Early Poems

As a school girl and early college student I would peruse the library shelves of poetry and bring home anything that caught my interest, totally without guidance. As a college freshman I discovered Ezra Pound's shorter poetry collection Personae from New Directions and some of those poems have been favorites ever since, particularly the Cathay poems. The Dover edition of Pound's early poems contain many of my favorites.

In these early poems Pound assumes a mask, an identity, of another personality that reveals both a unique character and universal truths. Voices include warriors bored with peace to gorgeous love poems.

The poems include settings in the Middle Ages, the Crusades, translations from Latin, Provencal, Italian, Chinese, and Spanish first published in Personae (1909), Exultations (1909), Ripostes (1913), Cathay (1915) and "Hugh Selwyn Mauberly" (1920).

The Cathay translations are both exotic, being from the early Chinese, and poignant explorations of shared human experience. The Song of the Bowmen of Shu, 4th c. B.C. by Kutsugen, is an outpouring of grief and homesickness by weary and hungry soldiers grubbing for fern-shoots. The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter, a translation from Rihaku, tells the heart-breaking loneliness of a teenage wife whose husband has been gone five months. And my favorite, the Exile's Letter, is a story of friendship and nostalgia that catches my heart with every reading.

"And if you ask how I regret that parting:
It is like the flowers falling at Spring's end Confused, whirled in a tangle.
What is the use of talking, and there is no end of talking,
There is no end of things in the heart.

I call in the boy,
Have him sit on his knees here to seal this,
And send it a thousand miles, thinking." Exile's Letter

Latter I was challenged about liking Pound's poetry when he was a Fascist and locked up as insane. I knew nothing about the man at the time. I was a naive reader who read the poems as art suspended in atmosphere, standing on their own.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Early Poems by Ezra Pound covers his early work both writing and translating poetry. A few years ago I read some of Pound's later works and could not get into the writing or style. His early works are much different and amazingly well done. I was captivated by this entire collection. The many of the poems are lyrical or ballads. The poems settings range from medieval Europe to China. The writing is the ideal of poetry:

Aye! I am a poet and upon my tomb Shall maidens scatter rose leaves and men myrtles, ere the night Slays day with her dark sword.

Pound's early work has changed my opinion of him as a poet. Perhaps, it was that I was not in tune with poetry at the time or his style had changed drastically over time. This collection is put together by Dover Thrift and besides being a great collection, it is also very affordable at $2.50. Outstanding poetry and an outstanding value.

A fair book showing the poems of Ezra Pound of when he was still quite young and still learning. These poems are not his best work, as they are obviously ones where he was still trying to learn and perfect his own style. It is normal for poets to try to emulate their own favorite writers and/or genres, and that is what you find here. There are some gems, and it is worth the read to see the beginnings and works that helped him to develop into the great poet he became. Sadly though, for me at least, I much prefer his older works to these. I do recommend this book though, and it does give a better understanding of the poet in the making.

If you are looking for a nice variety of poetry, especially a mixture of styles, this is a good choice. It has some traditional style poems (that even rhyme) as well as translations of Chinese poems. This is a nice choice for someone looking for poetry, but may want a break from today's intensely personal free form poetry.

Though the early Ezra Pound is not entirely my cup of tea, I have enjoyed reading this collection and have marvelled at the range of subject, knowledge and cultural reference of his lyrical poetry. A recommendation for anyone interested in the early period of Pound as a poet.

Having never read any of Ezra Pound's other works before, I did find it a little hard to get into his poetry at first. After reading a few poems though I found myself quickly warming up to his writing style and poetic voice. Overall, I was glad to have given this collection a try. I will certainly look into more of his writing at some point.

'Early Poems' by Ezra Pound is a nice, inexpensive collection. I know he wrote and translated a lot of poetry, but I wasn't that familiar with his work. This was a good introduction.

There is a good selection of work here from Five other works. There are poems based on ballads. There are translations. I like epic poetry, but the Asian translations are what really hooked me in this collection. The style goes from heavy toned ballad to these delicate, descriptive poems about something like a river's song or a letter to a wife.

I'm sure my appreciation of this sort of work could have been improved if I'd had a more classic education. I picked it up because it was a short work filled with poems I was unfamiliar with. I enjoyed reading this short volume. It's a good introduction.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.