I need biographical information on Dorothy Pound.?

Question

She is the wife of writer Ezra Pound. All I know, is that she was an artist, DIED in 1973, and married him in 1914.
Thanks!
Ronan

Answer 1

______ • Ezra and Dorothy Pound •

_______ ( LETTERS IN CAPTIVITY, 1945-1946 )








EDITED BY OMAR POUND
AND ROBERT SPOO

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

NONFICTION

385 PAGES


BY BRIAN BLANCHFIELD | "I was working on the Mencius," Ezra Pound's first statement to his attorneys begins, "when the Partigiani came to the front door with a tommy-gun."

Actually, Pound's work was about the only thing that wasn't interrupted by his May 1945 arrest on Allied Military Forces charges of treason and by the at-times-brutal incarceration that followed -- in an open-air cage in Pisa and, later, at a jail and two psychiatric hospitals in the District of Columbia. The 14 months of Pound's correspondence with his wife, Dorothy, that co-editors Robert Spoo and Omar Pound (the poet's only child with Dorothy) have collected and exhaustively annotated in this volume chart other interruptions: in the couple's simple intimacy, in Pound's mental health and, eventually, in his evangelism for Mussolini-style socialism. But his literary work remains primary in his letters and in many of the sworn statements and other documents that are also included here. He instructs Dorothy, for instance, to copy out and type his Chinese translations and his new, more narrative poetry -- the Pisan Cantos, the strongest and most lyric segment of his lifelong work -- and send the typescripts to his publishers, with whom she keeps in close touch.

The most successful dynasties of ancient China allowed only accomplished poets to become ruling officials. In his energetic sinophilia, the notoriously pedantic Pound imagined the utopian possibility of such a system in the modern era. He disdained literary friends ("Possum" Eliot, for one) who turned away from politics. "Work on the Mencius," when finished, would complete the translation of the four Confucian classics that he hoped to publish as "One Day's Reading," a mandatory manual for citizens and, especially, leaders.

His main purpose here isn't self-aggrandizement, but his delusions of grandeur come through loud and clear. We learn from the editors' annotations that he suggested to the UPI bureau chief in Rome that the United States trade Guam for some sound films of Japanese Noh plays. Awaiting his trial for treason, he frequently requests that President Truman make better use of him -- as either a liaison to Stalin or a diplomat in Japan. Spoo, in his lengthy and graceful introduction, takes a hard look at Pound's antisemitism and his fascist sympathies, explaining the motives behind the Italian radio harangues about American political acquiescence to bankers and usurers.

Of course, "Letters in Captivity" lays out Dorothy Pound's situation, too. After having endured an impossible year with her husband and his younger, artistic mistress, Olga Rudge, surrounded by the Germans in their home on the Italian coast, Dorothy spends the months of his imprisonment as custodian of her priggish, failing mother-in-law and the old woman's bomb-damaged villa. Her devotion to Pound is more evident here than any love is, but she is never pathetic. We see, for instance, how effectively she excuses herself from playing messenger for him and Olga. (Pound does require the two women, however, to collaborate on sending his manuscripts to his publishers.)

Because the diversity of theories, events and people these letters allude to is so astounding, the annotations -- which lie opposite the epistolary text, on the left side of every spread -- are truly magnetic. They offer an education as wide-ranging as Pound's interests; and as Dorothy Pound sometimes did for her husband, they make sense of documents that often -- in his distressed words -- "can't hold two sides of an idea together."
SALON | Feb. 26, 1999

Brian Blanchfield is a writer living in Brooklyn, N.Y.




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A student from 1950 to 1957

Our family lived in Victoria Road, Northcote, and we five children all went to Westgarth Central- as it was called then…

I’d always heard a lot about school, from my older brothers and sisters. My memories are:

Grade 1(1950)- Miss Brown in the red brick S.E. room. She was SO TALL! But then, I’m still short. A Miss Lemon was in charge of the Junior School … She checked our reading – pointing to odd words here and there in our “Betty and John” books, just to make sure we hadn’t learnt it off by heart!

Grade 2 (1951)- Miss Heinz. It took me a while to get the hang of some of those sums! We all (boys & girls) made and apron out of hessian with embroidery with wool, and pulling out threads for certain counted stitch work. I finished mine, and Mum stitched a binding around it She was a whiz on the Singer treadle machine!) and I wore mine forever. Whatever happened to it?

Grade 3 (1952) – Miss Purtell, whose claim to fame was her brother, the jockey. That was the year we were allowed to start writing with pen and ink – once our pencil writing was neat enough!

Grade 4 (1954)- Miss Purtell again. They were big grades. Aaah- the fife band. Remember those morning assemblies when we recited “I love God and MY Country, I honour the Flag, serve the Queen and cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the law.” Did we know what we were saying? Salute the flag, and Mr Malone, the Headmaster, would always clear his throat during his speeches- many times! During this year, girl learnt to knit. When the fife band played we loved to march around the yard.

