SOURCE: Bottrall, Ronald. “The Achievement of Ezra Pound.” In Ezra Pound: The Critical Heritage, edited by Eric Homberger, pp. 415-21. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972.

In the following essay, originally published in 1952, Bottrall, a well-known English poet, positively reflects upon Pound's body of work, believing “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley” to be his artistic peak, and that his later work, while still excellent, did not live up to his earlier potential.

During the last twelve months or so in addition to a collection of essays on Ezra Pound, there have appeared the collected edition of the first 70 Cantos; a volume of Pound's letters, edited by D. D. Paige; and a full-length study of Pound's poetry by Hugh Kenner. All this does honour to a neglected writer and is an encouraging riposte to the attacks made by large sections of the American press on Pound and the judges who awarded him...