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76 THIS DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL find a copy may read in Ezra's 'Ripostes' the five or six poems Hulme wrote to illustrate his theories. They are pretty good, especially the one about the moon like a red-faced farmer looking over a gate. Ezra's note on Hulme's poems contains the ominous threat: 'as to the future, that is in the hands of the Imagists.' "But at that time who and where were the Imagists? My own belief is that the name took Ezra's fancy, and that he kept it in petto for the right occasion. If there were no Imagists, obviously they would have to be invented. Wherever Ezra has launched a new movement—and he had made such a hobby of it that I always expect to find one day that Pound and Mussolini are really one and the same person—he has never had any difficulty about finding members. He just calls on his friends." 5 As Pound's Imagist movement took hold in London, T. E. Hulme and Wyndham Lewis made an effort to reassert themselves in it. They announced a series of lectures at the Kensington Town Hall to discuss this new development in poetry, but Ezra was not asked to speak. Michael Roberts, in his biography of T. E. Hulme, describes the first of these lectures: "Hulme was not a good lecturer and Wyndham Lewis read a paper supporting Hulme and came off pretty badly himself, mumbling in a husky voice, with his head buried in his manuscript. The audience felt as if they could snatch the papers from the poets and read them for themselves—there was so obviously something very worthwhile buried in all their abstract mumbling. To end it all, Ezra Pound stood up, all self-possessed, complete with velvet coat, flowing tie, pointed beard, and a halo of fiery hair. Lolling against the stage, he became very witty and fluent, and with his yankee voice snarled out some of his poems. Somehow, such a voice rather clowned verse." 6 Pound emerged as the victor that evening, still the leader of the Imagists. He now occupied a dominant position, due to his role as foreign editor of the leading American magazine of verse, Poetry, and to his free hand in editing the literary section of The Egoist. His department had mushroomed until it had all but pushed Miss Marsden and her suffragette propaganda out of the magazine. She still held forth on the front page and a few paragraphs inside,
EZRA POUND 77 but Pound, who had started modestly on the back page, now filled most of the paper. So strong had his position become that Pound sometimes devoted entire issues of The Egoist to his current enthusiasms. He presented the May 1, 1915 issue as an "Imagist Number". F. S. Flint contributed an account of the origins of the movement, and Pound's mother-in-law, Olivia Shakespear, wrote a study of the poetry of D. H. Lawrence, which Pound was boosting at that time. Lawrence was nervous about becoming one of Pound's "protgés", and he got out from under as soon as possible. He had written to Edward Garnett, on June 21, 1913, "Ezra Pound asked me for some stories because 'he had got an American publisher under his wing.' The tenant of Pound's wing-cover turns out to be the editor of The American Review—a reincarnation of The Smart Set—and I think his name is Wright." 7 He wrote again to Garnett from Italy on October 6, 1913, ". . . I have asked Ezra Pound to forward to the English Review two stories he had, which were returned from the Smart Set." 8 And on December 30, 1913, Lawrence wrote the following request to Garnett: "I wish you would send to Ezra Pound, 10 Church Walk, Kensington W—three or four copies of my poems, and send me the bill for them. I owe him something like a sovereign, which The Smart Set sent him as commission, for getting them my two stories. The commission he sent on to me 'as being averse from returning anything to the memorandum of an editor and unable to take commission on my work!'—I didn't want Pound's pound of commission. So now he says he would like three or four copies of my poems, to get them into the hands of the members of the Polignac prize committee, or some such reason. The Hueffer-Pound faction seems inclined to lead me around a little as one of their show-dogs. They seem to have a certain ear in their possession. If they are inclined to speak my name into the ear, I don't care." 9 On March 14, 1914, Lawrence again wrote to A. D. McLeod from Italy: "I think there will be some of my poems in a paper called The Egoist. I don't know anything about it. Ezra Pound took some verses and sent me three pounds three shillings. Try to get a copy, will you?—I believe it will be next month—it
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EZRA POUND 77<br />
but Pound, who had started modestly on the back page, now<br />
filled most of the paper.<br />
So strong had his position become that Pound sometimes devoted<br />
entire issues of The Egoist to his current enthusiasms. He<br />
presented the May 1, 1915 issue as an "Imagist Number". F. S.<br />
Flint contributed an account of the origins of the movement, and<br />
Pound's mother-in-law, Olivia Shakespear, wrote a study of the<br />
poetry of D. H. Lawrence, which Pound was boosting at that time.<br />
Lawrence was nervous about becoming one of Pound's "protgés",<br />
and he got out from under as soon as possible. He had<br />
written to Edward Garnett, on June 21, 1913, "Ezra Pound asked<br />
me for some stories because 'he had got an American publisher<br />
under his wing.' The tenant of Pound's wing-cover turns out to be<br />
the editor of The American Review—a reincarnation of The<br />
Smart Set—and I think his name is Wright." 7<br />
He wrote again to Garnett from Italy on October 6, 1913, ". . .<br />
I have asked Ezra Pound to forward to the English Review two<br />
stories he had, which were returned from the Smart Set." 8<br />
And on December 30, 1913, Lawrence wrote the following<br />
request to Garnett: "I wish you would send to Ezra Pound, 10<br />
Church Walk, Kensington W—three or four copies of my poems,<br />
and send me the bill for them. I owe him something like a<br />
sovereign, which The Smart Set sent him as commission, for<br />
getting them my two stories. The commission he sent on to me<br />
'as being averse from returning anything to the memorandum of<br />
an editor and unable to take commission on my work!'—I didn't<br />
want Pound's pound of commission. So now he says he would like<br />
three or four copies of my poems, to get them into the hands of<br />
the members of the Polignac prize committee, or some such<br />
reason. The Hueffer-Pound faction seems inclined to lead me<br />
around a little as one of their show-dogs. They seem to have a<br />
certain ear in their possession. If they are inclined to speak my<br />
name into the ear, I don't care." 9<br />
On March 14, 1914, Lawrence again wrote to A. D. McLeod<br />
from Italy: "I think there will be some of my poems in a paper<br />
called The Egoist. I don't know anything about it. Ezra Pound<br />
took some verses and sent me three pounds three shillings. Try<br />
to get a copy, will you?—I believe it will be next month—it
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