>Bunting is identified as a Poundian. Pound is pretty much irremovably in the
>canon: you might hate him, no doubt with some justification, but you can't
>easily remove him. Bunting never made it into said canon, and keeping him
>out of it is the next best thing to getting directly at Pound. The disciple
>is punished for the master's transgressions. And it's a shame, because
>Bunting's bloody brilliant...
He is.
Of course, on this side of the pond, at least among the poets I care about,
we praised him because he had learned the most interesting lessons Pound
had to teach (& rightly ignored the political madness). The problem with
Pound is that 'you might hate him, no doubt with some justification,' but
not for his formal innovations, not for the poetry. At least, that's how I
still see it. Of the Cantos, as Bunting (of course) memorably said:
There are the Alps.
fools! Sit down and wait for them to crumble!
One might also mention that at least one of the other mountains there is
Briggflats...
Doug
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
I am afraid. I said that. I said that
for you.
Phyllis Webb
