The+River+Merchant's+Wife+A+Letter

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Perhaps one of the most controversial names in Modernism literature is Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound, “ambitious for himself, poetry, and Western civilization”, found his poetic inspiration in the study of language and diction (Baym 1204). When fired from his first teaching job, Pound left for Europe, engaging himself in London’s literary life with the intention of transforming modern poetry (Baym 1204). Ezra Pound whole-heartedly campaigned for styles of poetry such as “imagism” and “vorticism”, both of which were brief formal poetic movements but show their influence in most twentieth century poetry (Baym 1205). Pound left London in 1920 in search “for a society in which art was protected from money and to record this search in poems and essays” (Baym 1205). A change in Pound’s social and political values ultimately led to his support of fascist leader Benito Mussolini (Baym 1205). When American soldiers occupied Italy, Pound was captured and arrested for treason; he was then brought back to the United States to be tried in court, but was declared “’insane and mentally unfit to be tried’” (Baym 1205). With this, from the years of 1946-1958, Pound was a patient of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the criminally insane (Baym 2105). When released in 1958, Pound returned to Italy. Pound’s poem, //The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter// is a Modernism poem that speaks of a man looking back on his younger days and how he has spent his life loving and waiting on the same girl (Pound 1207). This poem is melancholy, beautiful, and pleading. //The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter// addresses the common Modernism theme of alienation and isolation through time sequence and tone. In //The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter,// the husband is the protagonist and the speaker. Time is addressed first and foremost in this poem, as Pound begins by saying, “While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead” suggesting that the boy is thinking back to his very young days (Pound 1207). The boy plays and admires a girl in his village. She seems to admire him, as Pound says on page 1207, “And we went on living. . . Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.” The couple marries young at fourteen, never looking back at their previous lives without the other. At fifteen, the boy says “Forever and forever and forever. Why should I climb the look out?” stating that as long as the girl is his for eternity, what is the point of looking ahead for danger or intruders? (Pound 1207). However happy the young couple may be, the wife must leave, dragging her feet, not wanting to go. Seasons change, the narrator grows older, and he begs his wife to tell him where to meet her when she returns (Pound 1207). As the narrator recaps his and his wife’s story of love, it is apparent that the he is looking back on brighter days when the two were together. The last stanza of this poem highlights the narrator’s misery and remorse for being alone without his wife (Pound 1207). The two are alienated from each other, and the man, not hearing or seeing from his wife, feels especially isolated, alone, and hopeless. Pound’s method of starting the poem with the history of the lovers makes the last stanza much more profound and sorrowful for the reader to experience. The tone of this poem resembles contentment at first, but turns to sorrowful, pleading, and earnest as it progresses. The river merchant speaks of meeting his sweetheart (in the first stanza) with fondness and pride, almost as if he can put himself in that old familiar setting every time he recalls their first meeting. These two lived harmoniously in their village, trusting and content with the other. The poem here holds tones of friendship, comradery, and hope. As the narrator speaks of their wedding day, he seems to worship his wife, saying, “I married My Lord you” (Pound 1207). These tones of adoration set the reader up for the next two stanzas, which are disappointing and heartbreaking. With the river merchant’s comment of “The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead”, Pound communicates that the narrator’s distress has affected those around him (Pound 1207). The last few lines of this poem are so pleading and beseeching for the wife to return that one may consider perhaps the wife has left her river merchant and is not coming back. This turn of events would add to the theme of isolation and alienation. Ezra Pound wrote many other poems incorporating this common Modernism theme, such as “To Whistler, American”, where the last three lines say, “Take thought. I have weathered the storm, I have beaten out my exile” (“To Whistler” np). Although these lines hold overtones of pride and joy, there is no doubt that Pound was alone and isolated, in his storm and exile. Ezra Pound was a controversial American Modernist who used themes of isolation, alienation, and loneliness in his poetry. These themes are very common and representational of the Modernism time period, due to people’s general lack in faith throughout this era (Pound 1205). Throughout the poem “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”, one can feel the themes due to the palpable tones that change from admiration, shyness, adoration, sorrow, and pleading. Ezra Pound masterfully used time sequences and a feeling that many can relate to in his poem, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”.

