This Is Why Ezra Pound Loved New York

Born in the desolate Idaho Territory in 1885, the Modernist poet Ezra Loomis Pound would come to extoll the diversity and grandeur of New York City, a place as full of internal contradictions as the writer himself. He wrote, “And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban night is like the night there… Squares after squares of flame, set up and cut into the aether. Here is our poetry, for we have pulled down the stars to our will.” After pursuing a career in Venice and London, Pound—described by fellow poet Ford Madox Ford as clad in “trousers made of green billiard cloth, a pink coat, a blue shirt, a tie hand-painted by a Japanese friend, an immense sombrero, a flaming beard cut to a point, and a single, large blue earring”—married the novelist Olivia Shakespear and decamped to New York in 1910. It was there he would write a collection of essays on American life, collected in Patria Mia, which wouldn’t see publication until 1950.

American poet Ezra Pound standing on a pavement nearby a canal. Venice, 1963

Pound loved the cosmopolitan life, but feared that the New York he loved would soon be overtaken by crass commercialism. He soon left the city, only to return in 1939, now the distinguished author of the acclaimed Cantos, hoping to stall the American involvement in World War II. Indeed, Pound’s politics had undergone a drastic change in the interim and, almost inscrutably, had become an advocate for Italian Fascism as represented by Mussolini. He had also come under the influence of anti-Semitism, much to the horror of his contemporaries in the arts. Consigned to an insane asylum after a publishing a series of letters and radio broadcasts condemning the Allies and Western Democracy resulted in his arrest, he stated that the real asylum was America, telling reporters that, “When I left the hospital I was still in America, and all America is an insane asylum.”

Finally released in 1958 and seemingly suffering from dementia, the broken poet returned to his beloved New York, where he attended an exhibition of a new edition of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, which Pound had scrupulously edited, even to the point of being regarded by Eliot as “the better craftsman.” In an interview with a reverent Allen Ginsburg, Pound largely recounted his wartime politics and seemed to believe that his work had failed and that he would die forgotten.

In fact, the opposite occurred, with a generation of New York poets coming to embrace the difficult legacy of Ezra Pound. By the time he died in 1972, the poets who had once been assessed by Time Magazine as “a cat that walks by himself, tenaciously unhousebroken and very unsafe for children” had become a standard-bearer for a new poetry, as taken up by John Ashberry and his contemporaries, who embraced Pound’s mantra of “Make it new.” His contributions to the new urbane schools of poetry, which rejected the nature-worship of the Romantics, included In a Station of the Metro where he mused on the magic of crowds (inspired by the Paris metro) and his development of the Imagism movement in poetry would soon be taken up by a mass of poets writing in New York, the city he both loved and came to revile. The principles of Imagism, which would come to define postwar poetry, was both simple and consummately American, extolling musicality, directness, and using no word that does not contribute to the presentation.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.