Comment 19 of 39, added on August 10th, 2005 at 5:47 PM.

Yes, right, see Paul Bard's comment #11; the girl is being pursued and
changing into a tree to elude her persuer. This poem may make the most
sense if you read the first stanza as the words of the girl as she is
changing, the second as the words of the guy who loves her but can't quite
catch up.
The fun thing about Pound is how he has so much other literature in his
mind as he writes. He's great on his own but gets even better once you
figure out what he's referring to. In "Metamorphoses," The Roman poet Ovid
told the story of Daphne, daughter of a river god. She was beautiful but
shunned all suitors. One day Apollo, the sun god, saw her when she was
hunting in the woods. He followed her but she was a fast runner, and fled.
He called and called but she wouldn't stop, and for a long time he couldn't
catch her; nymphs like Daphne knew it was too risky to have a god for a
lover. As she approached the river she felt his breath on her neck, called
out to her father for help, and immediately she began changing into a
laurel tree. Apollo watched the change with dismay and grief. Pound seems
to add a hint of self-disgust in there too: "And all this is folly to the
world." Kind of like, what a waste. But still she's beautiful, even as a
plant. And all this in ten quick lines! For more on the Daphne story, see
if your library has "Mythology," by Edith Hamilton, & check out p. 155.

Tom Rea from United States

Comment 17 of 39, added on June 13th, 2005 at 5:42 AM.

Exactly.What we really wanna write in our poems can only exist in imagnary
world n when we have finished writing a poem n come back to the real world,
it seems like whatever we have written will look foolish to the people who
will read it.But that carries a very moralic lesson.

Anne from Pakistan

Comment 15 of 39, added on May 1st, 2005 at 2:54 PM.

I don't understand this poem. But I put it down in my notebook. It made me
write my own poem of Wonder, because it made me wonder. I love how Ezra
expressed his/her words in a different way. I'm happy I came to this
website!!!!

Natalie from United States

Comment 13 of 39, added on April 6th, 2005 at 5:05 PM.

If we aren´t prepared we cant understand this.Ezra's poems are a mix of
perfection and sure.

Leonardo from Brazil

Comment 11 of 39, added on April 5th, 2005 at 2:43 AM.

This poem elaborates Ezra's view on history and culture in the context of a
young woman. The world of dry dead energyless civilisation is contrasted
against the natural pagan world, symbolised by the girl.

In ancient Rome there are many examples of women turning into plants and
animals in their fiction, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses. In this context of
the ancient world this happens in the presence of a God desiring the
woman.

Here I beleive the desire is unsatisfied, and the woman eludes him by
turning into a tree. Pound the poet is represented as a God in pursuit of
the human girl. The tendency of Pound to egotistical overstatement is
subtle here. But I understand that's what got him committed in his treason
case to an insane asylum.

Paul Bard from Australia