsa ben ne anladım şiirden? {bak bak laflara bak}

"Vazife" çok güzel bir şiir. Gerisi 'inşaa't tozu.

Çevirmen ve editör Elyesa Koytak'ın takdimi ve notları yeterli. Daha iyisi varken çok bir şey yazmayacağım o yüzden.

Tavsiyem, önce ingilizcesini, ardından türkçesini okumanız. Kitabı internet archive'den çeşitli baskılarıyla bulabilirsiniz.

Pound'a soyut şair demedim, yanlış anlaşılmasın. Modern sanatların 'sürdürülemez'liği sadece
;;;
deamorski

[Ant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Βγείτε αψηφώντας την κοινή γνώμη,
Εναντιωθείτε στην χλιαρή δουλεία του αίματος.
Εναντιωθείτε σε καθε είδους εξουσία.

[Rob Woodard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good volume of Pound's early work (see my review of Personae for more detail on this era of his work). Very interesting in that it shows how indebted to Whitman he was in certain ways. Worth reading for Pound fans for sure and perhaps for those who haven't but are interested in testing his very complex waters.

By the way, this book is way out of print and hard to find; I scored a copy from the main Long Beach public library.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

he's not such a shit in this book. it's actually kinda pretty.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este es un libro precioso, de lo más variado y curioso -
Pound indaga en variadas culturas y lenguas, provenzal, chino, japonés, latín, griego, español, etc
y crea una sintesis -o un diálogo?- con la cultura occidental y la situación de su tiempo de la poesía.
En cuanto a forma no hay nada definido, hay poemas breves y extensos, poemas formales y poemas abiertos, traducciones, reescrituras, y en fin, es una bella muestra de la poesía moderna, pero más que nada es la sed de una persona que desea conocer lo que hay más allá de sus fronteras, y que tras emprender un largo viaje, comparte gentilmente los frutos con su tribu.

[Searchingthemeaningoflife Greece · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ortus"

Πόσο πολύ ἀγωνίστηκα;

Πόσο δέν ἀγωνίστηκα

Να γεννηθεῖ ἡ ψυχή της,

Να δώσω στα στοιχεῖα αὐτά ἕνα ὄνομα, ἕνα πυρήνα!

Εἶναι ὄμορφη σαν ἡλιοφῶς καί σάν ἀβεβαιότητα.

Δέν ἔχει ὄνομα, οὔτε χῶρο.

Πόσο πολύ ἀγωνίστηκα να διαχωρίσω την ψυχή της

Μιά ὑπόσταση κι ἕνα ὄνομα να τῆς χαρίσω!

Εἶσαι δεμένη σίγουρα, κι αχώριστα πλεγμένη,

Ένα, μέ κάποια αγέννητα στοιχεῖα·

Ἔχω ἀγαπήσει μιά σκιά, ἕνα ποτάμι.

Σέ ἱκετεύω νά ὀρθωθεῖς μές στη ζωή σου.

Να μάθεις πῶς νά λές «εγώ», σέ ἱκετεύω,

Σάν σε ρωτῶ.

Γιατί δέν εἶσ᾽ ἕνα κομμάτι, αλλά σύνολο,

Δέν εἶσαι ἕνα μέρος αλλά ὕπαρξη.

 

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

DEFINITION: LUSTRUM: an offering for the sins of the whole people, made by the censors at the expiration of their five years of office, etc.
Elementary Latin Dictionary of Charlton T. Lewis


And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass.


LES MILLWIN

The little Millwins attend the Russian Ballet.
The mauve and greenish souls of the little Millwins
Were seen lying along the upper seats
Like so many unused boas.

The turbulent and undisciplined host of art students-
The rigorous deputation from ‘Slade’-
Was before them.

With arms exalted, with fore-arms
Crossed in great futuristic X's, the art students
Exulted, they beheld the splendours of Cleopatra

And the little Millwins beheld these things;
With their large and anaemic eyes they looked out upon
this configuration.

Let us therefore mention the fact,
For it seems to us worthy of record.


