Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"The Temperaments" by Ezra Pound offers a biting commentary on the incongruities between public personas and private lives, particularly when it comes to sexual behavior and societal perception. The poem juxtaposes two characters, Florialis and Bastidides, to scrutinize the complexities and paradoxes surrounding human temperament, specifically concerning sexuality and appearances.

Florialis, a man who rests "nightly upon the soul" with multiple sexual escapades, seems reserved and "bloodless and sexless" to the outside world. This contradiction between his external image and internal life exposes the fallacy of appearances. His demeanor hides the tumultuous sea of his desires, misleading society into thinking of him as unremarkable or asexual. The fact that Florialis's actions are numerous but hidden challenges our assumptions about what sexual behavior looks like, highlighting the unreliability of outward appearances as indicators of moral or sexual character.

Bastidides, the second character in the poem, talks and writes about nothing but "copulation" but has a far less prolific sexual life. His outward obsession with sexuality culminates in the fathering of twins, but even this is achieved at the cost of being cuckolded four times. In a society that might often equate loudness with action, Bastidides stands as a counterpoint. His proclamations and outward indications of sexual prowess don't correspond with his actual experiences, suggesting that his public image is also a façade.

The irony lies in the dissonance between each man's private life and public persona. Florialis, the silent Casanova, is a paragon of sexual indulgence yet escapes societal judgment due to his subdued presence. Bastidides, on the other hand, speaks loudly but accomplishes less, and his proclamations put him in a position of ridicule and cost. Through these characters, Pound critiques the societal norms that frequently misinterpret or misrepresent human temperaments and experiences. We are invited to question not just the characters but our own judgments and the societal standards that prompt them.

Pound also touches upon the inconsistencies that surround the concepts of masculinity and virility. Florialis, who in the eyes of society might seem 'unmanly' due to his lack of overt sexual bragging, turns out to be extremely active, while Bastidides, who openly discusses his sexual exploits, suffers the classic 'emasculating' fate of cuckoldry. The poem thereby unsettles traditional gender roles and notions of masculinity, forcing us to reconsider our own biases and the societal norms that underpin them.

"The Temperaments" is both a mirror and a critique of society's flawed approaches to judging character, especially concerning sexuality. In its brief lines, the poem encapsulates the deceptive complexities of human nature, cautioning against the folly of surface-level judgments and challenging our ingrained notions about what constitutes a person's true self.

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