Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho in 1885.(5) He went on a trip to Europe with his great aunt at an early age.(6) He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and got his degree from Hamilton College.(5) Pound taught at Wabash College for a couple of years and then took another trip abroad, where he stayed for several years.

Pound was too old to go to World War I and was able avoid serving in the military. His father was an Army captain, so he was familiar with the trappings of war and the military.(1)

After the war, Pound returned to Europe and became friends with many of the writers in the circle of ex-patriates including Ernest Hemingway. Pound wrote many of his poems while he was in Paris and became fascinated with Chinese and Asian cultures.(1)

While in Europe Pound held jobs in journalism, such as working for Poetry Magazine.(6) He also worked on his poetry and fell into the life of drinking, gambling and carousing.

Pound is credited with influencing a genration of young writers and poets, such as T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. Pound also wrote political pieces against the U.S. government which got him arrested when he returned to America in 1945. He was later acquited.(6)