THE BELLAIRES
Aus meinen grossen Schmerzen
Mach‘ ich die kleinen Lieder

The good Bellaires
Do not understand the conduct of this world’s affairs.
In fact they understood them so badly
That they have had to cross the Channel.
Nine lawyers, four counsels, five judges, and three proctors of the King,
Together with the respective wives, husbands, sisters and heterogeneous connections of the good Bellaires
Met to discuss their affairs;
But the good Bellaires have so little understood their affairs
The now there is no one at all
Who can understand any affair of theirs. Yet
Fourteen hunters still eat in the stable of
The good Squire Bellaire;
But these may not suffer attainder,
For they may not belong to the good Squire Bellaire
But to his wife.
On the contrary, if they do not belong to his wife,
He will plead
A “freedom from attainder”
For twelve horses and also twelve boarhounds
From Charles the Fourth;
And a further freedom for the remainder
Of horses, from Henry the Fourth.
But the judges,
Being free of mediaeval scholarship,
Will pay no attention to this,
And there will be only the more confusion,
Replevin, estoppel, espavin and what not.

Nine lawyers, four counsels, etc.,
Met to discuss their affairs,
But the sole result was bills
From lawyers to whom no one was indebted,
And even the lawyers
Were uncertain who was supposed to be indebted to them.

Wherefore the good Squire Bellaire
Resides now at Agde and Biaucaire.
To Carcassonne, Pui, and Alais
He fareth from day to day,
Or takes the sea air
Between Marseilles
And Beziers.
And for all this I have considerable regret,
For the good Bellaires
Are very charming people.


THE SOCIAL ORDER

I
This government official
Whose wife is several years his senior,
Has such a caressing air
When he shakes hands with young ladies.

II
(Pompes Funèbres)

This old lady,
Who was fcso old that she was an atheist',
Is now surrounded
By six candles and a crucifix,
While the second wife of a nephew
Makes hay with the things in her house.
Her two cats
Go before her into Avernus;
A sort of chloroformed suttee,
And it is to be hoped that their spirits will walk
With their tails up,
And with a plaintive, gentle mewing,
For it is certain that she has left on this earth
No sound
Save a squabble of female connections

[Táda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems that are hard to love. Few of them are brilliant:

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd ;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

But most of them are just "good" like this one:

Arides

The bashful Arides
Has married an ugly wife,
He was bored with his manner of life,
Indifferent and discouraged he thought he might as
Well do this as anything else.

Saying withing his heart, "I am no use to myself,
Let her, if she wants me, take me."
He went to his doom.

It a fine poem I suppose. The contrast between the mundane "he might as / Well" and the overdramatic "doom" is witty. The typical modernist states of disillusionment, apathy, and boredom are certainly captured. The "ugly wife" might represent any kind of surrender to mediocrity. But the economy and the fragmentary nature of this kind of poetry sure makes it somewhat dry. It leaves me cold.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let’s give this 3.5 stars...

I want to read a biography of Pound. What I have read of him does not make him look like a good man.

He was a good writer though, maybe, in some ways, great.

My favorite in this collection was:

~ Salutation ~

O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,

I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.

And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.

:)

[Atticus · Rating 3 out of 5]

The earliest hints of later talent shine through in select places within the Lustra, and although parts of it are undoubtedly blessed, on the whole I'd say it makes quite clear how fine the line between "intricate" and "ostentatious" really is, especially for Pound. Nonetheless, it is mostly a smooth read.

[George Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can only assume his reputation rests on later books.

[Caitlin Keller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely not a style of poetry I enjoy. Also had no idea how utterly problematic Pound was until I looked him up after finishing this collection. Yikes.

[Ethan McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Lustra’ + a then-new version of ‘Cathay’ + a few then-new versions of miscellaneous poems at the end

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

You are very idle, my songs.
I fear you will come to a bad end.

Though it required a fair amount of research, this collection is really worth the read. The translations of Occitan troubadours, Tang poets, and epigrams from Greek and Latin are especially good, though they are more interpretations or collaborations than proper translations. Pound is certainly as prickly as ever, and there is a certain pervasive tone of bitterness, but, like Baudelaire and other poets who tend towards the acrid, his bile is tempered by beauty.

[Sameen Shakya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lustra by Ezra Pound is his most disillusioned book yet. The poems here bleed with a disdain for modern life and can be seen as a turning point to the "mode" in which Pound will be writing for the rest of his life.

It's sad to see the young and optimistic Ezra Pound die but the monster that now has been created will be something the 20th Century will reckon with for a long, long while.

[Inna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely 5 stars for Cathay, but just 4 as average.

[Gediminas Kontrimas]

Jei Poundo nebūtų, jį reiktų išgalvoti. Pagal asmenybės ir kūrybos jėgą jis man Brodskio dvynys.