New-York tribune., 1920-05-30
}

"Instigations Of Ezra
Pound (Boni & Liveright). stop
knowing about him. Be honcst-it'y
only about, isn't it? Read him and
then you may rightly say you do know
him
Perhaps it is some manifestation Of
poetic justice that Mr. Pound, famed
as an imagist poet. has himself become
a symbol. Undoubtcdly the charge that
Mr. Pound is the victim Of much sec
ond- hand criticism is fair But the
blame lies with Mr.. Pound In order
that You may rightly say you do know
him. from "Instigations' you must be
a lingual league of nations The study
in French poets which opens the book
requires from the reader a 7uency in
French that few Americans possess;
knowledge of the Provencal is necessary
in order TO appreciate fully chapter
on Arnaut Daniel; something more than
little Latin and less Greek should be
in the repertoire of those who pcruse
Mr.. Pounds dissertation or translators
would be healthful in following Ernest
fenollosa's essay on THE Chinese
Written Character as Medium for
Poetry which Mr.. Pound has edited
for this volume; bits of Italian and
German would be handy, although not
imperative, and even a knowledge of
English is necessary, for Mr. Pound dc
lights in digging up and transplanting
oddities like "wem" and "raik."
Another reason for the popular fear
of Mr.. Pound (cVen reviewers approach
his WORKS nervously) is the manner in
which he scatters ideas and moods
about his volumes. There is no formula
for Ezra Pound. One moment he is
preaching modernity and the next he
is passing profound judgment on ar
obscure point in Homer For severa
pages he writes in slipshod, choppy
memoranda like fashion, only to sWinl
suddenly into q smooth, artificial serie!
Of cadences.
Truetalk and banahty chase one an
other through the pages of "Instiga
tons so rapidly that the reader is be
wildered to the point of believing tha
everything that the author utters j.
either gospel or nonsense, depcndn.
on the prejudices Of the reader. rcv
writer's have put the case for YER
libre we'll as Mr. Pound in thi
passage:
l,-
of music that takes count Of the shape
OF the rhythm in melody rather thar
Of the bar divisions, which came rathe-
late in the history of written musi,
and were certainly not the first or mos
important thing that musicians at
tempted to record. The creation o.
such shapes IS part of thematic inven
ton. Some musicians have the facult,
Of invention, rhythmic, mclodic. Like
wise some poets
'unless man can put some the
matte invention into vers hbre he woult
perhaps do we'll to stick to regular
meters, which have certain chances o
being musical from Their form. aNt
certain other chances of being musica
through his failure in fitting thei
form. In vers nbre his musical chance
are but in sensitivity and invention
On the other hand, there are attack
on Victorian literature Of q svpe tina
, could De written by any schoolgirl Will
far knowledge of the writings OF H
l.. Mencken (by the way. SCHOOLGIRL
nowadays read Mr. Mencken fervidl,
and speak Of him as "Henry"; whicl
intelligence may fret that delightful
critic, but which indicates also tha
the young idea may learn to shoe
straighter hereafter). Among the mos
violent of Mr.. Pounds vacaries is tn
notion that one of William Carlo
Williams poems, "Portra;t of Wom
an in Bed" is "a poem that could b
translated into French or any othe
modern language and hold its own wit
the contemporary product of whateve
country one chose" We cannot shar
his rapture over such segments as
The country physician
is damned fool
and you,
can 60 to helll"r