Ezra Pound was a man of many talents. He was a critic and a poet and cemented himself as a prominent figure in the Modernist movement, as well as the Imagism movement. Though he was disillusioned by the carnage introduced by World War I, he still stood strong in his beliefs and continued moving forward.

Ezra Pound was born in 1885. When he was a child, he attended a variety of private elementary schools and was published in the Jenkintown Times-Chronicle. Later on, he attended the Cheltenham Military Academy, where he learned subjects such as Latin, English, and discipline. By the time he turned 15, he went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania. During this time, he met a woman named Hilda Doolittle, who would later become the poet, H.D. The two went to London, where they encountered the Imagism movement.

Soon after, Pound’s parents had him transfer to Hamilton College, where he studied Old English and dialect. Eventually, he came back to the University of Pennsylvania where he received his masters and applied for the Ph.D. program. After graduating, he taught languages at the Wabash College, all the while amusingly describing it as “the sixth circle as hell.” Unsurprisingly, he was fired after smoking, arguing with his colleagues, and entertaining many guests.

Pound published his first book called A Lume Spento, which was praised by The London Evening Standard as spiritual and imaginative. Pound released his collection called Personae, which was viewed as humanistic and personal. But while most reception was positive, Rupert Brooke compared the work to Walt Whitman, finding it unoriginal. He published other books as well, including his essays and even a book of criticism, titled The Spirit of Romance. He was eventually hired by The New Age, and this gave him a steady job. He would go on to write other works, including Cathay, The Sonnets and Ballate of Guido Cavalcanti, and Polite Essays.

Pound had a distinct style many critics admired. He introduces the reader to various contradictions that ultimately lead the reader to one conclusion. What’s more, Pound deliberately ignored the influences of Victorian England and decided to come up with a rather unique form of language, one that helped build, and later strengthen, the Modernist movement. Pound was also a minimalist, removing elaborate words and prose in order to leave the reader with its true meaning.

Pound has left a history of literature and art for many to follow. T.S. Eliot praised Pound as a writer who paved a way for poetry into the 20th century. Donald Hall has even described Pound as the individual responsible for bringing writing into the modern age. It’s been said that Pound had taken inspiration from medieval troubadours, and has left succinct messages that are easy to understand, whether it be for the general audience or a political one. And while Pound was a controversial man, from his political beliefs to his somewhat treason-filled actions, Pound is still remembered as a writer who laid bare the truths that were so often lost in words.