TAKING LEAVE OF A FRIEND
(Ezra Pound)
Blue mountains to the north
of the walls,
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.
Mind like a floating white cloud,
Sunset like the parting of
old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each other
as we are departing.
Translation of the poem By Rihaku (Li T'ai Po). Cathay 1915
http://www.loa.org/excerpts/pound/leave.jsp
The poem I am going to talk about is “Taking
leave of a friend” which is a translation of a poem written by Rihaku, a
Chinese poet who was always admired by Ezra Pound. He stood out for his work
translating poems from other languages and adapting it (wikipedia, biography).
Possibly Pound chose this poem because it was significant to him and he was
reflected in it.
The title of the poem is clearly suitable
because the poem speaks about a farewell. The main idea is the separation of
two people in a specific moment, and they never will be together again, this is
the end of a shared life and the beginning of a new one.
This is a poem with a simple structure.
It is composed by two stanzas but it has not a defined rhyme and structure, so
we can consider that it has a free rhyme. Ezra Pound was considered mad in his
final part of his life and he was also shuting in a mental hospital (pound,
biografias y vidas). In my opinion, the fact of translating a poem with free
rhyme is another way to express liberty.
The poem seems beautiful and pretty (and
it is) but we can find some details in which we can see reflected the part of
the History that he has to live: he was supporter of Fascism and obviously he
had to live Wold War times. In the verses 1&2 “Blue mountains to the
north of the walls, White river winding about them” we can see a
description of a landscape which contrasts with the war, the destruction, the
death… This can be interpreted as a whisper that he had, and like a symbol of
liberty when he was shutting, the place where he dreamed to go. The word “wall”
can be associated with the Wall of Berlin and also with the walls that kept
him.
When he says “Mind like a floating
white cloud” is showing us more details about it: the cloud represents
liberty because it flies free throughout the sky without hindrances. The figure
of the horse is another icon, a horse that runs free along the country. It is
possibly that the author wants to feel like a horse and this is his way to
reflect it.
The “miles of dead grass” represents
images about the war and all that it entails, these are the lands to cross in
his journey, and this is the result of the war. In the poem the wave is also
stressed (verse 7). All we knowing that this was a very significant fact in the
Nazi and Fascist ideology.
The poem talks about the separation of two people involved in this time. We can understand this feeling of sadness that invades the author because the other person seems to be a very important person in his life. Saying goodbye to a friend is the feeling that he needed to express in this poem. It seems obvious that he was in a bifurcation of roads and he was obliged to make a decision. His goodbye is reflected in the neigh of the horses, both in front, like saying goodbye.
The verse “Sunset like the parting of
old acquaintances” represents the end of their shared lives. The sunset is
the principal element, like the end of a day, in this case the end of a time,
now is the hour to separate old friends, old acquaintances. The hazy
mountains with the river winding through them are a symbol of great distances,
the kind of distance that will soon separate them. This is the moment to
remember the past and say the last words because it is the last moment
together, then they will be thinking about the future.
We do not know who is the other person. I
can think that it is a metaphor and the poet is making reference to a feeling
or ideology that he had and someday he has to leave or forget but he shows it
like another person, a very special friend who has shared many things and many
times with him.
Finally I want to comment that this poem is full of beautyful elements because Ezra Pound rejected sentimentalism, we do not know which is the reason, but it could be because a trauma or a frustration that he had in his life.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
AUTHOR:
- Biografías y vidas: Ezra Pound.
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/p/pound.htm (15&16 May)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound (15&16 May)
POEM:
- Selections
by Ezra Pound. The library of America.
http://www.loa.org/excerpts/pound/leave.jsp (15&16 May)