Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 1. E.P. ODE POUR L'ELECTION DE SON SEPULCHRE, by EZRA POUND


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HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 1. E.P. ODE POUR L'ELECTION DE SON SEPULCHRE, by         Recitation by Author     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: For three years, out of key with his time
Last Line: No adjunct to the muses' diadem.
Variant Title(s): Pour L'election De Son Sepulchre: E.p. Ode
Subject(s): London; Poetry & Poets


LIFE AND CONTACTS

For three years, out of key with his time,
He strove to resuscitate the dead art
Of poetry; to maintain "the sublime"
In the old sense. Wrong from the start --

No, hardly, but seeing he had been born
In a half savage country, out of date;
Bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn;
Capaneus; trout for factitious bait;

"Idmen gar toi panth'hos eni Troiei,"
Caught in the unstopped ear;
Giving the rocks small lee-way
The chopped seas held him, therefore, that year.

His true Penelope was Flaubert,
He fished by obstinate isles;
Observed the elegance of Circe's hair
Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials.

Unaffected by "the march of events,"
He passed from men's memory in l'an trentiesme
De son eage; the case presents
No adjunct to the Muses' diadem.





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