Personae

'Personae' is a definitive collection of Ezra Pound's shorter poems that captures the essence of literary modernism. Pound's poetry is intricate, dense, lyrical, and passionate without being sentimental. He presents himself in a variety of characters or «masks,» which showcase the hallmarks of the new style, including the concentration of force, economy of means, and the habit of analysis. Here's an excerpt from 'La Fraisne': «For I was a gaunt, grave councillor / Being in all things wise, and very old / But I have put aside this folly and the cold / That old age weareth for a cloak.»