Comments on: The Foul Rag and Boneshop of the Heart

By: ray

ray — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Great stuff, Loren!

And thanks for turning me on to Crystallyn’s work…gorgeous!

By: language hat

language hat — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

While I think your contrast is true in general, it’s precisely in the Pisan Cantos that Pound, forced by life and suffering to let down his intellectual guard, wrote from his heart in lines that still lacerate the heart of the attentive reader. But I can understand why Williams is more appealing to many people, and goodness knows I love his work; thanks for putting it out there!

By: Loren

Loren — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I did notice that in the Pisan Cantos, particularly in the poem that I quoted from and referred readers to, language hat.

Incidentally, one of my favorite early Pound poems I didn’t cite is called “Villanelle: The Psychological Hour” which describes the narrator waiting for someone to visit and read his works, and ends with the line, “Dear Pound, I am leaving England.”

Generally, I would classify Pound as a “classical” poet, and Williams as a “romantic” poet, and I happen to prefer “romantic” poets. But, no generalization can truly convey the complexity of a good poet.

By: Chris MacGowan

Chris MacGowan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Re Loren’s comment about Williams’ Collected Later Poems not containing “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” from the Pictures from Brueghel sequence–the Collected Later Poems have been out of print for some time, replaced by Collected Poems Vol II, 1939-1962 (New Directions, 1988). It contains all the later poems, including the Icarus poem.