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A belated response to Robin’s query below: I think the change in diction was a result of Ford Madox Ford’s influence. From 1908, EP was spending half of each day with Ford and half with WBY. The ‘Don’ts for Imagists’ can be traced back to Ford’s ideas about the novel which he had developed in dialogue with Joseph Conrad. (I wrote on Pound / Ford in Andrew Gibson’s Pound in Multiple Perspective, tracing these links.) Pound described Ford’s response to his work in this period (rolling over on the carpet) as saving him years of work. Robert On 31 May 2016, at 19:57, Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Hi, Jamie. The versions (to me) are strikingly different – as with the difference between “The Seafarer” translation, and the beginning of Canto I. The earlier translation, which begins, “Because a lady asks me, I would tell”, was first published in _Guido Cavalcanti Rime_ in 1932, then as part of the essay in _Make It New_ in 1934, but the date of composition of the translation itself is probably earlier. I’d put it around 1910, about the time Pound was working on _The Spirit of Romance_. Is there a Pound expert on the list who could give some solid information on this? Whatever, that version is (for me, again) spoiled by a plethora of cringe-inducing archaisms which seem to infect much of Pound’s work before _Cathay_. Maybe working with the Fenollosa manuscripts cured Pound of that stylistic quirk.