Ezra Pound – The Poet’s Poet

American poet and influential critic Ezra Pound was a major figure of the Modernist movement during the first half of the twentieth-century. During this time, he worked as a foreign editor for various American literary magazines there in London, England. This occupation place him in a position of influence in the world of literature.

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was born on October 30, 1885 in Idaho Territory, USA. He was the only child of Homer and Isabel Pound; both parents were English ancestors. Pound's early education was from a series of private schools run by Quakers there in Idaho. At age eleven he published his first article in the local paper and at age thirteen, under the supervision of his mother, Ezra went on his first international trip, visiting England, German, Italy and Switzerland. Later he attended a Military school from 1898 until 1900. Pound enrolled in a liberal arts college in 1901. Later in 1905, after transferring to Hamilton College in New York, he graduated. Following the completion of his undergraduate studies, Pound finished his masters degree in the spring of 1906. Although he started work on his PhD, he abandoned his studies to accept a short lived teaching position.

Soon after accepting the teaching position, Pound was dismissed for provoking the authorities and his co-workers there at Wabash College in Crawfordville, Indiana. In the spring of 1908 he left for Europe; once there, he supported himself by acting as a tour guide and selling self-published copies of poems, before finally settling down in London. During his years in London, he influenced, befriended and mentored many of the great writers of the time including Ernest Hemingway, W. B Yeats, James Joyce and Robert Frost. Hemingway spoke of this in 1925; when he said Pound defends his friends, writes articles on their behalf, finds money for their living expenses and arranged for publishers to accept their books. Pound and Hemingway met by chance in 1922 and became close friends; He took an interest in Hemingway by mentoring him. It was though Pound that Hemingway met James Joyce.

Ezra Pound viewed the world as a morally weak society. Many of his poems expressed how the pursuit of materialism and power set the world on a path of destruction. He considered poetry to be the highest form of art and it showed in his writings. He didn't live in a vacuum; many of the major event of his day deeply affected his life and his writing. In addition to the wars he witnessed, Pound was influenced by the new and contemporary styles of art and writing.

As Pound grew older, his view of the world became much more pessimistic. As a result of his anti-American radio broadcast given in Italy during World War II, he was labeled a traitor and was forced to return to the United States in 1945. Because he was deemed mentally unfit for trial, Pound was confined in a mental hospital for 13 years. Following this time in the United States, he returned to Italy to live out his remaining days. Ezra Pound passed away in Venice, Italy on November 1, 1972. In many ways he was a revolutionist, living outside what is considered normal conformity. Having inspired the great writers and artist of his day, he turly was the "poet's poet."