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Short entry on Ezra Pound for An Encyclopedia of American Literature of the Sea and Great Lakes. Robert Kibler, University of Minnesota POUND, EZRA (1885-1872). Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho. As an ex-patriate living in Europe, Pound’s experiments with translation and poetic form resulted in his vivid translation of the Anglo-Saxon poem “The Seafarer,” and in the imagist style of his long poem, the Cantos. The Cantos juxtapose precise but dissimilar images under the premise that the interaction between them will help create meaning. Some of these images take just half of a poetic line to deliver; others take many pages. For this reason, the Cantos are variously called obscure, incoherent, or one of the masterworks of the twentieth century. The Cantos take the epic sea traveler Odysseus as their recurring protagonist who navigates vast seas of philosophy, history, literature, and even politics. The poem begins with Odysseus travelling to the underworld to meet the dead southsayer Tiresias. Tiresias tells Odysseus, just as he is told in Homer’s Odyssey, that he will return home over dark seas, losing all companions. But Pound’s Odysseus never returns, and Pound never finishes his poem. Nevertheless, the Cantos set out upon a tremendous journey through time, with particularly long stops in medieval China, colonial America, and modern Europe. During the literary journey of the Cantos, Pound simply touches upon a few details of any one of the given subjects that he treats, then changes subjects. He models this approach in part on what he knows of the sailing technique of Hanno, ancient Carthaginian sailor, who explored uncharted waters by always keeping in rough relation to whatever shoreline was available. Pound likewise changes the points of topical reference as his images unfold--“in periplum”--a term taken from “periplus,” the Greek name for the standard navigational technique used in the ancient world. Pound’s advocacy of Fascism during World War II resulted in his imprisonment outside of Pisa, Italy. In Pisa, his experiences of fear, lament, and regret caused him to have a mental breakdown. During some of his most trying personal moments, he calls out through his Cantos to Kuanon, Chinese goddess of Mercy, and patron deity of those who travel by sea.