Voices & Visions: Ezra Pound

Although admired for his contribution to poetry — among other things, he founded the imagist movement — Ezra Pound was also considered a controversial figure for his erratic personality and the political views he expressed during World War II. Pound saw the poet as a “guide and lamp of civilization,” and into his best-known work, the 800-page Cantos, he poured his knowledge of philosophy, economics, art, and history. However divided his critics, Pound’s bold theories and poetic experiments set the standards of modernism. Although admired for his contribution to poetry — among other things, he founded the imagist movement — Ezra Pound was also considered a controversial figure for his erratic personality and the political views he expressed during World War II. Pound saw the poet as a “guide and lamp of civilization,” and into his best-known work, the 800-page Cantos, he poured his knowledge of philosophy, economics, art, and history. However divided his critics, Pound’s bold theories and poetic experiments set the standards of modernism. Although admired for his contribution to poetry — among other things, he founded the imagist movement — Ezra Pound was also considered a controversial figure for his erratic personality and the political views he expressed during World War II. Pound saw the poet as a “guide and lamp of civilization,” and into his best-known work, the 800-page Cantos, he poured his knowledge of philosophy, economics, art, and history. However divided his critics, Pound’s bold theories and poetic experiments set the standards of modernism. Although admired for his contribution to poetry — among other things, he founded the imagist movement — Ezra Pound was also considered a controversial figure for his erratic personality and the political views he expressed during World War II. Pound saw the poet as a “guide and lamp of civilization,” and into his best-known work, the 800-page Cantos, he poured his knowledge of philosophy, economics, art, and history. However divided his critics, Pound’s bold theories and poetic experiments set the standards of modernism.