Ezra Pound

Full Name: Ezra Weston Loomis Pound
Profession: Poet

Nationality:

Biography: Ezra Pound was an American poet, best known as an important early modernist poet and for his collaboration with fascist Italy during World War II. He was also significant in the early careers of T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce. Pound's most notable works include Ripostes, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, and The Cantos.

Pound saw finance capitalism as to blame for the horrors of World War I, which led to him moving to Italy in 1924. There he became politically involved with Oswald Mosley, Benito Mussolini, and even wrote admiringly of Adolf Hitler.

During the Second World War, Pound worked as a radio broadcaster for the Italian government in which he propagandized against the Allies. When Italy fell, he was imprisoned before being brought back to the United States.

Pound was declared mentally unfit for trial, as a result of which he then spent over 12 years in St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C. He was released in 1958 only after pressure from a campaign by fellow writers, subsequently living in Italy for the rest of his life.

Born: October 30, 1885
Birthplace: Hailey, Idaho, USA

Generation: Lost Generation
Star Sign: Scorpio

Died: November 1, 1972 (aged 87)
Cause of Death: Natural causes