Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

Ezra Pound to his parents, letters 1895-1929, edited by Mary de Rachewiltz, A. David Moody and Joanna Moody

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contains biographical information

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non fiction

Ezra Pound to his parents

edited by Mary de Rachewiltz, A. David Moody and Joanna Moody

letters 1895-1929

The poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972) was the only child of Homer Loomis Pound (1858-1942) and Isabel Weston Pound (1860-1948). He grew up in Philadelphia, where his father was an assayer in the U.S. Mint; was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and at Hamilton College in upstate New York; taught briefly at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana; then left America for London, where he lived from 1908 to the end of 1 920, after which he lived in Paris until 1 924, and then in Rapallo, Italy. His letters home reveal not only the warm affection, openness, and playfulness of the young man to his devoted parents, from schooldays through college and on into his life as teacher, poet, and critic, but also the ways in which he shared with them the ideas, influences, and experiences that went into the development of his exceptional poetic genius. He kept them in touch with his progress in realising his ambition to become a good and powerful poet, with what he was writing and doing, who he was meeting, his dealings with publishers, editors, and magazines, and his bold plans for reforms and revolutions. The letters are a rich mine of information about Pound himself and about the literary and social worlds in which he moved and had his being. They also display his epistolary idiosyncrasies and his inventive and witty way with words. Altogether they are of great human as well as literary and historical interest, and give an intimate insight into this revolutionary and influential poet's life and work. This is an essential volume for anyone interested in Pound, and an irresistible book for the general reader curious about literary life in the twentieth century. --

Isabel and Homer : a double memoir / Mary de Rachewiltz -- A note on this edition / Mary de Rachewiltz -- Editorial note -- Acknowledgements -- Chronology -- Letters. America : 1895-1908 (nos. 1-152) ; Gibraltar, Venice, London : 1908-11 (nos. 153-340) ; London : 1911-14 (nos. 341-460) ; War years : 1914-18 (nos. 461-559) ; London, Paris : 1918-24 (nos. 560-691) ; Rapallo : 1924-29 (nos. 692-849)