Ezra Pound, born in Idaho but an expatriate for most of his life, lived in England throughout the war. Deeply affected by the death of sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, a friend who was killed near Arras in June 1915, he took to railing against the war and its relation to “usury.” His poem Hugh Selwyn Mauberley gave expression to the disillusionment many experienced in the aftermath of the war.
IV.
These fought, in any case,
and some believing, pro domo, in any case . . .
Some quick to arm,
some for adventure,
some from fear of weakness,
some from fear of censure,
some for love of slaughter, in imagination,
learning later . . .
some in fear, learning love of slaughter;
Died some pro patria, non dulce non et decor” . . .
walked eye-deep in hell
believing in old men’s lies, then unbelieving
came home, home to a lie,
home to many deceits,
home to old lies and new infamy;
usury age-old and age-thick
and liars in public places.
Daring as never before, wastage as never before.
Young blood and high blood,
Fair cheeks, and fine bodies;
fortitude as never before
frankness as never before,
disillusions as never told in the old days,
hysterias, trench confessions,
laughter out of dead bellies.
V.
There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization,
Charm, smiling at the good mouth,
Quick eyes gone under earth’s lid,
For two gross of broken statues,
For a few thousand battered books.
From Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920)