Ezra Pound

Born in Hailey, Idaho, in 1885, Ezra Pound studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Hamilton College before moving to Europe in 1908. He became one of the central figures of modernist poetry, helping lead Imagism and encouraging a sharper, more musical, more economical style of verse.

Pound was not only a poet but a powerful literary advocate. He supported and promoted major writers including T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and H.D., and his own books such as Ripostes, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, and the long-running Cantos helped define the look and sound of twentieth-century poetry.

His life was also marked by serious controversy. During World War II he made radio broadcasts in Italy that supported fascism and expressed antisemitic views, a record that continues to shape how he is read today. He died in Venice in 1972, leaving behind a body of work that is both highly influential and morally troubling.