Ezra Pound

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Karen Linn Femia

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2001

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2006

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms006050

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

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Administrative Information

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Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of the Papers

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of Ezra Pound, poet and critic, were given to the Library of Congress by Herman A. Sieber in 1958. Additional material was purchased by the Library in 2001.

The original gift was part of the division’s Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection. With the addition of the Yankowska correspondence, the papers were reprocessed and a finding aid created.

Five sketches of Pound were transferred to the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Ezra Pound is governed by -the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Ezra Pound Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Ezra Loomis Pound (1885-1972) span the years 1945-1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1958, the years of his confinement at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.. The papers are in English, French, and Polish and primarily contain correspondence. Ezra Pound was one of the most influential voices in English language poetry of the twentieth century both through the force of his own poetry and through his work as an editor and critic and as an advocate for the poetry of others. When World War II began, Pound, an American citizen, and his wife Dorothy had been long-time residents of Italy. Pound gave regular radio broadcasts during the war from Italy. In 1945 United States occupying forces in Italy arrested Pound, and he was charged with treason. He was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a mental institution in Washington, D.C. After his release in 1958, he returned to Italy.

The papers are almost entirely composed of Pound’s letters to Stephane de Yankowska and carbon copies of her letters to him written during his time at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Yankowska was a Polish friend living in England who worked for his release from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Many of the notations on Pound’s letters are hers. Several letters have postscripts from Dorothy Pound. Ezra Pound assumed the role of mentor to Yankowska, imparting his political and literary views and suggesting what she should be reading. The style of his letters is idiosyncratically “Poundian” with invented spellings, rambling thoughts, wordplay, and caustic commentary. In addition to politics, culture, history, and economics, Pound’s publication projects are also discussed in the correspondence.

Other papers include a 1957 letter to the London Times Literary Supplement and a set of legal papers from the 1958 motion to dismiss the charges of treason. The motion secured his release from custody in 1958.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged alphabetically by heading and chronologically therein .

Container List