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Ezra Pound And Modernist Poetry

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The following poems share a similar theme: Ezra Pound’s “A Few Don’ts,” Wallace Stevens’ “Of Modern Poetry,” Archibald Macleish’s “Ars Poetica,” and Marianne Moore’s “Poetry.” Each of these authors felt they had discovered superlative methods to write the most powerful poetry. However, the details and methods which each author used varied from one another. Born in 1885, Ezra pound is known as one of Modernist poetry’s biggest contributors. His poetry of the early 20th century was unconventional and controversial for its time. He studied endlessly to understand every facet of poetry and pave his own way in the field. He pioneered the imagist movement and developed rubrics which imagist poems were to follow. In “A Few Don’ts,” Ezra Pound …show more content…

His poetry is experimental and was influenced by the works of numerous modernist poets. As he aged, his poems developed to be more traditional. Many of his works in the 1930’s analyzed social and political issues that plagued the world during this period. “Ars Poetica” challenges how one interprets their own reality, and his own guidelines to powerful poetry. He uses strong, apt images to convey his points. MacLeish believes a poem should be “worldess As the flight of birds” (MacLeish 789). This poem is much more abstract than the other two, but shares the same theme of trying to connect to the reader and illicit strong feelings. MacLeish believes that “A poem should not mean But be”(MacLeish 790). A poem should speak for itself and use strong images for the reader to ponder. This leaves the poem more open to interpretation and discussion. Marianne Moore was born in Missouri in 1887. She was a modernist poet; however, the subjects which she chose to write about differed from the average modernist. Most modernist poetry during this time was centered around the state of modern civilization. Moore chose to center her poetry around animals, nature, and poetry itself. Her poem “Poetry” starts off somewhat perplexing when she states “I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle” (Moore 791). This is demonstrating irony, because

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