W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, and the Poetry of Paradise PDF
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W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, and the Poetry of Paradise Sean Pryor W.B. Yeats, ezra Pound and the PoetrY of Paradise For Sal W.B. Yeats, ezra Pound and the Poetry of Paradise sean PrYor University of New South Wales, Australia © sean Pryor 2011 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. sean Pryor has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing Limited ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court east suite 420 union road 101 Cherry street farnham Burlington surrey, Gu9 7Pt Vt 05401-4405 england usa www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Pryor, sean. W.B. Yeats, ezra Pound and the poetry of paradise. 1. Yeats, W. B. (William Butler), 1865–1939 – Criticism and interpretation. 2. Pound, ezra, 1885–1972 – Criticism and interpretation. 3. Poetics. 4. Modernism (Literature) i. title 821.9’1209-dc22 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pryor, sean. W.B. Yeats, ezra Pound and the poetry of paradise / by sean Pryor. p. cm. includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-0660-0 (alk. paper) 1. Yeats, W. B. (William Butler), 1865–1939—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Pound, ezra, 1885–1972—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Paradise in literature. 4. american poetry—20th century—history and criticism. 5. Modernism (Literature). i. title. Pr5907.P79 2011 821’.8—dc22 2010036787 ISBN: 9781409406600 (hbk) ISBN: 9781409429043 (ebk) V Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements ix Note on the Texts xi List of Abbreviations xiii 1 the old Commandment 1 2 Embarking for Cythera 35 3 hollow Lands and holy Lands 79 4 shut Gardens 117 5 ever turning other Worlds 163 Bibliography 203 Index 217 This page has been left blank intentionally Preface ‘My dear ezra’, wrote Yeats to Pound on 23 november 1919, ‘Criticism is the way to a short & miserable life and certainly my lecture will contain none’ – not the most encouraging words for a critic! dangers do lie in wait for someone wanting to write a book like this. There are already many fine studies of both poets, who have been lucky to attract such gifted scholars. This is daunting company. And it is not possible to give an exhaustive account of two bodies of work this large, this diverse and this complex; the choices i have made will not please every reader. i am well aware that i have only traced a thread in that sprawling tapestry, but i hope it is a thread worth seeing. Yeats and Pound were good friends, but this is not a study of their influence on each other. Nor do I begin with Yeats’s first writings in the late 1880s and, moving through a strict chronology, end with Pound’s final poems in the 1960s. Instead I roughly chart their journeys in parallel. After a first chapter establishing the terms of their quest for a poetry of paradise and exploring its heritage in the Romantics and Victorians, my second chapter treats both writers’ early works. The third chapter examines Yeats’s poetry from the 1910s to the early 1930s, while the fourth addresses Pound’s poetry of the 1930s and 1940s. The final chapter looks at the two friends’ late works together. I hope that this structure helps to bring out affinities and correspondences which might otherwise go unnoticed. Despite Yeats’s warning my experience in writing this book has been overwhelmingly a pleasure, and for this I have many people to thank. I am especially indebted to david trotter for his deep critical insight and wisdom. Without his support, generously given over many years, this book would not have happened. For invaluable advice and encouragement I would also like to thank Ron Bush, Mark Byron, Nicholas Cranfield, Heather Glen, Emma Jones, Henrik Latter, Angela Leighton, Fiona McFarlane, Julian Murphet, Keiko Nowacka, Ian Patterson, Adrian Phoon, Joseph Rosenberg and Jan Schramm. The Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, generously supported this work during its doctoral phase, and the project was finished during a postdoctoral fellowship kindly provided by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales. The staff of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University and of the Houghton Library at Harvard University were remarkably understanding and helpful. Finally, my deepest thanks go to my parents and my sister, shefali. This book is for Sally Smith, who knows what it means to set out on long journeys, to discover yourself in places and in ways you could not have anticipated, and to do so together. This page has been left blank intentionally Acknowledgements a version of a part of my second chapter appeared in Insistent Images, ed. Elżbieta Tabakowska, Christina Ljungberg and Olga Fischer (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007), pp. 91–102. This material is reprinted with the kind permission of John Benjamins Publishing Company, amsterdam and Philadelphia. a version of a part of the fifth chapter appeared in Paideuma 36.1–2 (2007–2009); and a version of a part of the second chapter appeared in Paideuma 37.1–2 (2010). I am thankful to the editors of Paideuma for permission to recast material from these articles. Grateful acknowledgement is made to Faber and Faber Ltd, for permission to quote from The Cantos of ezra Pound, and to a P Watt Ltd, on behalf of Gráinne Yeats, for permission to quote from the poetry of W. B. Yeats. Previously unpublished material by ezra Pound is copyright © 2010 by Mary de rachewiltz and omar s. Pound. used by permission of new directions Publishing Corporation. For permission to quote from the following poems, grateful acknowledgement is also made: ‘sailing to Byzantium’ and ‘the tower’ reprinted with the permission of scribner, a division of simon & schuster, inc., from The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, edited by Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach. Copyright © 1928 by the Macmillan Company; copyright renewed © 1956 by Georgie Yeats. all rights reserved. ‘a dialogue of self and soul’ and ‘Byzantium’ reprinted with the permission of scribner, a division of simon & schuster, inc., from The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, edited by Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach. Copyright © 1933 by the Macmillan Company; copyright renewed © 1961 by Bertha Georgie Yeats. all rights reserved. ‘ribh at the tomb of Baile and aillinn’ reprinted with the permission of scribner, a division of simon & schuster, inc., from The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, edited by Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach. Copyright © 1934 by the Macmillan Company; copyright renewed © 1962 by Bertha Georgie Yeats. all rights reserved. ‘John Kinsella’s Lament for Mrs. Mary Moore’, ‘Cuchulain Comforted’ and ‘news for the delphic oracle’ reprinted with the permission of scribner, a division of simon & schuster, inc., from The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, edited by Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach. Copyright © 1934 by The Macmillan Company; copyright renewed © 1962 by Bertha Georgie Yeats. all rights reserved.
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