AN EXAMINATION OF EZRA POUND

A collection of critical essays concerning the works of the unfortunate and much-maligned Mr. Pound. There is an enthusiastic thank-you note from T.S. Eliot in appreciation of Pound's helpful editing and his energetic pioneering in the new poetry; a virtuoso explication of selections from Hugh S Mauberley and The Thirty Cantos by Edith Sitwell; some staccato punches by an admiring Homingway of 1926; a stunning analysis of the Cantos as an epic, by D. S. Carne-Ross and sundry studies by other well-known critics. A rewarding collection which intensifies for the casual poetry reader the tight flexible line and the melodic beauty of Pound's verse, and clarifies some of the scholarly obscurities of the The criticism is for the most part objective, qualitative -- only incidentally is Pound's alleged fascism and paranoia mentioned as an offshoot from his revulsion against ""usura"" -- a decay of materialism. Although we feel that the shining fruits of Pound's scholarship and poetic genius are often rotten at the core with moral disintegration, this volume is a just tribute to an influential innovator and skilled technician.