The Cantos is a long modernist poem by Ezra Pound, written in 109 canonical sections in addition to a number of drafts and fragments added as a supplement at the request of the poem's American publisher, James Laughlin.
The Cantos, collection of poems by Ezra Pound, who began writing these more or less philosophical reveries in 1915. The first were published in Poetry magazine in 1917; through the decades, the writing of cantos gradually became Pound’s major poetic occupation, and the last were published in 1968.
Ezra Pound referred to The Cantos as, variously, ‘an epic including history’ and, with more muted self-praise, a ‘ragbag’. Yet although it is undeniably a ragbag, there are a number of key themes running through The Cantos.
The word “canto” means “song” in Italian, but the first examples of cantos date back to the time of Homer when epics were recited orally. Cantos are used for epic poems such as Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Iliad’. These poems can reach thousands of lines and even thousands of pages.
So begins Ezra Pound in 1917. Calling on the ghost of Robert Browning, educating his reader on his motives as he embarks on his personal epic, The Cantos, a "poem to include history," is Pound's "tale of the tribe."
The Cantos is a series of 120 long poems by the American poet, essayist, and cultural critic Ezra Pound. Pound began work on them as early as 1904, publishing the first three in Poetry magazine in 1917.
This study guide for Ezra Pound's The Cantos offers summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.