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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VILLANELLE: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HOUR by EZRA POUND

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: I HAD OVER-PREPARED THE EVENT
Last Line: "DEAR POUND, I AM LEAVING ENGLAND."
I had over-prepared the event,
that much was ominous.
With middle-ageing care
I had laid out just the right books.
I had almost turned down the pages.

@3Beauty is so rare a thing@1.
@3So few drink of my fountain@1.

So much barren regret,
So many hours wasted!
And now I watch, from the window,
the rain, the wandering busses.

"Their little cosmos is shaken" --
the air is alive with that fact.
In their parts of the city
they are played on by diverse forces.
How do I know?
Oh, I know well enough.
For them there is something afoot.
As for me;
I had over-prepared the event --

@3Beauty is so rare a thing
So few drink of my fountain@1.

Two friends: a breath of the forest . . .
Friends? Are people less friends
because one has just, at last, found them?
Twice they promised to come.

@3"Between the night and morning?"
Beauty would drink of my mind@1.
Youth would awhile forget
my youth is gone from me.

II

("Speak up! You have danced so stiffly?
Someone admired your works,
And said so frankly.

"Did you talk like a fool,
The first night?
The second evening?"

"@3But@1 they promised again:
'To-morrow at tea-time'.")

III

Now the third day is here --
no word from either;
No word from her nor him,
Only another man's note:
"Dear Pound, I am leaving England."


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