Analysis Of The River-Merchant's Wife By Ezra Weston Loomis Pound

Poetry is a form of writing that has a way of speaking to many people. It was first written for the educated and high class, but later made its way to every class. Ezra Weston Loomis Pound, known as Ezra Pound, is an American poet who wrote many forms of poetry. He was born in 1885 in Idaho and died in 1972 at 87 years old (Biography.com Editors, 2016). Among his years living he became known as the poet who was most responsible for defining and promoting a modernist aesthetic in poetry (Academy of American Poets, 2009). Pound was also known as one of the most influential voices of the 20th century in American and English literature (Academy of American Poets, 2009). One of his poems, “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” was written in 1915. This poem can contain many themes, depending on how the author portrays the words and images written, but the overall theme is love. The character in Pound’s poem shares her journey of love with her husband, starting with her childhood, which is when she first met him. Readers of this poem are able to determine the age of the character by the details that Pound provides. When the poem starts out it is understood that the character is at a young age: “while my hair was still cut straight across my forehead / I played about …show more content…
However, it is not until the end that the reader learns how much she loves him. The reader learns that the wife is getting older because the poem states: “I grow older” (Pound, 1915, line 25). This does not tell the reader how much older though. It is determined that she loves him indefinitely: “If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang / please let me know beforehand / and I will come out to meet you / as far as Cho-fu-Sa” (Pound 1915, lines 26-29). This poem shows love will prevail even through the darkest of evils. Although she knows that he may not return, she is still waiting for him. This is true