Biography: ‘Ezra Pound: Poet, Volume III, The Tragic Years 1939

Ezra Pound (1885-1972) wrote great poetry and criticism, tirelessly promoted the careers of such writers as T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and William Carlos Williams, revitalized the art of translation, and rediscovered the poetry of China and Japanese Noh drama. No 20th-century writer has had a greater influence.

He also strongly supported Benito Mussolini, made broadcasts for Rome Radio during the Second World War, wrote scurrilous anti-Semitic articles during that war and was indicted for treason.

David Moody’s preface provides some of the major themes of the final volume of his massive biography of Ezra Pound. The American poet was a “flawed idealist” whose broadcasts for Rome Radio during the Second World War led to his indictment for treason and his imprisonment for 13 years. Moody acknowledges “his moral offense, the anti-Semitism of which he was guilty.” But Pound’s case became a travesty of psychiatry and justice, as those to whom he entrusted his defense betrayed him.

Part One, which covers the war years, contains new material, though much of Pound’s activities during this period are familiar from other work (which Moody acknowledges). He portrays Pound’s arrest vividly.

Part Two is devoted solely to 1945, during which Pound was interrogated by the FBI in Genoa, imprisoned under harsh conditions at the U.S. Army Disciplinary Training Center near Pisa and composed his greatest work, The Pisan Cantos, for which Moody offers an elegant and lucid explication.

Part Three contains one largish chapter, “American Justice,” subdivided into sections in which Moody develops the main argument of this volume: that Pound’s lawyer, Julien Cornell, seriously misrepresented him and that government psychiatrists colluded to determine falsely that Pound was insane.

There was considerable public clamor for Pound’s execution, with the only point of division being that some favored hanging and some shooting. In any case, the declaration of insanity to avoid a trial meant that the poet lost the right to make legally binding decisions for himself for the rest of his life, with all decision-making turned over to the “Committee for Ezra Pound,” his wife, Dorothy.

Part Four treats Pound's imprisonment in Washington, D.C.'s St. Elizabeths Hospital from 1946 to 1958, starting with a year in the ghastly Howard Hall cell ("the Hell Hole"). Pound was moved to Center Building, a distinctly better environment, and was allowed to receive visitors, who included most of the important poets of the time. He was given lawn privileges and eventually attracted a group of young disciples. Moody covers in depth and with discernment the very large body of work, including more sections of The Cantos and translations from Chinese that Pound produced in this period.

There was significant international demand for his release.

Moody demonstrates with skillful archival work that the government realized that it did not have a case against Pound, but Dr. Winfred Overholser, the superintendent of St. Elizabeths, stubbornly stuck to his mistaken initial diagnosis that Pound was insane, even though the poet was producing significant literary work.

Pound became romantically attracted to a new visitor, Marcella Spann from Texas. When he was released in 1958, Pound, his wife, and Spann left for Italy and took up residence in separate apartments in an Italian castle where his daughter, Mary de Rachewiltz, lived with her husband, Boris, and their two children. Pound’s affection for Spann was complicated by the fact that Dorothy had control of Pound’s money.

Part Five, covering 1958 to 1972, concludes the volume. After Pound’s joyous arrival at Brunnenburg produced a burst of energy and new work, tensions became apparent. Pound loved Spann: They traveled together and he proposed marriage. Ezra, Dorothy and Spann also traveled as a trio and for a time they rented a flat in Rapallo. Although Spann was officially Pound’s secretary, the situation bordered on scandal.

Realizing she didn’t fit in, Spann returned to the United States, whereupon Pound entered a major depression and stopped eating.

He was placed in a clinic in Merano and fed intravenously. When it became clear that Dorothy could not care for him, Olga Rudge, Mary’s mother and a concert violinist of note, took over his care.

Rudge and Pound divided their time between her houses near Rapallo and in Venice.

A long series of intermittent health problems ensued, meticulously if depressingly documented by Moody.

Pound was greatly acclaimed and often visited, but he spent his last years in almost total silence. He died in 1972 in Venice at the age of 87.

In a work of this scope and ambition occasional errors occur, but they are few. Moody’s magnificent accomplishment commands respect. His authoritative three-volume biography of Ezra Pound will stand for decades.

Tim Redman is a professor of literary studies in the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Ezra Pound: Poet

Volume III, The Tragic Years 1939–1972

A. David Moody

(Oxford, $35)