- published: 16 Nov 2014
- views: 393643
The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a canto. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date from 1922 onwards. It is a book-length work, widely considered to present formidable difficulties to the reader. The Cantos is generally considered one of the most significant works of modernist poetry in the 20th century. As in Pound's prose writing, the themes of economics, governance and culture are integral to the work's content.
The most striking feature of the text, to a casual browser, is the inclusion of Chinese characters as well as quotations in European languages other than English. Recourse to scholarly commentaries is almost inevitable for a close reader. The range of allusion to historical events is very broad, and abrupt changes occur with little transition. There is also wide geographical reference; Pound added to his earlier interests in the classical Mediterranean culture and East Asia selective topics from medieval and early modern Italy and Provence, the beginnings of the United States, England of the 17th century, and details from Africa he had obtained from Leo Frobenius. References without explanation abound. Pound initially believed that he possessed poetic and rhetorical techniques which would themselves generate significance, but as time passed he became more concerned with the messages he wished to convey.
["I'll write the story of the world"]
In cryogenic sleep I lost my sense, I lost my soul
Experiencing craziness has made my heart turn cold
For centuries and more, I've searched my head for perfect words
I'll take my chance or live forever in a world of hurt
Impalement on a tree of thorns is definitely an option
I need the Beast to write my cantos without interruption
The trinity is split, parts roaming back through time and space
And Empathy is to be lured out of its hiding place
I'll face the pain with open mind,
Coz' otherwise I'd die inside
The perfect irony in my life
I know the answer to the future,
Now is to be solved by us
The seven pilgrims of mankind
On the verge of suicide the butchery began
And writting capabilities came back to me again
The disappearance of my muse had ceased with all the killing
The cantos only lived through all the blood the Beast was spilling
My poem bruned, destroyed in desperate screams of misery
And so, i'll find my inspiration on the shining tree
I'll face the pain with open mind,
Coz' otherwise I'd die inside
The perfect irony in my life
I know the answer to the future,
Now is to be solved by us
The seven pilgrims of mankind
"With ashes flying to the sky