or the other two propositions, “Pound is merely
a technician” and “Pound is merely a prophet
of chaos,” then there is very little hope.
But there are readers of poetry who have not yet reached
this hypertrophy of the logical faculty; their attention
might be arrested, not by an outburst of praise, but
by a simple statement. The present essay aims
merely at such a statement. It is not intended
to be either a biographical or a critical study.
It will not dilate upon “beauties”; it
is a summary account of ten years’ work in poetry.
The citations from reviews will perhaps stimulate the
reader to form his own opinion. We do not wish
to form it for him. Nor shall we enter into other
phases of Mr.
Pound’s activity during this ten
years; his writings and views on art and music; though
these would take an important place in any comprehensive
biography.
Pound’s first book was published in Venice.
Venice was a halting point after he had left America
and before he had settled in England, and here, in
1908, “A Lume Spento” appeared. The
volume is now a rarity of literature; it was published
by the author and made at a Venetian press where the
author was able personally to supervise the printing;
on paper which was a remainder of a supply which had
been used for a History of the Church. Pound
left Venice in the same year, and took “A Lume
Spento” with him to London. It was not to
be expected that a first book of verse, published
by an unknown American in Venice, should attract much
attention. The “Evening Standard”
has the distinction of having noticed the volume,
in a review summing it up as:
wild and haunting stuff, absolutely
poetic, original, imaginative, passionate, and
spiritual. Those who do not consider it crazy
may well consider it inspired. Coming after
the trite and decorous verse of most of our decorous
poets, this poet seems like a minstrel of Provence
at a suburban musical evening.... The unseizable
magic of poetry is in the queer paper volume,
and words are no good in describing it.
As the chief poems in “A Lume Spento”
were afterwards incorporated in “Personae,”
the book demands mention only as a date in the author’s
history. “Personae,” the first book
published in London, followed early in 1909. Few
poets have undertaken the siege of London with so
little backing; few books of verse have ever owed
their success so purely to their own merits.
Pound came to London a complete stranger, without either
literary patronage or financial means. He took
“Personae” to Mr. Elkin Mathews, who has
the glory of having published Yeats’ “Wind
Among the Reeds,” and the “Books of the
Rhymers’ Club,” in which many of the poets
of the ’90s, now famous, found a place.
Mr. Mathews first suggested, as was natural to an unknown
author, that the author should bear part of the cost
of printing. “I have a shilling in my pocket,
if that is any use to you,” said the latter.
