msharpe01
  Junior Member

Like so many of Pound's poems they have to be read several times (which is probably true of most good poetry) to really grasp and appreciate what is going on in the poem. There are some really brilliant and crisp lines in this one; i.e. "Ere the night slay day with her dark sword!" and later with "her blue sword!". His use of archaic language while it may seem cumbersome is fitting in the context. more »

Obviously the Greek and Roman mythology may put some people off but if one knows that Dione is Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Giulio Romano was a great renaissance painter and architect, who worked under Raphael, the poem has more meaning. Phaloi is a horticultural version of phallus. Pound is evoking spring as a driver of life and eros. Short and brillilant. more »

Thanks for sharing this David. Losing a child would be the most terrible thing I can think of. I got a late start with my family and my son is now 26 and I still worry about him.