Ezra Pound was born today in writing history, October 30. Celebrate the poet’s birthday by learning more about his life and contributions to the writing world. Aspiring writers should also use this opportunity as a writing exercise. Look for inspiration today in writing history.
Today in Writing: October 30 – Ezra Pound’s Birthday
Ezra Pound was born on October 30, 1885, and is best known for his poetry Ripostes and The Cantos. Pound’s work as an editor was instrumental in publishing literary titans of 20th-century literature, including T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Earnest Hemmingway. Find your inspiration in the stories, works, and words in this installment of Today in Writing: October 30.
Writing Prompts for Today In Writing: October 30
Please take this opportunity to learn more about Ezra Pound and his contributions to poetry. The author’s prose helped develop the imagism movement in poetic literature. Despite his questionable ties in his later life, Pound’s poems remain in the public eye.
What led Ezra Pound to write? Where did the inspiration for his ideas come from? And what helped the poet create his unique writing style? Find inspiration about Pound, learn more details about his life, and write!
Ezra Pound Biography
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho Territory (modern-day Idaho), on October 30, 1885. His father, Homer Loomis, worked as a registrar. His mother, Isabel Weston, was unhappy living on the American frontier and moved to New York in 1887 with young Ezra in tow. Homer would follow, finding a job in the Philadephia Mint, and the family would settle in Pennsylvania.
After attending several dame schools, he transferred to Cheltenham Military Academy in 1897. The twelve-year-old was taught how to drill and shoot in preparation for military college. In 1898, Ezra Pound took his first trip to Europe. He would see much of Europe during his three-month venture and visited several more times before becoming an expatriate.
Pound’s Education and Flight to Europe
In 1901, Ezra Pound was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Liberal Arts. However, the poet’s grades, from geometry to literature, were poor. In 1902, he transferred to Hamilton College in New York. His grades did improve, and Pound graduated in 1905 with a bachelor’s of philosophy.
Pound returned to the University of Pennsylvania in 1905, receiving an M.A. in Romance Languages. During his second run at Penn, he also met and fell in love with Hilda Doolittle. Better known by her pen name, H. D., Doolittle would help play a founding role in the imagist movement alongside Pound. Although Ezra Pound intended to earn his Ph.D., his antics caused a falling out with college staff. He left the University of Pennsylvania in 1907 without finishing his degree.
Instead, he turned to work as a teacher and taught French and Spanish at Wabash College in Indianapolis. It was a position he loathed. Students had a mixed review of their professor. One described him as “a breath of fresh air.” Negative opinions portrayed him as “egotistical” and “self-centered.” Due to Pound’s constant disregard for the college’s rules, Wabash asked him to leave in January 1908. Shocked at his dismissal, Ezra Pound left the United States for Europe in March aboard the RMS Slavonia.
Ezra Pound in Europe
Ezra Pound moved to London, England, in August 1908. With a unique personality, the poet would write and self-publish his work. In 1909, Pound met the English novelist Olivia Shakespear, who later introduced him to her daughter, Dorothy. Ezra and Dorothy would marry in 1914. Through Olivia Shakespear’s connections, Pound could ingratiate himself into London’s literary circles.
Hilda Doolittle arrived in London in 1911. Pound and H. D., as well as close literary friends, began their efforts in the imagist movement. Imagism focused on making language more economical in poetry. The writers would work together, and their scholarly output soared. Pound published several poems, A Few Don’ts by an Imagist and In a Station of the Metro, both in 1913.
Ezra Pound, Editor and Gatekeeper
In the summer of 1913, Ezra Pound became the literary editor of The Egoist, a journal founded by Dora Marsden, an English suffragette. In his work as an editor, Pound helped publish several literary greats of the 20th century. James Joyce received encouragement from Pound, and The Egotist ran Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, in serialization.
As he continued to write his texts, Pound crossed orbits with T. S. Eliot. Ezra Pound praised Eliot’s poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and recommended it for print. The poem would be published in June 1915.
