The world of the troubadours of medieval Provence--of Bertran de Born, Arnaut de Mareuil, and Peire Bremon lo Tort--always fascinated Ezra Pound and, as Stuart McDougal shows, provided both themes and techniques for his early poetry.

Pound's first translations of Provencal poetry were a way of penetrating an alien sensibility and culture and making it his own; they were also important technical exercises. Confronted with the problem of finding a suitable form and language for the Provencal experience, he condensed, deleted, expanded--the results were highly original...

The world of the troubadours of medieval Provence--of Bertran de Born, Arnaut de Mareuil, and Peire Bremon lo Tort--always fascinated Ezra Pound and, as Stuart McDougal shows, provided both themes and techniques for his early poetry.

Pound's first translations of Provencal poetry were a way of penetrating an alien sensibility and culture and making it his own; they were also important technical exercises. Confronted with the problem of finding a suitable form and language for the Provencal experience, he condensed, deleted, expanded--the results were highly original...