Ezra Pound - Some Gnostic Clues

In Canto LXXXV, Pound implies that each generation has an obligation to pass along the wisdom of the past to the next generation. The poet gives the Chinese ideogram for […]"teach, instruct," and next to that he gives his own made-up Germanic word, Sagetrieb, for "pass on the tradition" (Pound, Cantos 557; Terrell 478-9). Beneath these two commands, Pound places two Chinese ideograms, which translate as "It depends on us" (Pound, Cantos 557; Terrell 479). Finally, the poet writes: "We flop if we cannot maintain the awareness" (Pound, Cantos 557). All of these fragments combine with others in which Pound says in The Cantos that education is failing in modern times, and they work together to assert that the modern world is not meeting its obligation to pass on valuable knowledge about our cultural roots to our children.

At the same time that Pound paints a bleak picture of widespread ignorance, he also presents individuals he perceived to be intellectual heroes, some of whose actions exemplify or promote intellectual development. For example, Domencio Malatesta, brother of the 15th century ruler of Rimini, Fano, and Cesena (in what is Italy today), transported hundreds of ancient Greek manuscripts to the West during the fifteenth century. The risks involved in this effort are illustrated by Pound's mentioning in Canto XXIII that an entire cargo of books had to be chucked overboard during one trip to save the ship in a storm (Pound, Cantos 107). In spite of such setbacks and risks, Domencio founded a library at Cesena, making him one of the intellectual heroes of The Cantos without whose efforts many valuable classical writings about our cultural roots would not have made it to the West (Terrell 39 [see note 31]).

A contemporary of Domencio Malatesta serves as another worthy intellectual model in Canto VIII, Gemisthus Plethon. He was a Byzantine Neo-Platonist philosopher, who served as a representative of the Eastern Christian Church at the council that convened in Italy to attempt to heal the split between what were then the two major branches of the Christian Faith. The Emperor of the Byzantine Empire initiated this effort at reconciliation because he hoped ultimately to enlist European assistance in fighting the Turks, who were threatening the conquest of Constantinople (Terrell 39). Plethon, in spite of his connection with the Eastern Church, was so learned in the classics that he was passionately devoted to Greek mythology. His influence during his visit to the West resulted in the founding of the Platonic Academy of Florence. This institution became a center of the revival of ancient Greek culture in Europe, and Plethon becomes another one of Pound's heroes of learning (Terrell 39).

The Importance of Cultural Learning in the Cantos of Ezra Pound

Alan Kelly (English Department, Millersville University)

http://www.inst.at/trans/15Nr/05_02/kelly15.htm