EZRA POUND

IN FULL EZRA LOOMIS POUND (BORN OCT. 30, 1885, HAILEY, IDAHO
U.S.—DIED NOV. 1, 1972, VENICE, ITALY)
 WRITER’S BACKGROUND

• WAS AN EXPATRIATE AMERICAN POET AND CRITIC, AND A MAJOR FIGURE IN THE EARLY MODERNIST
MOVEMENT. HIS CONTRIBUTION TO POETRY BEGAN WITH HIS DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGISM, A
MOVEMENT DERIVED FROM CLASSICAL CHINESE AND JAPANESE POETRY, STRESSING CLARITY,
PRECISION AND ECONOMY OF LANGUAGE.
• HIS BEST-KNOWN WORKS INCLUDE RIPOSTES (1912), HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY (1920) AND THE
UNFINISHED 120-SECTION EPIC, THE CANTOS (1917–69).
• WORKING IN LONDON IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY AS FOREIGN EDITOR OF SEVERAL AMERICAN
LITERARY MAGAZINES, POUND HELPED DISCOVER AND SHAPE THE WORK OF AMERICAN AND IRISH
CONTEMPORARIES SUCH AS T. S. ELIOT, JAMES JOYCE, ROBERT FROST, AND ERNEST HEMINGWAY.
 IMAGISM

• WAS A MOVEMENT IN EARLY 20TH-CENTURY ANGLO-AMERICAN POETRY THAT FAVORED

PRECISION OF IMAGERY, AND CLEAR, SHARP LANGUAGE.