Ezra Pound on Poetic Innovation and Criticism

The Decline of Vers Libre

This school [Imagism] has since been “joined” or “followed” by numerous people who, whatever their merits, do not show any signs of agreeing with the second specification. Indeed vers libre has become as prolix and as verbose as any of the flaccid varieties that preceded it. It has brought faults of its own. The actual language and phrasing are often as bad as that of our elders without even the excuse that the words are shovelled in to fill a metric pattern or to complete the noise of a rhyme-sound. Whether or not the phrases followed by the followers are musical must be left to the reader's decision. At times I can find a marked metre in “vers libres,” as stale and hackneyed as any pseudo-Swinburnian; at times the writers seem to follow no musical structure whatever. But it is, on the whole, good that the field should be ploughed. Perhaps a few good poems have come from the new method, and if so it is justified.

Pound's Definition of Criticism

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Criticism is not a circumscription or a set of prohibitions. It provides fixed points of departure. It may startle a dull reader into alertness. That little of it which is good is mostly in stray phrases; or if it be an older artist helping a younger it is in great measure but rules of thumb, cautions gained by experience.

— Ezra Pound, “A Retrospect”

Understanding Pound's Poetic Principles: Q&A

1. What is the meaning of "Criticism is not a circumscription or a set of prohibitions"?

With this expression, Pound means that criticism is not bound by static, concrete rules. However, he acknowledges that some principles are necessary to formulate effective criticism.

2. What exactly is Ezra Pound criticizing?

Pound explains that a new type of poetry is needed. He criticizes traditional standards and the lack of originality in poetry. Vers libre was intended to oppose traditional metrical structures, yet poets continued to fill their work with abstract and useless words, even when using free verse. He laments that despite adopting vers libre, many poets still adhered to the old habits of verbosity.

3. Why can vers libre become as stale and hackneyed as any pseudo-Swinburnian verse? How do bad poets contribute to this?

Pound states that vers libre can become as stale, poor, and bad as any pseudo-Swinburnian verse, even though poets are not compelled to write in that manner. He argues that these poets remain as rhetorical and verbose as when they used metrical patterns. They continue to use an excessive number of words unnecessarily, despite writing in free verse.