Poet, Essayist. He is remembered as a 20th century American poet, who was an influence for the avant-garde and modernist poets and often broke with traditions. While still an infant, he moved with his family from his birthplace in Idaho to Pennsylvania. Eventually, he would attend college at the University of Pennsylvania, later moving on to Hamilton College in New York. After graduation, he became an instructor in Romance Languages at Wabash College in Indiana. He resigned that position after what was reported as a minor scandal and traveled abroad for a time before accepting a position as the literary executor of the Japanese art scholar, Ernest Fenollosa. While in this position, he developed an interest in Asian poetry, which later inspired him to found the “Imagist Movement” in poetry. This group evolved into “Vorticism,” which included painters and sculptures. Pound eventually settled in London where he began relationships with some of the leading poets of the day. One of his lasting legacies would be that he helped open dialogues among artist, writers, and musicians world-wide in discussing their work and influences. He would collaborate with many of them in his time. He would also work very hard to promote the works of such artists as W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, T.S. Elliot, William Carlos Williams, and Marianne Moore. Despite his creative generosity, Pound’s personal life was stormy and controversial. In 1914, he married English artist, Dorothy Shakespear, but was not faithful to her. His most enduring romantic relationship was with violinist Olga Rudge, which would last until his death. His political convictions would also affect his life. The horrors of World War I shook his confidence in modern civilization, and he left London to go to Paris and then eventually to settle in Italy. In Italy he would become involved with the far-right dictatorial political party of Mussolini and Fascism. As an American citizen in Italy during World War II, he broadcast a series of controversial radio commentaries attacking the United States President Franklin Roosevelt and Jewish banks, who in his reasoning, he blamed for the war. For this action and others, he was declared a traitor and an anti-Semite. He would be arrested in 1943 by the United States Army, imprisoned in a camp in Italy, before being brought back to the United States after the war to face charges. Four physicians declared that he was “not sane enough to stand trial” and would not be executed if found guilty of treason. His physical and mental condition had declined while being imprisoned, thus he was admitted in 1945 to a mental hospital, St. Elizabeth's in Washington D.C. During his confinement in the mental hospital for the criminally insane, he was visited by many of artistic friends and his devoted wife who lobbied outside of the hospital for an appeal. He would also continue to write and be recognized with various honors. During his confinement, the jury of the Bollingen-Library of Congress Award at Yale University decided to overlook Pound’s political career in the interest of recognizing his poetic achievements, and awarded him in 1948 the first-ever-given Bollingen Prize for the “Pisan Cantos.” On his release in 1958 in the care of his wife, he returned to Italy where he eventually reunited with Rudge remaining with her until he died. Pound produced a copious amount of work with his most famous being the “Canto.” His influence would affect the course of art, literature, and music in the twentieth century. Critics have stated, that for “over 50 years he was one of the three or four best poets writing in English.” His papers and numerous letters are archived at the Beinecke Library at Yale University in Connecticut.