The Cantos

by Ezra Pound

Book Overview

Delmore Schwartz said about The Cantos: "They are one of the touchstones of modern poetry." William Carlos WIlliams said "[Pound] discloses history by its odor, by the feel of it--in the words; fuses it with the words, present and past, to MAKE his Cantos. Make them."

Since the 1969 revised edition, the Italian Cantos LXXII and LXXIII (as well as a 1966 fragment concluding the work) have been added. Now appearing for the first time is Pound's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811213269
• ISBN13: 9780811213264
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 896 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

To Mr. Meyerhofer,

Ezra Pound is the greatest American poet. I love your condemnation of him. And I do not wish to thought of as sarcastic because the controversy is half of the aura about Mr. Pound's dynamic presence in the poetry of the past century. Robert Graves called Pound a charlatan and I do not know if he is correct. If he is correct than all charlatans must attain to the greatness of Ezra Loomis Pound. The Cantos of Ezra Pound is not an epic, it is not a notebook of any sort. And it is relevant to the times in which it was written. "Make it new." said Pound. He made it new by gathering the limbs of osiris, resurecting old poets and crowning new ones. He lived in history while he was still alive. He reminds me of myself sometimes. The Cantos was relevant but one must read between the lines to see that it was relevant. Canto XLV for instance, the famous litany agains Usury, is in particular rlevant to the times it was published, 1937. The Great Depression still upon the US and banks failing, Pound sought to condemn the practice of usury, not saying that it was going on, but as a warning that this is how bad could get worse. with usura, sin against nature, is thy bread ever more of stale rags is thy bread dry as paper, with no mountain wheat, no strong flour With those lines, I picture the breadlines stretching around streetcorners with dark looking men, ashen gray, all with rotting overcoats up to their small red eyes. I picture the people starving because of this strange practice of usury, not just during the Depression, but all through time. Here is yet another theme that is relevant during the time the Cantos were published, human nature being the same so history repeats itself. Pound was trying to prove this by pointing to models for a better future, Confucius, and Pier della Francesca, Pietro Lombardo. The fact that Pound knew so many languages, translated much, is just incredible. We clearly had a genius in the nuthouse during that vacuous time. Take the first Canto as an example of Pound's immense Godlike talent. And then went down to the ship, Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and We set up mast and sail on that swart ship, Bore sheeo aboard her, and our bodies also Heavy with weeping, and winds from sternward Bore us out onward with bellying canvas, Circe's this craft, the trim coifed goddess. I remember when I first read those lines and I was immediately pulled into the work itself and the poetry of Mr. Pound. His controversial anti-semitism, his support of the regime of Mussolini, the absurd trial he had to take for treason against the US (the cage he was placed in, exposed to the elements) and the long internment in the House of Bedlam, St. Elizabeth's Mental Hospital in Washington D.C. from 1946 - 1958. I don't think there is one aspect of the thought and the writings of Ezra Pound that do not facinate me and have taught me how to compose poetry. So sir, I must say that I have never read the two poets you have named

Par Excelente

The Cantos are great in what they do for the writer. "Elitism" is the nickname the idiot gives to the question. The Cantos include everything (yes, even Pounds' barbarisms). Man alive! Must I agree with the Bible to read it?

"Make it new"

1. THE BACKGROUND Harold Bloom observes in his book The Western Canon that for major literary heavyweights Dante Alighieri tends to be the role model. Joseph Campbell observes as much regarding James Joyce: "The model for Joyce's life was Dante". Dante felt strongly that educated people have a duty to assist practically in the betterment of humanity. Being a mere aesthete, for Dante, was burying one's talents at best and moral cowardice in the face of the enemy at worst. Pound accepted Dante's challenge. Throughout the Cantos Pound wages war on the perennial demonic forces always endangering the home, environment, culture, and representative government. The Cantos are a poetic attack strategy for recognizing and overcoming such forces. Often autobiographical, the Cantos also chronicle Pound's odyssey through the tumultuous twentieth century. The work commences by invoking the muses in an immemorial Ulysses quest (Canto I), then serially time-travels through European culture via paratactic histories and biographies of heroes who successfully (or unsuccessfully) combated the blind demonic forces of cultural barbarism and hedonism. In this sense, the Cantos are a modern-day Plutarch's Lives - history interpreted by a poet. 2. THE CRISES Pound's first personal crisis followed the First World War, in which many of his own friends died. "I sought to discover what causes war", he said. His conclusion after years of exhaustive historical research was that wars are fomented by elite power groups: Corrupt government officials colluding with militarists, industrialists, and international bankers for their own personal (and treasonous) gain. It was then that both the Cantos' character, and Pound's character, changed (somewhere around Canto 45, the famous-infamous Usury Canto). Pound's study of history taught him that *rates of interest* are an accurate gauge to the civilization or barbarity of any culture: High levels of interest, usury, correspond to levels of philistine barbarism in which the weak are devoured by the strong. Pound's view became that social Darwinism, political economy, rampant capitalism, and debasement of currency are all destroyers of home, environment, culture, and honest government. The key demon, then, to be summoned and exorcized in Pound's poetic grimoire was "Greed" - Mammon. It was natural given this view for Pound to be attracted to Confucianism, with its accent on the home and family as the central hub from which all virtue and therefore true culture radiate. A large part of the Cantos is taken up with Pound's presentation of Confucian precepts. During the thirties, Pound crafted the American or "Adams" cantos, which laud American democratic values and the Founding Fathers' creation of a true republic. Armed with his knowledge of Western cultural history, Pound clearly foresaw the oncoming Second World War. He engaged in extensive and articulate letter-writing campaigns with several US senators, urging avoidance of all fore

