Ezra Pound 5

An excerpt from Ezra Pound's "Cantos," section LXXXI, read by the poet. Pound was imprisoned and confined for over a decade. He wrote this and the rest of "The Pisan Cantos" during that time.

"What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee
What thou lov'st well is thy true heritage
Whose world, or mine or theirs or is it of none?
First came the seen, then thus the palpable Elysium, though it were in the halls of hell,
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee

The ant's a centaur in his dragon world.
Pull down thy vanity,
It is not man made courage, or made order, or made grace,
Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down.
Learn of the green world what can be thy place
In scaled invention or true artistry,
Pull down thy vanity, Paquin pull down!
The green casque has outdone your elegance.

"Master thyself, then others shall thee beare"
Pull down thy vanity
Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail,
A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,
Half black, half white
Nor knowst'ou wing from tail
Pull down thy vanity
How mean thy hates
Fostered in falsity,
Pull down thy vanity,
Rathe to destroy, niggard in charity,
Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down.

But to have done instead of not doing
This is not vanity
To have, with decency, knocked
That a Blunt should open
To have gathered from the air a live tradition
or from a fine old eye the unconquered flame
this is not vanity.
Here error is all in the not done,
all in the diffidence that faltered . . ."

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Ezra
• Pound
• Poetry
• Art
• Pisan
• Cantos
• Ego
• Self
• Me
• Love
• Surrender
• Selflessness

[a84grn]

this canto has absolutely nothing to do with politics

[1Wrexham]

We live in an era wherein the concept of Treason has been debased. Treason now means approximately He who varies from the class prejudices of the Ruling Mediocracy. Those who live to enforce these prejudices, conversely, are called "Patriotic". Pound had his opinions, yes. Hot,black,highly caffeinated opinions. He offended the delicate sensibilities of those whose ideas have the character of warm milque. He did a great service by dousing their house with gasoline ideas and igniting it his tongue

[SLACKER614]

ezra pound... anti-modern genius....

[tkdcoach]

This is great stuff, but I wish I could shake him out of the fakery of the voice he's using...it's not American (and no real surprise there) but it's as limited as the Victorian voice(s) he despised.

[beppu]

@gorbochevy When you live in a corrupt civilization such as ours, you would be crazy NOT to be angry. When his great love for humanity was confronted by great injustice, righteous anger is what naturally happens.

Also, usury is the foundation of our economic slavery. I'm glad he spoke against it so eloquently.

[SLACKER614]

Pound, like all americans, had a first amendment right to free speech...as for WW2..John Adams , one of our original founders, wrote that we should stay out of euro wars...as of 2010..Ezra pound was correct, as well as Louis-Ferdinand Celine..

[Laborynthus]

What thou lov'st well remains.

[gorbochevy]

the cantos is impossible...ive been reading it for over a year...and yet i see in the pisan cantos the same desperation and cantankerous attitude of most modern poets...modernist poets do not know how to just BE, it seems. There must always exist a lamentation, whether spiritual, as in Eliot's the wasteland, or political, as with the fascist known as pound and his polemic against usury, among other things. I should perhaps mention that pound is one of my favorite poets, actually.

[MajesticIndolence]

So romanticized--if that is the word--a view of Pounds' political opinions would not survive a conscientious reading of the transcripts of the Rome broadcasts. Unless, of course, the author of this post is in favor of the venom he spewed there.

[ashburnhouse]

Have you read about his apology? I agree with you totally.

[countrad]

so well put sir!

[tenaciousbee]

breeegs,

this is from a series on PBS called Voices and Visions. They did Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot and others.