Music Friday!
Ezra Pound, "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter"
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As I have written previously, Ezra Pound is a complicated, difficult, yet vital figure in the history of American poetry. My favorite work by Pound is his shorter work, especially the poems in Cathay. Cathay is an interesting project because they are translations of translations—Pound was heavily influenced by the translation work of Ernest Fenollosa, whose translations of Chinese characters were groundbreaking but often flawed and inaccurate (that’s the nature of scholarship). But Pound’s translations, regardless of their accuracy, have always been things of beauty to me, especially this one: “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter.” The poem’s voice is immaculate.
And so, continuing this quirky project of setting canonical poetry to music, here it is!
Have a great weekend!