Modern Mag May 2014 | Page 24

Arides   The bashful Arides Has married an ugly wife, He was bored with his manner of life, Indifferent and discouraged he thought he might as Well do this as anything else. Saying within his heart,’I am no use to myself, 'Let her, if she wants me, take me.' Pound could have been thinking when he wrote “Arides”. Whatever mistakes a person makes their is no reason that they can not persevere with the help of a loving family.Arides was not blessed with that gift like most people. Those who are truly do not realize it,when Ezra Pound wrote “Arides” he wanted his audience to recognize that their family is a gift. This is something that some people do not recognize until they are gone.       Joseph  Boehmer   He went to his doom. -Ezra Pound   Everybody has done something that they regret. It is part of human nature to make mistakes. This idea is the main theme for Ezra Pound’s “Arides” . The main character Arides is a symbol for the author Ezra Pound where even though Pound was one of the more successful poets of the Modernist period he could have secretly been unhappy with his life. Possibly so unhappy that he had thoughts of suicide or going to “his doom”.The “ugly wife” was a symbol of what Pound thought was his failure as a poet or as a person. “I am no use to myself.’’ In these words Pound conveys to his audience,that Arides believes he is useless or inferior, “she” could be his deceased mother or a deceased former lover. Furthermore, “If she wants me, take me” means that if this person wants to see Arides again they should go and take him to heaven. This can also be taken to mean if Arides wants to see this person again he can take that matter into his own hands which is what the final line, “He went to his doom”, means. Arides unsucce