Black lightning ... (in a more recent poem)

but no word is ever chosen merely for the tinkle; each has
always its part in producing an impression which is produced
always through language. Words are perhaps the hardest of
all material of art: for they must be used to express both
visual beauty and beauty of sound, as well as communicating
a grammatical statement. It would be interesting to compare
Pound's use of images with Mallarme's; I think it will be found
that the former's, by the contrast, will appear always sharp in
outline, even if arbitrary and not photographic. Such images as
those quoted above are as precise in their way as

Sur le Noel, morte saison,
Lorsque les loups vivent de vent ...

and the rest of that memorable Testament.

So much for the imagery. As to the "freedom" of his verse, Pound
has made several statements in his articles on Dolmetsch which
are to the point:

Any work of art is a compound of freedom and order. It is
perfectly obvious that art hangs between chaos on the one
side and mechanics on the other. A pedantic insistence upon
detail tends to drive out "major form." A firm hold on major
form makes for a freedom of detail. In painting men intent
on minutiae gradually lost the sense of form and form-
combination. An attempt to restore this sense is branded as