Final Ezra Pound Bio

Biography

In her essay “Of Modern Poetry,” Mina Loy writes: “To speak of the modern movement is to speak of [Ezra Pound]; the masterly impresario of modern poets, for without the discoveries he made with his poet’s instinct for poetry, this modern movement would still be rather a nebula than the constellation it has become” (Loy 157-8).

Pound was an American poet who contributed greatly to the modernist movement. He wrote, edited, and contributed to numerous literary magazines, and served as a driving force behind the movement. His poetry focused on concrete, succinct language.

Born in Hailey, Idaho on October 30, 1885, Pound spent most of his youth and schooling  in Pennsylvania, attending the University of Pennsylvania until 1906. but traveled to London in 1908. Here, Pound established his career; he published several collections of poetry and became an influential contributor to literary magazines like New Freewoman/Egoist, Poetry, Others, and The Little Review. He published his most famous work, “In a Station of the Metro,” in 1913.

However, the brutality of World War I changed both the landscape of England and the course of Pound’s career. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, Pound was  “[u]nsettled by the slaughter of World War I and the spirit of hopelessness he felt was pervading England” (Stock). Pound moved to Paris, where he connected with three major poets of the century: he developed a relationship with the young Ernest Hemingway, wrote an opera (which Loy attended), and helped edit T.S. Eliot’s famous poem “The Waste Land.”

After the Great Depression of the 1930s, Pound became more politically outspoken. He became an anti-war advocate, making several hundred broadcasts airing his political stances. Many were anti-semitic and pro-fascism, in addition to critical of the United States’ war effort. He was arrested and deemed insane. Pound spent 1946 to 1958 institutionalized in Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington where he continued to write and drew many loyal visitors. Following his institutionalization, Pound returned to Venice, where he stopped writing and died on November 1, 1972.

Pound remains a divisive figure today. His brilliance as a poet, translator, and thinker was countered by his anti-American rhetoric, flirtations with fascism, and imprisonment.

Yet, Mina Loy deeply admired Pound for his work, and it appears that the respect was mutual. In his essay “Arid Clarity,” Peter Nicholls notes that many historians envision Pound and Loy’s relationship one-sidedly, with the eminent Pound as a mentor to the relatively obscure Loy. However, Pound once wrote in a letter to Marianne Moore, “except you, Bill [Williams] and Mina Loy who can write anything of interest in verse?” He also famously coined the term logopoiea–defined as “a dance of the intelligence among words and ideas and modification of ideas and characters”–to describe Loy’s writing.

Works Cited

Hanscombe, Gillian E., and Virginia L. Smyers. “Mina Loy.” Writing for Their Lives: The Modernist Women, 1910 – 1940, Northeastern Univ. Press, 1989, pp. 112–128, www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/loy/bio.htm.

“Imagism.” CPCW: The Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, University of Pennsylvania, www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Alumverse/imagism-def.html.

“Introduction to Modernist Poetry.” EDSITEment!, National Endowment for the Humanities, edsitement.neh.gov/curriculum-unit/introduction-modernist-poetry.

Loy, Mina, and Roger L. Conover. The Lost Lunar Baedeker: Poems of Mina Loy. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999.

Menand, Louis. “The Pound Error.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/09/the-pound-error.

Nicholls, Peter. “’Arid Clarity’: Ezra Pound, Mina Loy, and Jules Laforgue.” The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 32, 2002, pp. 52–64. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3509047.

“On ‘In a Station of the Metro.’” University of Illinois English Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/pound/metro.htm.

Stock, Noel. “Ezra Pound.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Jan. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Ezra-Pound.

Bio Template

• • Name: Ezra Pound
  • Date of Birth: October 30, 1885
  • Place of Birth: Hailey, Idaho
  • Date of Death: November 1, 1972
  • Place of Death: Venice, Italy

• Country of origin, citizenship: American

• Gender: Male

• Race: Caucasian

• Kind of Artist/Cultural worker: Poet and critic

• Address in Paris: 59 rue des Saints Peres, Paris, France

• Dates & Places of Overlap with Loy: Primarily over print

• Avant-garde movements the figure was associated with:

• • • Modernism
    • Imagism

• Brief summary of the figure’s Biographical/Historical significance

• • • Ezra Pound was the father of imagism, and is considered one of the most important poets in bringing a modernist voice to American poetry. Stylistically, he “advocat[ed] concreteness, economy, and free verse” in his poetry, and has been said to be “personally responsible” for English poetry’s in the 1910s revival (Wilmer). His most famous work, “In a Station of the Metro,” is only two lines long, but contains an “ineffable” quality that has perplexed and delighted critics for nearly one hundred years (“On ‘In a Station of the Metro.’”).

• Brief summary of the figure’s Relationship to Loy:

• What was the nature of their overlap or connection?

• Was it social, literary, artistic? Were they involved in collaborative ventures (publications, exhibitions, performances, readings)?

The frequency, nature, and depth of Pound’s interaction with Mina Loy remains ambiguous. Their interactions are few and inconsistent. The ones that do exist are cryptic. Some historians have envisioned the relationship as a solely one-way one, wherein the eminent Pound was a mentor or role model to the relatively obscure Loy. However, a closer look at the evidence points to the contrary: Pound famously coined the term logopoiea–defined as “a dance of the intelligence among words and ideas and modification of ideas and characters”–to describe Loy’s writing. He also once wrote in a letter to Marianne Moore, “except you, Bill [Williams] and Mina Loy who can write anything of interest in verse?” Finally, and most surprisingly, similarities between Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley and Loy’s work hint that Pound truly admired–and perhaps at times even strove to emulate–Loy’s abstract, emotionless writing style. Critics note the similarity.

• What other artists/writers did your figure come in contact with? (keep a list – this will not contribute to your word count)

• • Marianne Moore
  • William Carlos Williams
  • W.B. Yeats (Wilmer), role model and friend
  • James Joyce
  • T.S. Eliot