Ezra Pound 'A Retrospect'

'When Shakespeare talks of the "Dawn in russet mantle clad" he presents something which the painter does not present. There is in this line of his nothing that one can call description; he presents.

 

Consider the way of the scientists rather than the way of an advertising agent for a new soap.

 

The scientist does not expect to be acclaimed as a great scientist until he has

discovered something. He begins by learning

what has been discovered already. He goes from that point onward. He does not bank on being a charming fellow personally. He does

not expect his friends to applaud the results of his freshman classwork. Freshmen in poetry are unfortunately not confined to a definite and recognizable class room. They are "all over the shop". Is it any wonder "the public is indifferent to poetry?"

 

Don't chop your stuff into separate iambs.

Don't make each line stop dead at the end, and then begin every next line with a heave.

Let the beginning of the next line catch the rise of the rhythm wave, unless you want a definite longish pause.

 

In short, behave as a musician, a good musician, when dealing with that phase of your art which has exact parallels in music. The same laws govern, and you are bound by no others.'

 

http://newpaltzcomposition.pbworks.com/f/Pound,+A+Retrospect.pdf