I have had courage to accuse; And a fine wit that could upbraid; And a nice cunning that could bruise; And a shrewd wisdom, unafraid Of what weak mortals fear to lose.
I have had virtue to despise The sophistry of pious fools; I have had firmness to chastise; And intellect to make me rules To estimate and exorcise.
I have had knowledge to be true; My faith could obstacles remove; But now my frailty I endue. I would have courage now to love, And lay aside the strength I knew.
No doubt this active will, So bravely steeped in sun, This will has vanquished Death And foiled oblivion.
But this indifferent clay, This fine, experienced hand So quiet, and these thoughts That all unfinished stand,
Feel death as though it were A shadowy caress; And win and wear a frail Archaic wistfulness.
Ezra (Loomis) Pound was born at Hailey, Idaho, October 30, 1885; attended Hamilton College and the University of Pennsylvania; and went abroad, seeking fresh material to complete a thesis on Lope de Vega, in 1908. After visiting Spain on a roundabout journey to England, where he took up his residence and where he has lived ever since, Pound halted for a while in Italy. It was there, in Venice, to be precise, that Pound’s first book, _A Lume Spento_ (1908), was printed. The following year Pound went to London and the chief poems of the little volume were incorporated in _Personæ_ (1909), a small collection containing some of Pound’s finest work.
Although the young American was a total stranger to the English literary world, his book made a definite impression on critics of all shades and tastes. Edward Thomas, one of the most careful appraisers, wrote “the beauty of it is the beauty of passion, sincerity and intensity, not of beautiful words and images and suggestions.... The thought dominates the words and is greater than they are.” Another critic (Scott James) placed the chief emphasis on Pound’s metrical innovations, saying, “At first the whole thing may seem to be mere madness and rhetoric, a vain exhibition of force and passion without beauty. But as we read on, these curious meters seem to have a law and order of their own.”
_Exultations_ (1909) was printed in the autumn of the same year that saw the appearance of _Personæ_. It was received with even greater cordiality; a new force and freedom were manifest in such poems as “Sestina: Altaforte,” “Ballad of the Goodly Fere,” “Francesca” and “Histrion.”
