A man of great imagination, Pound was also the acknowledged inventor of modern U.S. and British poetry, an inspiration to T.S. At a sanity hearing before a jury, four doctors testified that Pound showed paranoia, psychosis, delusions of grandeur and much else. Daniel Swift, an academic student of Pound’s work, wanted to find out what they learned. Pound’s favourite name for St. Elizabeths gave him the perfect title for his book: The Bughouse: The Poetry, Politics, and Madness of Ezra Pound. Those who have tried and failed to read Pound in the past may well find that Swift has managed to show that, aside from his bigotry, Ezra Pound was an engaging character.

Source: National Post September 14, 2018 14:37 UTC