read humphrey carpenter's bio if you want the narrative to stick closely to pound's life and activities from cradle to grave. by comparison, moody usually narrates only as much as is beneficial to understanding pound's poetic mindset. the rest is a very good chronological, comprehensive criticism of the poetry.

i'm very excited to read this criticism as applied to EP's post-20s work on the cantos. the only misgiving i have in this first volume is that it may be a little too comprehensive on the point of very early work ( A Lume Spento, etc. ), work that isn't always worth reading itself, let alone reading convoluted analysis of. ( )