– Ezra Pound

– Ezra Pound

The poem, and the idea of multilingualism

Introduction

Multilingual Lexicon Analysis and Melopoeia:

Ezra Pound (1885-1972) was a central Modernist poet who promoted precision, music, and cultural depth in poetry. Addendum for C belongs to the Cantos project and links to ABC of Reading, his theory of how words carry “sound-meaning.”

Multilingualism shows his belief that languages preserve the world’s moral and artistic traditions. Melopoeia = the musical power of words: how sound moves feeling beyond literal sense.

Language and Moral Hierarchy

Hebrew -“neschek”interest/usury”)→ sacred, biblical tone → moral, spiritual depth.

Pound builds a hierarchy of values: spiritual, aesthetic, moral

Greek “Τὸ καλόν” → means “the beautiful” → philosophical beauty, balance.

Latin “formosus nec est nec decens” → order, law, classic authority.

Transliteration vs Original

• Transliteration makes foreign words readable, but it alters their appearance and pronunciation.
• Keeping Greek script shows prestige and visual beauty; Greek was central in Western learning.

Hebrew transliteration (“neschek”) may show the distance between sacred and modern culture. Pound visualizes the “foreignness” of languages Aesthetic choice, is not translation problem.

Sound, Emotion, and Ritual (Melopoeia)

• Different phonetic textures: harsh consonants in Hebrew, soft vowels in Greek, measured rhythm in Latin.

• Creates an effect like prayer or incantation.

• Sound → emotion → meaning.

• Melopoeia connects poetry to music and ritual.

Musicality, Language Choice & Conclusion

Each language has different rhythm and melody.

Connects to Pound’s pure work ideal: the poet disappears; words sing by themselves.

Multilingualism creates polyphony a chorus of civilizations.

Conclusion meaning = sound + culture + emotion.