Ezra Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972 / Hailey / Idaho)
Quotations
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''Yet the companions of the Muses
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
will keep their collective nose in my books
And weary with historical data, they will turn to my dance tune.'' -
''Celebrities from the Trans-Caucasus will belaud Roman celebrities
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
And expound the distentions of Empire,
But for something to read in normal circumstances?'' -
''Flame burns, rain sinks into the cracks
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
And they all go to rack ruin beneath the thud of the years,
Stands genius a deathless adornment,
a name not to be worn out with the years.'' -
''There will be a crowd of young women doing homage to my palaver,''
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press. -
''And in the mean time my songs will travel,
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
And the devirginated young ladies will enjoy them
when they have got over the strangeness,'' -
''I ask a wreathwhich will not crush my head.
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
And there is no hurry about it;
I shall have, doubtless, a boom after my funeral,
Seeing that long standing increases all things
regardless of quality.'' -
''Out-weariers of Apollo will, as we know, continue their
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Homage to Sextus Propertius. . . Oxford Book of American Verse, The. F. O. Matthiessen, ed. (1950) Oxford University Press.
Martian generalities,
We have kept our erasers in order.'' -
''Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.''
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet, critic. How to Read, pt. 2 (1931). -
''There died a myriad,
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet, critic. Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, "E.P. Ode Pour l'Election de Son Sépulchre", pt. 5 (1920).
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization.'' -
''His true Penelope was Flaubert,''
Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet. Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. (Life and Contacts) (l. 15). . . The Selected Poems of Ezra Pound. (1957) New Directions.
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Taking Leave of a Friend
Blue mountains to the north of the walls,
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.
Mind like a floating wide cloud,
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each others
