Ezra Pound

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA+, November 1996

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Trae Judd

February 21, 1996

period 3

' An intellectual hatred is the worst' (Bartlett's 80). This sentiment expressed by Yeats sums up Ezra Pound's character. While he lives on as a gifted poet and historian, people will always remember Pound for his strong anti-Semitism. These ideas stained his writing and his character. Ezra Pound wrote many poems of questionable understanding. One moment he exhibited kindness, and the next he behaved as a seven-year-old writing poetry, words illegible and senseless.

Ezra Pound lived in a peaceful environment, but the fire of anti-Semitism fueled his writings. He wrote a series of poems called 'Cantos,' which explored history and the impact of leaders on the past, as well as many orthodox poems, such as 'An Immortal.' His intense feeling of hatred originated from a hatred of religion and Nazi propaganda. While he loved poetry and the beauty it presented, he never let that beauty seep into himself.

Ezra Pound's literary development stemmed from a variety of different atmospheres from a small town in Idaho to prisons in Pisa. It

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seemed as if every aspect of his life some how influenced his writing.

Ezra Pound was born on October 30, 1885, in the small town of Hailey, Idaho to Homer and Isabel Pound. He grew up in a normal American family. While young, he never showed the great promise in English that he would later accomplish. Instead, he like to participate in normal kids activities, such as playing sports (Who's Who 13). Pound went to the University of Pennsylvania and Hamilton. At the University his talent for English and poetry became evident. He started and joined numerous English and poetry clubs that dealt with the analysis of poems, as well as their impact and meaning to society. Pound also...