On the Poetic Legacy of W.S. Merwin | Literary Hub

Just after World War II, a young Princeton student journeyed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC, to visit Ezra Pound. The great poet had been tried for treason for broadcasts he made in Italy for the fascist government and, pleading insanity, wound up serving a dozen years in the psychiatric institution. To the astonishment of his young visitor that day in 1946, Pound greeted him as if he were a serious poet. Like an elder, he also offered advice. "You don't really have anything to write about at the age of eighteen," Pound warned. "The way to do it is to learn a language and translate. That way you can practice, and you can find out what you can do with language, with your language."