Grade 5 (1955)- Mr Hancock- a room still in the big building.

Grade 6 (1956)- Mr Hancock- a room outside in the weatherboard building. Mr Risk’s class was in the other room. We all hung our coats in the “vestibule” between the 2 rooms. We got to press the electric bell switch in at the main office. Mr Risk’s class had monitors to pull the rope on the bell tower, which was over our rooms in a little wooden tower.

Any student of Mr Hancock would remember him. A charismatic figure, very strict teacher, but fair. He rode a bicycle to work, complete with bike clips around his trousers. Generally, a tweed type jacket. He and Mr Malone would sometimes, late in a week, go off for a pub lunch- no doubt on pay days. Mr Hancock ran a classroom like an army- but it worked!

Every Friday, for revision of our letter writing we would have to write “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”, because that sentence had every letter of the alphabet in it! Mr Hancock had a small bell on his table. Whenever he pressed that, you had to put your pen down immediately and sit up straight, face the front, and NO talking.

Mr Helmond used to visit our class occasionally- a well spoken, older teacher, whose readings of Huckleberry Finn had us all spellbound.

I’m not certain which year it was (Grade 5 or 6) but we learnt the maypole and performed at the MCG for the Queen’s visit. Oh we looked wonderful- all in those white hailspot and muslin dresses, white socks, runners and white bows in our hair. Mum came and took a photo, but all she got were heads in front of her. John Hancock’s class was always the best in marching!

Speech Night (Grade 6) – the whole class on the stage at Northcote Town Hall and we recited “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. I still remember most of it now. In Grade 5 (Speech Night) we performed a play which “Sir” had written- the “Transanimotogotoscope”- about a machine that made you young again. I was in that!

Form One B (1957)- Colin Richards was our form teacher- upstairs at the far end of the school, with connecting doors to the next room- big wooden and glass folding doors. When they were opened up, it was a huge gathering for whatever purpose.

A lot to get used to- all those subjects and all of those teachers! Mr Ian Sime for Art and English- I remember his desert boots, longish hair and his flamboyant personality! He was pretty radical we thought. Kevin Cousins- another Art teacher, who often gave the boys the strap for something terrible. They had to stand with their arms outstretched, and they were strapped around the wrists.
Miss Dunne- the fabulous French teacher. A short lady, with white hair, a deep voice and laugh, who always strode in with big steps (for a short person), balancing her books and handbag near her shoulder and quoting- “Day, date, time, weather.” They were the first things we always wrote in our French books.
Mr Maher- history and arithmetic. Miss Paterson tried to take us for music. With a bit of percussion, she would play some of the latest hit songs and we’d all sing along. “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” was a favourite. But she did teach us some classics too.

Colin Richards, my form teacher, taught us science. Science was in that highest room in the school- great fun. In Form One and Two, the girls got to be monitors for the staff, making tea for them and so on. That was always regarded as a bit of a holiday! And besides, you got to see in the STAFF ROOM! WOW!!

In Form 2, John Ayers was our form teacher- 2B, and our room was the top science room. He was wonderful- and how we thought we were “made” when we knew his Christian name, knew he was married, and that his wife had just had a baby. Ian Sime’s wife, Dawn, had a baby boy- Adam. How important we felt when we knew such intimate knowledge about our teachers.
We were into softball and girls’ basketball, because John Ayers was in charge of sport, and we all loved him. Sometimes we had girls vs. boys games and how we enjoyed those.

During Terms 1& 2, girls went to Wales Street School for one morning a week, to learn sewing from Mrs Wigley. Most of us rode our bikes. Joy Buckran stitched her finger the first day we used the treadle machines. The boys went of to “sloyd” somewhere in Fairfield, I think.

There are myriads of wonderful Westgarth memories I have- these are but a few. Thank you to everyone I ever met there- you’ve all had an influence on me.

From Westgarth Memories, 1992.


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Ezra Pound in 1913.Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (October 30, 1885 – November 1, 1972) was an American expatriate, poet, musician, critic, and economist who, along with T. S. Eliot, was a major figure of the modernist movement in early 20th century poetry. He was the driving force behind several modernist movements, notably Imagism and Vorticism. The critic Hugh Kenner said on meeting Pound: "I suddenly knew that I was in the presence of the center of modernism."

Answer 2

hmmmm, have looked for a complete information pack on her but have found nothing. suggest you look in to the feference info about his & hers captivity years!(1945-1946] it may contain some useful info that can help you. most sources want you to pay for that information & buy their informational books, but i would rather find it here free online. wish i could help more! good luck!

Answer 3

You'll find her mentioned here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound

and "just the facts" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Shakespear

I hope the askjeeves link is more helpful! ; )

Answer 4

try www.askjeeves.com