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The poet conducts an investigation into the causes of the Great War - World War I - in attempting to
explain why it was that so many soldiers fought. He decides that the reasons were varied, but at its most
basic was the fact the western civilization itself was corrupt and dying, and spokesmen for it had mislead
the soldiers into believing it was a good thing to die for one's country.
ABOUT THE POET
Ezra Pound was born in 1885 in Hailey (Idaho) but his family moved to Pennsylvania when he was 18
months old. He was an only child of Quaker ancestry and, indeed, his early schooling was with the
Quakers.
From age 13 he attended the Cheltenham Military Academy, where he had to wear uniforms based on
those of the American Civil War. The scholars were also heavily regimented and were taught the
importance of obedience to authority.
At the age of 15 he was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania's College of Liberal Arts where he
would complete two years before moving to Hamilton College, graduating in 1905 with a Bachelor of
Philosophy degree.
Pound has been described as being "clever, independent, conceited, and unpopular". Even in his early
years he had decided that he wanted to be a poet. His first publication was at the age of 11, in the
Jenkintown Times Chronicle: a limerick making fun of an American politician who had lost the
Presidential election.
He was somewhat of a philanderer in his earlier years, simultaneously asking two women to marry him
in 1907 but eventually marrying Dorothy Shakespear in 1914.
After teaching at Wabash College for two years, he travelled abroad to Spain, Italy and London. There
he became interested in Japanese and Chinese poetry. He liked the clarity, precision and economy of
language in their poetry.
It was this which inspired him to start a movement that he called Imagism which would launch what
is now known as the Modernist movement in poetry.
He also corresponded with a host of poets in both Britain and America and was personally responsible
for promoting their work. These included such greats as W. B. Yeats, Robert Frost, James Joyce, Ernest
Hemingway and T.S. Eliot.
The poet was appalled at the death and destruction caused in the Great War where many of his friends
had died. He saw the reasons as being none other than the capitalist philosophy of the western
civilization, espoused especially by America and Great Britain.
In 1924, he moved to Italy where he became involved in Fascist politics. He was brutal in his
condemnation of the United States which he claimed was a country based on usury (profit-based money
lending) and capitalism.
He also broadcast fascist propaganda to the United States during World War II. Because of this, he was
arrested for treason when he returned to the United States in 1945.
He was eventually declared to be mentally ill and institutionalised. It was during that period that it was
decided to overlook his political past in favour of his influence in the advancement of literature.
When he was released from the mental hospital in 1958, he returned to Italy. He would die as a recluse
in 1972. He was then 77 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"These fought in any case,
and some believing,
pro domo, in any case . . ."
- What is the meaning of "pro domo"? (2)
[Need help?]
"Pro domo" is a Latin word which means "for the house" or "for the home". One could take it in the
broader sense to mean "for the country" although that is really "pro patria".
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- What does the poet means when he says, "These fought in any case"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet is giving the reasons why men enlisted to fight in the war. Some believed in the war. Some
believed in the reasons given. Some didn't. The reasons were many, he concludes, but whatever the
reason they still enlisted to fight for their country.
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"Some quick to arm,
some for adventure,
some from fear of weakness,
some from fear of censure,
some for love of slaughter, in imagination,
learning later . . .
some in fear, learning love of slaughter."
- Summarise all these reasons in your own words. (10)
[Need help?]
Some people, says the poet, will be obedient to authority and will very quickly come to the call to enlist.
Others have a sense of adventure: they like excitement. Some, on the other hand, are afraid that people
would accuse them of being weak if they did not enlist, of lacking backbone.
Some are afraid of being criticised and condemned by others if they didn't volunteer, while others still
enjoy killing people - even if this enjoyment is purely in their imaginations and they haven't yet killed
anyone.
Some, he says, are initially afraid but then they learn to love killing.
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- What is "ellipsis"? What is the purpose of the ellipsis in "some for love of slaughter, in imagination,
| learning later . . ." (4)
[Need help?]
"Elipsis" is the use of dots to replace some hidden but understood words. In this case the poet means that
some have joined the war for their love of killing but learn later that they were wrong and the killing was
senseless.
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"Died some, pro patria,
non dulce' non et decor' . . ."
- Do you know the origin and meaning of the original quotation, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria
mori"? (4)
[Need help?]
No, it does NOT come from Wilfred Owen's poem, "Dulce et decorum est" as some like to think.
In fact, Ezra Pound was very much senior to Owen and so it would be more likely that Owen borrowed the
words from Pound.
The probability, however, is that they both borrowed the words from a Roman poet from the days of the
Roman Empire, a man by the name Horace. He used this original quotation in his "Odes" (III.2.13).
The words mean, "It is sweet and right to die for your country".
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- What does the poet mean with his changed version of the quote, where he twice adds the word
"non"? (4)
[Need help?]
Ezra Pound means that it is NOT sweet and it is NOT right to die for your country.
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- Why does the poet say, "Died some, pro patria, | non dulce' non et decor' . .
."? (4)
[Need help?]
Even though it is NOT sweet and it is NOT right to die for one's country, says the poet, nevertheless many
people still died believing the propaganda to be true.
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"walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men's lies, then unbelieving
came home, home to a lie,
home to many deceits,
home to old lies and new infamy;
usury age-old and age-thick
and liars in public places."
- What is meant by "walked eye-deep in hell"? (4)
[Need help?]
The soldiers were all walking in hell. But they were so deep in it, that it came up to their eyes. The poet
is, of course, referring to the horrors of trench warfare in Northern France. If you can, read some of
Wilfred Owen's descriptions of soldiers in the trenches and the horrors which confronted them there.
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- What does the poet mean when he says that they were "believing in old men's lies, then unbelieving
| came home, home to a lie"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet points out that the soldiers enlisted because they believed in all the lies about it being right and
proper to die for one's country. Once in the trenches, they learned that this was indeed just a lie. There
was nothing right and proper about it at all.
Those who survived, however, then went home after the war and found themselves confronted with
another lie. The politicians and the capitalists, says the poet, are simply lying to everyone all the time.
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- Is it possible to avoid being lied to? (4)
[Need help?]
Probably not. We all say that politicians lie but most of us nevertheless somehow believe their lies. How
is it possible not to believe?
On the other hand, people who are obsessed with making money will also lie all the time about their
intentions in doing so. They can't help it. And capitalist nations which are obsessed with their greed will
also not notice the reasons for their actions.
What do you think?
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