Ezra Pound, Canzoni

Jon Elek (Queen Mary, University of London)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Jul 1911

Places

England (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

Canzoni, Ezra Pound’s fifth book of poetry, is a peculiar one; it is perhaps even more so than A Lume Spento (1908), which had, in a sense, announced his arrival on London’s exciting literary scene. What is most startling about Canzoni, which translates as “song” in medieval Italian, is the disparity, with respect to tone, diction and style, between its opening and concluding sequences. The poems in the first two thirds encapsulate the torpor, affectation, nostalgia, obscurantism and preciousness that so often mar Pound’s early writing. It is unsurprising, then, that the Westminster Gazette called Canzoni a “medley of pretension” or that Charles Granville termed it “a lamentable …

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1107 words

Citation: Elek, Jon. "Canzoni". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 March 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6100, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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