Ezra Pound Portrait D'une Femme

Ezra POUND, 'Portrait d'une femme' (1912)

Introduction

Ezra Pound's contribution to poetry is marked by his promotion of Imagism, a movement centred on clarity, economic language, and rhythm. Pound started this movement after studying Japanese forms of poetry like haiku. These forms have strict conventions. According to Imagism, poets should write "in fear of abstractions." Imagism was based on three principles, compiled by Pound, Richard Aldington, and Hilda Doolittle:

1. Direct treatment of the "thing," whether subjective or objective.

2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.

3. Regarding rhythm: to compose in the sequence of a musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome.

This poem, "Portrait d'une femme", paints an image of a woman, beginning with a handful of sea metaphors describing her and her interactions with other people.

To what extent does this poem marked a change in English poetry aesthetic through an unconventional portrait of a woman?

I- The Sargasso Sea

II- Riches

III- Beauty not conventional

Development

I- Extended metaphor of the sea -> the figure of the free woman -> Imagism

Lexical field of the sea l.1 "Sargasso sea", l.3 "ships", l.13 "floated up", l.16 "fished up", l.25 "sea-hoard", l.27 "the slow float" -> extended metaphor of the sea -> water : feminine element

Form of the poem is oscillating : every other time there is an indentation that makes visibly the sea waves

In the very first line, the speaker associates the woman with the Sargasso Sea. It is known for collecting seaweed and debris just as this woman is known for collecting knowledge, gossip, and ideas : l.4 "Ideas, old gossip"

The sea also symbolises this woman's reluctance to tie herself down : the sea flows on and on forever, collecting whatever it finds, and the woman would rather do the same rather than dropping anchor somewhere. l. 7-8 The ever-changing sea belongs to no one, just like this woman, and at the same time, nothing and no one belongs to it/her. l.29 "Nothing that's quite your own."

He uses the image of the Sargasso Sea which is clear and easily understandable. This poem can be related to Imagism

Sargasso Sea is a region of the North Atlantic Ocean