To honor St-Valentines day, my English teacher had the brilliant idea to write a piece of writing about love, not just any kind of love ... bad love! On my part, I chose to write a poem based on the style of my teacher's favorite poet, Ezra Pound. I don't know if it's because I was unconsciously turning into a teacher pet or if I was lured by his unusual name, but the next thing I know is that I was screaming: "WHY did you have to do that?!?!"
Despite being a Mussolini regime sympathizer and an Anti-Semitist, in terms of writing, Pound was a genius. As my teacher would put it, “he stops time”. Throw away the rhymes and the metical system; what matters the most is the harmony of the rhythm and the choice of words. (If you’ve never read his work, I definitely recommend you to!) Above that, he is one of the rare human beings who can actually translate foreign poetry such as Chinese poems and Haikus. In fact, many of his poems were inspired by the Haiku structure. Here’s one of my favorites:
Fan-piece, For Her Imperial Lord
O fan of white silk,
clear as frost on the grass-blade,
You also are laid aside.
- Ezra Pound
Gorgeous! I won’t go into the meaning of this poem or else this post would never end, but do you see how the simplest of description mixed with a harmonious rhythm can create such a powerful emotional impact? Ezra Pound was the very vehicle of the modernist movement in poetry … and I have to stand up to him. If I don’t, I’m going to fail this term! So now you can understand why I’m kind of freaking out!!! All the poems I’ve written till now are garbage compared to his. Maybe I’ll post them when they’ll be finalized, or maybe I’ll be too ashamed to even do so!
Dear Ezra Pound, I wish you could help me…May you rest in peace…
Despite being a Mussolini regime sympathizer and an Anti-Semitist, in terms of writing, Pound was a genius. As my teacher would put it, “he stops time”. Throw away the rhymes and the metical system; what matters the most is the harmony of the rhythm and the choice of words. (If you’ve never read his work, I definitely recommend you to!) Above that, he is one of the rare human beings who can actually translate foreign poetry such as Chinese poems and Haikus. In fact, many of his poems were inspired by the Haiku structure. Here’s one of my favorites:
Fan-piece, For Her Imperial Lord
O fan of white silk,
clear as frost on the grass-blade,
You also are laid aside.
- Ezra Pound
Gorgeous! I won’t go into the meaning of this poem or else this post would never end, but do you see how the simplest of description mixed with a harmonious rhythm can create such a powerful emotional impact? Ezra Pound was the very vehicle of the modernist movement in poetry … and I have to stand up to him. If I don’t, I’m going to fail this term! So now you can understand why I’m kind of freaking out!!! All the poems I’ve written till now are garbage compared to his. Maybe I’ll post them when they’ll be finalized, or maybe I’ll be too ashamed to even do so!
Dear Ezra Pound, I wish you could help me…May you rest in peace…
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