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Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

エズラ・ウェストン・ルーミス・パウンド

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

Aliases: E. Pound / Ezra W. L. Pound
Pen Names: William Atheling（Pen name used for music criticism and some reviews）, B. H. Dias（Pseudonym used for art criticism）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1885-10-30 （Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States）
Died
1972-11-01 （Venice, Italy） age 87
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Protestant
Residence History
Jenkintown / Wyncote, Pennsylvania (childhood) → London (c.1908–1921) → Paris (1921–1924) → Italy (mainly Rapallo, Venice, 1924–1972) → Washington, D.C. (detention/hospitalization periods, 1945–1958)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Critic, Translator, Editor
Active Years
1907-1972
Influenced By
Dante Alighieri, Ernest Fenollosa (influence via classical Chinese/Japanese materials), Confucius (influence via Chinese classics), Classical Chinese and Japanese poetry
Influenced
T. S. Eliot, James Joyce (editorial and supportive influence), Ernest Hemingway, William Carlos Williams, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), 20th-century Modernist poetry broadly (via Imagism and editorial work)

Education

University of Pennsylvania, College of Liberal Arts
Latin / Romance languages (changed status during studies)
Degree: M.A. (Romance Languages, 1906)
Period: 1901–1907（学位取得と非学位研究を含む）
Year of Graduation: 1906
Country: United States
Did not complete doctoral thesis; held Harrison fellowship and traveled to Europe.
Hamilton College
Latin–Scientific course
Degree: PhB (Bachelor of Philosophy)
Period: 1903–1905
Year of Graduation: 1905
Country: United States
Received PhB in 1905.
Cheltenham Military Academy
Primary / Secondary education
Period: 1897–1900（在学期間の一部）
Country: United States
Attended but did not clearly graduate in usual sense.

Awards

Bollingen Prize for Poetry
1949
Work: The Pisan Cantos
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 受賞
The Dial Poetry Award
1927
Work: Translation of the Great Learning (Ta Hio)
Organization: The Dial
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctorate (Hamilton College)
1939
Organization: Hamilton College
Result: 授与（名誉）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Lume Spento

1908 Poetry collection 72 pages

An early collection of poems, self-published in Venice; intimate early work with allusions to Dante.

remembrancedeath and lossreferences to poetic tradition

Ripostes

1912 Poetry collection (marking a turn toward Imagism)

A collection demonstrating Pound's shift toward imagist economy and precision; influential on modernist poetry.

clarity of imageeconomy of language

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley

1920 Long poem / sequence 64 pages

A farewell to Pound's London years; contains satire of literary culture and self-reflection.

social critiquevalues of artwar and economics

The Cantos

1915 Long, episodic epic poem 800 pages

A lifelong, sprawling sequence combining history, culture, economics and autobiography in an epic-poem form.

historyeconomics (critique of usury)cultural allusion

The Pisan Cantos

1948 Poetry (part of The Cantos)

Cantos written during Pound's wartime detention; awarded the Bollingen Prize in 1949, provoking controversy.

memory of warpersonal sufferinghistorical recollection

Bibliography

  • A Lume Spento (1908)
  • Personae (1909)
  • Ripostes (1912)
  • Cathay (1915)
  • Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920)
  • The Cantos (c.1915–1962)
  • The Pisan Cantos (1948)
  • If This Be Treason (1948, published by Olga Rudge)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
ImagismModernismFragmentary, allusion-rich epic techniqueEconomy of language and attention to cadence
Recurring Motifs
historical allusioneconomics (notably critique of usury)classical references (Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Latin)race/cultural memory

Health

  • Psychiatric disorders (recorded diagnoses: psychotic disorder / bipolar and personality disorder at different times)
    1945–1958（St. Elizabeths 入院期間および診断変遷）
    Found unfit to stand trial and confined for many years; affected creative output and relationships.
  • Bipolar disorder (later diagnosis)
    1966頃診断
    Mood fluctuations and depression affected his later life and activities.

Legacy

Pound had an outsized editorial and critical influence on early 20th‑century English‑language poetry—promoting Imagism and helping writers such as Joyce, Eliot and Hemingway—yet his advocacy of fascism and virulent antisemitism (including wartime broadcasts) made his legacy deeply controversial. His literary importance is widely acknowledged while his politics complicate his reputation.

Academic Societies

  • Paideuma (journal / scholarly community devoted to Pound studies)
  • National Poetry Foundation (organizes Pound scholarship and conferences)

Archives

  • Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University (Ezra Pound papers)
  • Columbia University Libraries (Ezra Pound collections)
  • Simon Fraser University (Ezra Pound collection)

In Popular Culture

  • The 1949 Bollingen Prize controversy is frequently cited as a landmark clash between literary merit and political/moral judgment.
  • His WWII radio broadcasts are central to ongoing debates about propaganda and the responsibilities of artists.

Quotes

  • And I am not a demigod / I cannot make it cohere.
    Source: The Cantos, Canto CXVI (1962)
  • The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough.
    Source: Poem 'In a Station of the Metro' (1913)

Trivia

  • The 1949 Bollingen Prize awarded for The Pisan Cantos sparked major controversy because of Pound's antisemitic statements and wartime broadcasts.
  • He was indicted for treason in 1945 for English-language propaganda broadcasts from Italy but was deemed unfit to stand trial after psychiatric evaluation.