American poet Ezra Pound 18851972 was among the most influential literary figures of the twentieth century As a poet he founded the Imagist movement c 190917 which advocated the use of precise concrete images in a freeverse setting As an editor he fostered the careers of William Butler Yeats T S Eliot and Robert Frost As a force in the literary world he championed James Joyce and Wyndham Lewis Pound also helped to create a modern movement in poetry in which in T S Eliots words English and American poets collaborated knew each others works and influenced each otherLong an expatriate Pounds questionable political activities during World War II distracted many from the value of his literary work Nevertheless his status as a major American poet has never been in doubt as this choice collection of fiftyseven early poems amply proves Here are poems including a number not found in other anthologies from Personae 1909 Exultations 1909 Ripostes 1912 and Cathay 1915 as well as selections from his major sequence Hugh Selwyn Mauberley 1920