The Spirit of Romance: An Attempt to Define Somewhat the Charm of the Pre-Renaissance Literature of Latin Europe (1910)

Written in 1910 when Pound was only 25 years old, and later revised by the author, this critical work has long stood as an important stage in the development of Pound’s poetics, and a dramatic revaluation of Europe’s literary tradition. Pound surveys the course of literature from the fall of the Roman Empire through the dawn of the Renaissance, paying special attention to the Provenal poets and to Dante. Now with an introduction by Richard Sieburth, this work illuminates a great period in European literature and one of America’s greatest poetic minds.