Pound, Ezra. "To Whistler, American by Ezra Pound : Poetry Magazine [poem/magazine] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry." //The Poetry Foundation : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.// Web. 05 May 2010. .

Pound, Ezra. "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter." 1979. //The Norton Anthology of American Literature//. Fourth ed. Vol. 2. New York,: W.W. Norton & Company, 1994. 1206. Print.

Baym, Nina. "Ezra Pound." //The Norton Anthology of American Literature//. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. 1204-06. Print.

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Ezra Pound is known as a leader and forerunner of the Modernist movement in literature as well as one of the founders of one of the sub-Modernism categories of poetry, Imagism (Academy). His poem, “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”, mirrors many of his other works. As a poet, he found great interest and inspiration in Chinese and Japanese works (Academy). This poem is a translation and modification of an eighth century Li Po poem (Weinberger). Through this poem, Pound attempts to invigorate a work of classic literature to a more Modern style.

In his life, Pound was committed to promoting Modernism and Imagism. He took many famous authors of the time under his wing and nurtured their writing (Academy). Such authors included in this support group were William Carlos Williams, H.D., Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and many others (Academy). Through his contact with all of these now-famous author’s, Pound was exposed to new ideas and style of writing. However, it is safe to say that he possessed an incredible amount of natural talent for and dedication to writing and poetry.

As stated by Eliot Weinberger, Eliot’s translated poem “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” is much more artfully and accurately done in a sense of conveying the original story while making it somewhat more modern and befitting of the time period than the other two provided translations. One of these other translations is by a contemporary of Pound, William Carlos Williams (Weinberger). Weinberger criticizes this translation by saying “…some of the lines appear stilted, especially passive renderings like ‘I began to show my happiness,’ or the neo-Victorian ‘a devotion ever unchanging’ …”. Even to a somewhat untrained eye, the Ezra Pound translation/ modification of the poem is far superior. Clearly, Pound must have seen some hint of talent in Williams nurture his art. However, Pound’s talent far surpasses that of Williams as seen in the comparison of the two translations.

Pound’s translation leaves a bit more interpretation to the reader than the other two provided by Weinberger. For one, Pound never states that the titular “Letter” is being written by the wife of the River Merchant (Weinberger). This could lead one to believe that the letter is being written by the River Merchant himself, allowing for different aspects of the poem to change slightly from reader to reader. Perhaps, for this reason, it is necessary that Hinton’s scholarly translation is provided as well. This shows what aspects of the poem that were rearranged by Pound.

The poem documents a letter written by a River Merchant’s wife, Rihaku, whose husband has gone far away. The letter tells of the meeting of the merchant and his wife (Weinberger). As the poem progresses, the reader learns of the forced marriage between the two, the girl’s initial shyness in the relationship, the culmination of their love, and finally the despair suffered by the wife upon her husband’s leaving (Weinberger). Though Pound was not a translator of Japanese, he accurately retained the story conveyed to him through his translator while invigorating the verse with common sense and art (Weinberger). He successfully and creatively molded a classic work into his own style, something he was very deft about.

As one of the founders and bricklayers of the foundation of Modernism and Imagism, Ezra Pound was faced with the task of invigorating style and form to accommodate the factors of Modernism that we now know today. Through his poem “The River Merchants Wife: A Letter”, he successfully and artfully retains the original story of a classic Japanese poem while employing his own individual style, showing his individuality, a characteristic of Modernism. Through his life his natural talent, dedication to writing, and interaction with other famous writers of the period influenced his writing heavily. Pound is an exemplar figure in the literary period of Modernism.

The Academy of American Poets. "Ezra Pound." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Web. 27 May 2010. .

Lorcher, Trent. "Modernism in Literature: What Is Modernism?" //Bright Hub//. 26 Dec. 2009. Web. 26 May 2010. .

Weinberger, Eliot, William C. Williams, David Hinton, and Ezra Pound. "Chinese Poetry | Li Po | Ezra Pound." //RalphMag//. 29 Nov. 2003. Web. 27 May 2010. .