Fury and Conviction.

The Cantos are monolithic, and I think one of the most valuable pieces of literature to read from Western Civilization. Sure, they don't contain the secrets to the universe, but they do contain the thoughts of a genius who was trying to get his mind wrapped around truth. I do not think that Pound always speaks the truth in his works. But he is always trying to and is always fanatically convinced of what he is saying. For the conviction and emotional tonality alone this work is worth reading. Pound rages on the page and you can feel it. Reading it can be like getting shouted at for an hour. He also finds sympathy for some and you feel his description of them as a close friend relating a nostalgic tale. He can also be grim, and his words seem the perfect eulogy for Western Civilization. Reading it is like getting pummeled! Yet with each struggle one comes out feeling a desire to know more about the world and to search out truth.When I first opened the Cantos, I felt that they were not well written, because the writing is choppy, in places it seems haphazard and sloppy. One can also read his `Guide to Culture' and find that it reads like a notebook; not for public consumption. However, Pound's power does not lie with his `technical' skill. There I would look perhaps to Louis Zukofsky, whose style and thought was similar, but whose technique is profound and impeccable. By contrast, Pound gives the impression of writing with incredible haste and bluster, as if fighting with his life to complete this work before his death. There is no real pattern to all of the cantos. It probably should be read more as a collection of poems on similar themes than in a Dantesque sort of way. But you see the unfolding of Pound's wild and weird life as the Cantos unfold, and his intellect and passions fight against the world that would ultimately defeat him. The cantos are not written to be accepted technically; they are about teaching life (Pound would say wisdom; APPLIED knowledge) and about truth, and not about words.Reading Pound, one feels the weight of civic responsibility. Pound rages at what he sees rending Western Civilization from its roots. He discloses history by mentioning it, using events as metaphors, as expressions, as examples of his points, and in doing this he expects you to know them. Pound's poetry convicts one to read Dante, to read Homer, to read the Troubadours. And if you took nothing more away from that Cantos than that, that isn't bad. But you see in this work someone who is absolutely dedicated to how he felt the world should be. There is no apathy here. We can all stand to nod to Pound's conviction. I do not agree with him on many issues (although some I do), but I think that even if one disagreed on all counts with Pound, they could take from the Cantos the fervor and mission of a man dedicated to changing the world for what he saw as the better. You can still feel his intent and intensity on these pages. I think that as long as people read

A stunning treasure

"Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" was the first Pound's poem I read and I fell in the net of the deep beauty of Pound's works becoming an enthusiastic student of him. A lot of stupidities has been told against his verses, but the authentic poetry provides itself the stunning evidence that can outlast all the poisonous criticism. Pound was a giant as one of the reviewers of this page has said.It is true that Pound wrote some verses in Italian, Greek,... and used chinese ideograms as constructive elements of his "Cantos" (his great masterpiece) and this is not a shortcoming but a necessity. "Poetry" told once T.S.Elliot "can communicate before being understood". This is the case of Pound's poetry. Words and fragments in different languages are used not as superfluous ornaments but in order to articulate a strong feeling and providing pleasure to "the expert". The "non-expert" is attracted also by the surroundings of these elements and the imaginist grounds of each "Canto". It's just poetry! To convince of that I copy here some verses of the Cantos"nothing matters but the qualityof the affectionin the end" (Canto LXXVI)"Pull down thy vanity.Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail"[...]"What thou lovest well remains, the rest is drossWhat thou lov'st well shall not be reft from theeWhat thou lov'st well is thy true heritage"[...]"The ant's a centaur in his dragon world"(Canto LXXXI)"The valley is thick with leaves, with leaves, the trees,The sunlight glitters, glitters a-top,Like a fish-scale roof,Like the church roof in PoictiersIf it where gold.Beneath it, beneath itNot a ray, not a slivver, not a spare disk of sunlight;Flaking the black, soft water;[...]Ivory dipping in silverShadow'd, o'ershadow'dIvory dipping in silverNot a splotch, not a lost shatter of sunlight"(Canto IV)The latter are only some few examples you can find in his work, where each word is always (almost) necessary and not superfluous.