, Ezra Pound’s fifth book of poetry, is a peculiar one; it is perhaps even more so than

(1908), which had, in a sense, announced his arrival on London’s exciting literary scene. What is most startling about

, which translates as “song” in medieval Italian, is the disparity, with respect to tone, diction and style, between its opening and concluding sequences. The poems in the first two thirds encapsulate the torpor, affectation, nostalgia, obscurantism and preciousness that so often mar Pound’s early writing. It is unsurprising, then, that the

called

a “medley of pretension” or that Charles Granville termed it “a lamentable failure”, adding that “Mr Pound is a poet though as yet has produced little but…

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Citation: Elek, Jon. "Canzoni". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 March 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6100, accessed 24 November 2024.]