Exultations

Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 34K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Exultations by Ezra PoundAuthor: Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 10, 2012

Editor's review

Exultations is an early poetry collection by Ezra Pound, now available as a free electronic text from Project Gutenberg. Together with contemporaneous works such as Personae, it reveals Pound's lyrical voice before he formulated his poetics: the language is attentive to sound and rhythm, the imagery dense, carrying echoes of medieval and Provençal poetry, and one can also see his reworking of classical and Romantic traditions. For readers studying the origins of modernist poetry, this collection offers a view of Pound in an intermediate state, moving from traditional lyric toward his later radical poetics; for general poetry lovers, it is short and serves well as an entry point into Pound's early style. It is worth reading aloud, attending to its sound effects and the texture of its diction, and then comparing it with his later theory and translations to see a clearer line of evolution. It should be noted that some of early Pound's diction and attitudes carry the limitations of his time, and readers would do well to maintain a critical eye.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students studying the origins of Anglo-American modernist poetry and Pound's early work
Poetry readers who love lyric verse and care about sound, rhythm, and imagery
Those who need English poetry texts for translation practice or close reading
Readers interested in the modern echoes of Provençal and medieval poetic traditions

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for Pound's mature masterworks such as The Cantos
Those impatient with early modernist experimental language who prefer accessible poetry
Beginners who need a systematic poet biography or a fully annotated edition

Reading tips

Read through once for the rhythm, then pick the poems that move you most and read them aloud repeatedly, attending to sound and pauses.
Read alongside Pound's poetic essays from the same period or slightly later, and observe the gap between this collection and his theoretical claims.
Mark allusions and foreign words as you go, then look them up together afterward, so as not to break the rhythm of reading.
Compare with late nineteenth-century Romantic and Victorian poetry to appreciate Pound's linguistic choices and reactions against them.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this Pound's representative work?

Exultations is an early poetry collection, not one of the mature works such as The Cantos for which he is most often discussed. It is better suited to understanding the formation of Pound's poetic style than to representing his full achievement. A full picture of Pound requires his middle and later works and his poetic criticism as well.

Do I need prior knowledge of Provençal poetry to read this collection?

No expertise is required, but a little familiarity with Provençal lyric and the medieval troubadour tradition will make Pound's word choices and metrics easier to perceive. General readers can begin by reading for feeling and look up obvious foreign words or allusions afterward; lack of background should not be a reason to give up.

Is the Gutenberg edition suitable for citation?

The Gutenberg edition provides a public-domain electronic text suitable for general reading and study. For scholarly citation, check line and page numbers against an authoritative print edition and note the electronic source in your references, so that typesetting differences do not lead to inaccurate citation.

What should readers keep in mind about Pound's early work today?

Pound's early work bears the marks of the early twentieth century, and some wording and attitudes may not accord with present-day sensibilities. Read the text in its historical context while keeping a critical eye, distinguishing poetic craft from ideological limitations, and there is no need to accept it wholesale.

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About the author

Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972 Author

Ezra Pound (1885–1972) was a major figure in twentieth-century Anglo-American modernist poetry. Although much is known about his life, this entry offers only a brief introduction based on the works listed in the library and widely accepted general knowledge. The library holds eight of his works, including poetry collections such as Cathay, Personae, Exultations, Lustra of Ezra Pound, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, and Canzoni & Ripostes, as well as the critical prose work Instigations and Poems 1918-21, Including Three Portraits and Four Cantos. These works show him engaged not only in poetry but also in criticism and translation, with a style marked by verbal precision, vivid imagery, and an active absorption of classical and East Asian poetic resources. Cathay reflects his creative translation and adaptation of classical Chinese poetry, while Hugh Selwyn Mauberley is often regarded as representative of his poetic craft and critical reflection on his era. Pound's writing and editorial activity had a profound influence on formal innovation and international exchange in modern English-language poetry.