Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Anne Stevenson's "At the Grave of Ezra Pound," the speaker makes a pilgrimage to the gravesite of one of the most controversial and enigmatic figures in 20th-century poetry. The poem reflects not just on Pound's life but also on his posthumous reputation, providing a nuanced look at how legacy can be both monumental and diminishing. The experience of the visit is filtered through a series of contrasts that echo the complexity of Pound's own life and work.

The poem opens with a reference to Venice and Crawfordsville, Indiana, taken from Pound's own "Pavannes and Divagations," immediately placing the reader into a juxtaposition of the exotic and the mundane. It sets the stage for the spiritual journey that visiting Pound's grave turns out to be. Stevenson then describes the setting as "Cimmerian"-dark, shadowy, and murky-which underscores the somberness of the occasion and possibly alludes to the darker aspects of Pound's life, including his notorious political affiliations and the contentious elements in his writing.

As the speaker passes through "the aisle of bambini," we are confronted with a vivid image of well-maintained graves, adorned with "white stones," "colored photographs," and "cut flowers." This serves as a contrast to Pound's own gravesite, described as "dank" and "shady." The phrase "Readable but not believable" aptly captures the enigma that Pound continues to be-a man as legible through his works as he is incomprehensible through his actions and beliefs.

One of the most striking elements of the poem is the absence of the mythological aura that Pound so often evoked in his poetry. Stevenson notes that "No sylva nympharum shone / Around him, tremulously clear." The grandeur and the mythical tapestry that Pound wove around himself are absent. Instead, we find "Olga alone, faithful and morose," sharing his "bracket of sour undergrowth," an image that humanizes Pound, rendering him just another man in death, shorn of the myths and the mystique. Olga serves as both a symbol of loyalty and a sobering touch of reality.

The poem closes by focusing on the silence that envelops Pound's grave: "Whatever he might be writing / Wrathfully against our age / Moulders unheard, unwanted / On that tangled page." Pound's voice, once loud, defiant, and challenging, is now unheard-buried, like the man himself. The plea to "Aletha, goddess of sea-farers" serves as both a tribute and a lament, encapsulating the dual nature of Pound's legacy, before ending on a darker note, questioning "what further betrayals / Gather the dark against him?"

Stevenson's poem thus becomes a quiet meditation on the complexities of legacy and the inescapable mortality that awaits us all, even figures as contentious and grandiose as Ezra Pound. It invites us to ponder the conflicting emotions that such a figure inspires, captured brilliantly in the shades of gray that fill this somber, reflective piece.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...