Probably Mr. Pound has won odium not so much by his theories as
by his unstinted praise of certain contemporary authors whose
work he has liked. Such expressions of approval are usually
taken as a grievance--much more so than any personal abuse,
which is comparatively a compliment--by the writers who escape
his mention. He does not say "A., B., and C. are bad poets or
novelists," but when he says "The work of X., Y., and Z. is in
such and such respects the most important work in verse (or
prose) since so and so," then A., B., and C. are aggrieved.
Also, Pound has frequently expressed disapproval of Milton and
Wordsworth.

After "Ripostes," Mr. Pound's idiom has advanced still farther.
Inasmuch as "Cathay," the volume of translations from the
Chinese, appeared prior to "Lustra," it is sometimes thought
that his newer idiom is due to the Chinese influence. This is
almost the reverse of the truth. The late Ernest Fenollosa left
a quantity of manuscripts, including a great number of rough
translations (literally exact) from the Chinese. After certain
poems subsequently incorporated in "Lustra" had appeared in
"Poetry," Mrs. Fenollosa recognized that in Pound the Chinese
manuscripts would find the interpreter whom her husband would
have wished; she accordingly forwarded the papers for him to do
as he liked with. It is thus due to Mrs. Fenollosa's acumen that
we have "Cathay"; it is not as a consequence of "Cathay" that we
have "Lustra." This fact must be borne in mind.

Poems afterward embodied in "Lustra" appeared in "Poetry," in
April, 1913, under the title of "Contemporanea." They included