The Pounds moved to Paris, France, in 1921. Ezra Pound met Earnest Hemmingway in December, and the two became friends. Hemmingway asked for Pound’s input on his short stories. Additionally, Pound was still editing for T. S. Eliot. Ezra Pound made substantial contributions to Eliot’s The Waste Land, a poem dedicated to Pound.
Italy and Fascism
The Pounds disliked Paris and moved to Italy in 1925. Starting in 1910, hints of Ezra Pound’s antisemitism can be traced throughout his works and correspondence. With the rise of fascism in Europe, Pound met Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini on January 30, 1933. Racial laws passed in Italy in 1938 only deepened the poet’s antisemitism.
As war broke out in Europe, Pound began a letter-writing campaign to U.S. politicians, where his hate towards the Jewish was on full display. His agent urged the poet to return to writing poetry and literary criticism. Ezra Pound responded by writing political manifestos, which would not be published in the United States.
In Italy, Pound became heavily involved in propaganda efforts. The writer recorded and composed hundreds of broadcasts for Italian radio. He also played a role in writing scripts for state broadcasts. Ezra Pound was arrested on treason charges during the Allied liberation of Italy.
Pound was returned to the United States in 1945 to stand trial but was deemed mentally unfit. He was transferred to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, where he was held for 12 years. Early psychiatric work diagnosed Ezra Pound with a narcissistic personality disorder during his detention.
Later Life and Death
Pound’s friends and family worked ceaselessly to secure his release. After receiving the 1954 Nobel Peace Prize for Literature, Earnest Hemmingway told an interviewer, “I believe this would be a good year to release poets.” Following several publishers’ campaigns to publicize the situation, Ezra Pound was discharged on May 7, 1958.
The Pounds would return to Italy on July 9, 1958. However, the poet’s health declined throughout the 1960s. Ezra Pound fell into a depression, and those close to him believed he had dementia. He was additionally diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
In his later years, the poet attempted to rehabilitate his image and make amends for his antisemitism. By his 87th birthday in 1972, Pound was bedridden. The next night, he was admitted to the San Giovanni e Paolo Civil Hospital in Venice. Ezra Pound died in his sleep on November 1, 1972, from a “sudden blockage of the intestine.”
10 Ezra Pound Quotes
1. Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.
2. Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance… poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.
3. Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
4. Nothing written for pay is worth printing. Only what has been written against the market.
5. The image is more than an idea. It is a vortex or cluster of fused ideas and is endowed with energy.
6. If a nation’s literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.
7. The art of letters will come to an end before A.D. 2000. I shall survive as a curiosity.
8. Allow me to say that I would long since have committed suicide had desisting made me a professor of Latin.
9. When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
10. A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.
Notable Ezra Pound Poems
A Quinzaine for This Yule, 1908
Personae, 1909
Exultations, 1909
Ripostes of Ezra Pound, 1912
Personae and Exultations of Ezra Pound, 1913
Canzoni and Ripostes of Ezra Pound, 1913
Lustra of Ezra Pound, 1916
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, 1920
Personae: The Collected Poems of Ezra Pound, 1926.
Homage to Sextus Propertius, 1934.
The Cantos of Ezra Pound, 1948
Personnae: The Collected Poems of Ezra Pound, 1950,
The Cantos, 1964.
Today in Writing: October 30 – Daily Writing Exercise
Now that you have done some reading, it is time to write. Aspiring writers should look to the stories from Today in Writing: October 30 and Ezra Pound’s life for inspiration. Read his quotes and study his articles to understand the poet’s writing style.
Find a topic and freewrite for 10 minutes. Ezra Pound was a literary lightning rod. Countless famous and well-known writers passed through Pound’s orbit, and he was responsible for several breaking into the scene. Aspiring writers should pay homage to the poet’s abilities and start writing.
Don’t let any opportunity to write go to waste. Aspiring writers: Practice your writing today. Celebrate Today in Writing History October 30.
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