Blogging Pound’s The Cantos: Cantos XXXIV-XXXVI

John Quincy Adams
This entry is part 29 of 57 in the series Blogging Pound's The Cantos

This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, a few at a time. These are not exactly typical readings of the poems, so much as readings I’m doing with a specific research project in mind for a fiction project I’d like to write next year. If you’d like to know more about the project, I recommend scrolling down to the bottom of extended post, and reading the first installment in this series. Yesterday, I launched into Eleven New Cantos XXXI-XLI with a short essay (which it is, more than a close …

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Blogging Pound’s The Cantos: Canto XXXI-XXXIII

Thomas Jefferson
This entry is part 28 of 57 in the series Blogging Pound's The Cantos

This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, a few at a time. These are not exactly typical readings of the poems, so much as readings I’m doing with a specific research project in mind — how to write Ezra Pound as a figure in a novel in which modernist artists, poets, and musicians secretly waged an occult war in the earlier half of the 20th century. Or maybe about artists, musicians, and poets waging a secret, occult war in some other world vaguely like ours, in a time period …

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The Mays of Ventadorn by W.S. Merwin

The Mays of Ventadorn
This entry is part 27 of 57 in the series Blogging Pound's The Cantos

While I must admit to having read none of Merwin’s poetry, I found myself quite curious about his book, The Mays of Ventadorn; since encountering the most famous of the songs of Bernart de Ventadorn, I have always considered him my favorite troubadour. (And while this is not unusual–Bernart was something of a rockstar in his day, and is well-remembered today–I was pleased to discover that my fascination was shared by Merwin.) This book was published by National Geographic Directions, and is part of a series titled The Literary Travel Series, a job for which Merwin is well-suited, having spent …

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Ezra Pound Posts Delayed

This entry is part 26 of 57 in the series Blogging Pound's The Cantos

Those reading along will note that I missed last week’s Ezra Pound post: I got busy, and am still working my way through the source text I want to discuss. To add to that, I’m currently traveling and though I’ve read and thought about Cantos XXXI-XXXIII, I won’t be able to post about them until sometime tomorrow or the next day. I don’t really have a lot to say about them at the moment, so maybe that’s a sign more thought is needed anyway. Anyway, more coming soon…  

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Blogging Pound’s The Cantos: Canto XXVIII-XXX

Pope Alexander (Alessandro) Vl
This entry is part 25 of 57 in the series Blogging Pound's The Cantos

This post is one in a series of readings I’m posting of each poem in Ezra Pound’s The Cantos, a few at a time. These are not exactly typical readings of the poems, so much as readings I’m doing with a specific research project in mind — how to write Ezra Pound as a figure in a novel in which modernist artists, poets, and musicians secretly waged an occult war in the earlier half of the 20th century. Or maybe about artists, musicians, and poets waging a secret, occult war in some other world vaguely like ours, in a time period …

Continue Reading