[lit-ideas] Re: Fwd: Re: Pound's treason
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2015 12:14:19 +0100
This is the poem by Pound that I was vaguely remembering. Granted, the Jews
are not named in it.
Ballad of the Goodly Fere
Ezra Pound, 1885 - 1972
*Simon Zelotes speaking after the Crucifixion. Fere=Mate, Companion.*
Ha’ we lost the goodliest fere o’ all
For the priests and the gallows tree?
Aye lover he was of brawny men,
O’ ships and the open sea.
When they came wi’ a host to take Our Man
His smile was good to see,
“First let these go!” quo’ our Goodly Fere,
“Or I’ll see ye damned," says he.
Aye he sent us out through the crossed high spears
And the scorn of his laugh rang free,
“Why took ye not me when I walked about
Alone in the town?” says he.
Oh we drank his “Hale” in the good red wine
When we last made company,
No capon priest was the Goodly Fere
But a man o’ men was he.
I ha’ seen him drive a hundred men
Wi’ a bundle o’ cords swung free,
That they took the high and holy house
For their pawn and treasury.
They’ll no’ get him a’ in a book I think
Though they write it cunningly;
No mouse of the scrolls was the Goodly Fere
But aye loved the open sea.
If they think they ha’ snared our Goodly Fere
They are fools to the last degree.
“I’ll go to the feast," quo’ our Goodly Fere,
“Though I go to the gallows tree.”
“Ye ha’ seen me heal the lame and blind,
And wake the dead," says he,
“Ye shall see one thing to master all:
‘Tis how a brave man dies on the tree.”
A son of God was the Goodly Fere
That bade us his brothers be.
I ha’ seen him cow a thousand men.
I have seen him upon the tree.
He cried no cry when they drave the nails
And the blood gushed hot and free,
The hounds of the crimson sky gave tongue
But never a cry cried he.
I ha’ seen him cow a thousand men
On the hills o’ Galilee,
They whined as he walked out calm between,
Wi’ his eyes like the grey o’ the sea,
Like the sea that brooks no voyaging
With the winds unleashed and free,
Like the sea that he cowed at Genseret
Wi’ twey words spoke’ suddently.
A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea,
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.
I ha’ seen him eat o’ the honey-comb
Sin’ they nailed him to the tree.
On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 11:50 AM, Adriano Palma <Palma@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This is correct, although if one were to look at history T S Eliot was
> anti-Semitic of the very traditional sort (generated by his Christian
> beliefs), while the period in which Pound developed in views (see e.g. “con
> usura”) is marked by different strains.
>
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijv9Kpb1kHs
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Omar Kusturica
> *Sent:* 14 February 2015 11:39
> *To:* lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [lit-ideas] Re: Fwd: Re: Pound's treason
>
>
>
> I've refreshed my memory somewhat... anti-semitism does not seem to be
> visible in Pound's poems, but it is found in the poetry of his friend, T.S.
> Eliott:
>
>
>
>
> http://forward.com/articles/142722/ts-eliots-on-again-off-again-anti-semitism/
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 10:22 AM, Ed Farrell <ewf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Feb 13, 2015, at 11:32 PM, David Ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Feb 13, 2015, at 8:06 PM, Edward Farrell wrote:
>
>
>
> Omar,
>
> I think Mike Geary is basically correct, but it is a nuanced issue. Let's
> take my example of the bridge one more time (but not as industrial product
> in Marxist terms), and look at your intent in making the bridge: you made
> it so the terrorists to whom you sold the nuclear weapons have a ready
> means of delivering the bomb to a populated area. So now, insofar as your
> artifact is related to its creator, it is thoroughly immoral--the product
> of a criminal, and made for a criminal purpose to boot. Yet after you've
> been caught and incarcerated and the terrorists thwarted in their purpose,
> the bridge remains, and can be used to carry innocent citizens to and fro,
> and no one will much object because the bridge is not, as you put it, "the
> very expression of personality" of its creator so most needn't associate it
> with you when they drive over it anyway.
>
> Pound wrote these lines in his younger days:
>
> I have heard a wee wind searching
>
>
>
>
> Unusually, I'm going to anticipate JLS:
>
>
>
> 1) Can't call a wind wee because wee was originally a reference to weight
> http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=wee
>
> It makes no difference since he is referring to the Wee Wind 16, which is
> made by Airstream and since air stream is air in motion 'wee wind' is
> perfectly acceptable under any circumstances regardless of your or JLS's
> objections.
>
> http://vintageairstream.com/photo-archives/1948-wee-wind-16/
>
> Also, a pound is a weight therefore even in the Scottish usage wee is
> simply a circular reference to Ezra Pound.
>
>
>
> 2) Pound wasn't Scottish, so saying "wee" is twee or twaddle, or
> something of that ilk
>
> Nothing of the sort; the pound is great currency among Scots and of course
> there's no American pound as we know; Pound is therefore as Scottish as
> haggis whether for a penny or a pound, regardless of what you or JLS may
> say.
>
>
>
> 3) Sassoon was also put in the madhouse when some other judgement would
> have been awkward
>
> 4) My last post of the day isn't "the Last Post"
>
> 5) To quote Eddie Izzard on fascists, inbreeding and degeneration, "I have
> no idear"
>
> 6) As Monty Python on Australian philosophy put it, "There is no rule
> six." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruces_sketch
>
>
>
> David Ritchie
>
> nearby the ex-governor in
>
> Portland, Oregon
>
> Ed Farrell
>
>
>
>
>
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