Pound Ezra: A Short Biography

Ezra Pound is a key figure in the American modernist movement, one of the founders of the current and the literature in literature. He was engaged in publishing and editorial activities. The world public is also known as an ardent supporter of fascism.

Childhood and youth

The future poet was born in October 1885 in the US state of Idaho. His mother was Isabelle Weston, her father was Homer Pound. Ezra was the only child in this family.

His father held a position in the City Hall of Haley. The ancestors of Ezra came to America in the seventeenth century from England. His paternal grandfather was engaged in logging, had several sawmills, but the business did not bring tangible profits, the grandfather remained bankrupt.

Isabel did not like their life in Haley, and in 1887 she and her son went to New York, from there the family moved to Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

After completing the primary school, Pound Ezra was identified in the Military Academy, where he studied Latin, history, military science. The peculiarity of the training was that the uniform for students was a prototype of the Civil War.

At the age of thirteen, Ezra first visited abroad. His mother took him on a tour of Europe.

Already at the age of eleven, Pound begins to publish some written works. And at fifteen, he enters the University of Pennsylvania at the Faculty of Arts.

There he met Hilda Doolittle, who was the daughter of a professor. Ezra Pound, whose sexual orientation was obvious, because he was known as an eccentric womanizer, did not come to court in the Doolittle family. However, he still made a proposal to the girl. But he refused. By the way, not the last in my life.

In 1906, Pound Ezra received a master's degree and defended his thesis on the work of Lope de Vega. He also won a grant of five hundred dollars, thanks to which he was able to leave for Europe.

In London

The next twelve years Pound spent on Foggy Albion, talking with poets, studying the Romance languages and developing his own system of versification. I read at the local college lectures on the development of literature in Europe.

In London, Ezra meets William Yeats and for a while works as his secretary. Thanks to his friend, he met Dorothy Shakespeare, one of his literary salons, his future wife. They were married in 1914.

Pound Ezra did not stop publishing, his work was assessed ambiguously. Someone was fascinated, someone saw the obvious influence of other poets (for example, Walt Whitman).

In 1915 he published his book "Imanizmen", which is a synthesis of poetry and theory of this direction. Imanism began to attract the attention of critics.

Pound Ezra was also engaged in publishing. For example, he contributed to the publication of J. Joyce's books "Portrait of an Artist in his Youth", T. Eliot's "Alfred Prufrock's Love Songs".

In Paris

In 1920, Ezra and Dorothy decided to move to Paris, which was carried out in a few months.

In Paris, he did a lot of publishing, including making friends with the young Hemingway and helping him to print.

In the same place he got acquainted with the American violinist Olga Raj, the novel with which lasted almost fifty years. Poor Dorothy tolerated all the betrayals of her husband, who practically did not hide from her.

In Italy

In the capital of France, the family did not live long. Dorothy did not like the local climate, and the health of Ezra needed more sun. Therefore, it was decided to move to Italy.

The Italian period of their life lasted more than twenty years. Mistress Ezra Olga followed them, and a few months later gave birth to her daughter Mary, who gave to bring up a local peasant woman.

When Dorothy found out about this event, she did not talk to her husband for several months, and after that she went on a trip to Egypt. Probably, it went to her good, because after the return she became pregnant and gave birth to Omar's son.

In Italy, Pound began to work seriously on a great poetic work called "Cantos".

In 1933, Ezra met with Mussolini and imbued with his ideas. Even holds a series of lectures in universities. Since 1939, he began publishing anti-Semitic materials in print media, speaking on the radio and propagating the ideas of fascism everywhere.

In 1943 in the United States in absentia Pound sentenced to arrest for treason. The poet does not react to this news in any way, but continues his propaganda activity. In 1945 he was detained.

Return to the USA

For some time after his arrest, he was transferred from one Italian prison to another, journalists were freely admitted to him.

November 15 Pound was transported to America. He was accompanied by medical personnel from the psychiatric hospital, because it was believed that the poet is out of his mind (because of his ideas of changing the economic situation in the world due to the destruction of some castes of people).

Ezra was placed in the hospital of St. Elizabeth. Dorothy was appointed his official guardian. Thanks to the efforts of Pound's lawyer, he was recognized as insane and allowed to stay in more favorable conditions, with the possibility of visits and walks. So he lived the next twelve years.

In 1949, Pound received the Congressional Award for the "Pisa Kantos", which caused great resonance in literary circles.

During his compulsory treatment, Ezra Pound, whose quotations were no longer remembered, was engaged in translations.

Last years

After his release, Ezra returned to Italy, where he lived until his death. He practically wrote nothing, was in the deepest depression. Ezra Pound, the analysis of creativity which can be conducted from different points of view, pejorative about his work in recent years.

He died in Venice at eighty-seven. He was buried there.