# Abdu'l-Baha and Ezra Pound's Circle

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Elham Afnan, Abdu'l-Baha and Ezra Pound's Circle, bahai-library.com.
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> ‘Abdu’l-Bahà and Ezra Pound’s Circle
> Elham Afnan
> 
> Abstract
> The beginning of the twentieth century saw the emergence in the West of new and
> revolutionary movements in both literature and religion. Viewing themselves as the
> harbingers of a new age, these movements frequently found expression in terms of a
> radical break with the past as well as a resurgence of dormant powers and traditions.
> Their paths frequently intersected: sometimes in well-publicized confrontations or much-
> discussed collaborations, just as often through fleeting personal contacts that were little
> noted by most of the world. This paper examines an example of the latter type of contact,
> albeit one that has extensive and fascinating ramifications. The event in question is the
> meeting between Ezra Pound, the famous American modernist poet, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahd.
> Investigation of the contact ‘Abdu'1-Bahá had with Pound reveals links between the
> Baha’i Faith and a number of important avant-garde circles in the West, and thereby
> sheds light on hitherto unexplored areas of religious and literary history.
> 
> Résumé
> Le début du XXe siècle a vu naître en Occident des mouvements nouveaux et
> v révolutionnaires, tant dans le domaine des belles-lettres que dans celui de la religion.
> Ces mouvements, qui se voyaient comme les précurseurs d’un âge nouveau, se
> manifestaient souvent par une rupture radicale du passé ainsi que par la réémergence de
> pouvoirs et de traditions alors tenues en veilleuse. Leurs chemins bien souvent se
> croisaient cela se manifestait dans certains cas par des confrontations ou des
> collaborations notoires, mais cela pouvait aussi prendre la forme de brefs contacts
> personnels qui demeuraient peu connus de la plupart du monde. L’auteur se penche sur
> l’un de ces contacts personnels qui, bien que passé inaperçu, a néanmoins eu des
> répercussions à la fois étendues et fascinantes. Il s’agit, en T occurrence, d’une
> rencontre qui eut lieu entre Ezra Pound, le célèbre poète américain moderniste, et
> ‘Abdu l-Bahá. Un examen approfondi de la rencontre de ces deux êtres fait découvrir
> des liens entre la foi bahd’ie et un certain nombre de cercles avant-gardistes
> ď envergure en Occident, et met en lumière des parties de l’histoire religieuse et
> littéraire jusque là inexplorées.
> 
> Resumen
> El comienzo del siglo veinte se caracterizô por el surgimiento de movimientos nuevos y
> revolucionarios tanto en la literatura como en la religion. Considerândose ellos mismos
> como precursores de una nueva época, estos movimientos con frecuencia conse'guian
> desarrollar sus propôsitos al margen de un rompimiento drâstico con lo del pasado o
> mediante el resurgimiento de podereš y tradiciones anteriormehte en desuso.
> Ocasionalmente sus caminos se cruzaban, a veces en altercados ampliamente difundidos
> o en muy discutidas colaboraciones, o por Ultimas valiéndose de contactos personates
> THE J O U R N A L OF B A H Á Í S T U D I E S                 6.2.1994
> 
> considerados de poca importancia por el resto del murtdo. Esta disertación estudia un
> ejemplo de este ultimo tipo de encuentro cuyos resultados fueron extensos e
> interesantisimos. El acontecimiento referido es el encuentro del famoso poeta
> modernista norteamerican Ezra Pound con ‘Abdu l-Bahá. La investigación de la
> reunion que sostuvo ‘Abdu’l-Bahá con Pound trae a luz los vinculos entre la Fe Bahà’iy
> otras esferas de vanguardia importantes, iluminando sectores anteriormente no
> explorados de la historia religiosa y literaria.
> 
> The Bahà’i Teachings and the Intellectual Milieu of Modernism
> Perhaps the most influential movement in literature and art in the first half of
> the twentieth century was that of modernism. Drawing on such intellectual
> precursors as Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud, the modernists questioned many of
> the traditional modes of social organization, religion, and morality, as well as
> conceptions of the human self that were at the basis of Western culture. They
> experimented with new forms and styles of writing that would “render
> contemporary disorder, often contrasting it to a lost order that had been based
> on the religion and myths of the cultural past” (Abrams, Glossary 109).
> Although modernism was at its height following the First World War, its
> foundations were being laid from the early part of the century by avant-garde
> artists and authors who were undertaking, in Ezra Pound’s phrase, “to make it
> new’’ (quoted in Abrams, Glossary 109).
> Certainly the most influential religious movement to come to the West
> during this early period in the rise of modernism was the Bahà’i Faith. From its
> early days, the Bahà’i Faith had attracted the attention of Westerners. As early
> as 1865, orientalists such as Comte de Gobineau, Lord Curzon, A.-L.-M.
> Nicolas and Edward Granville Browne began taking great interest in the
> development of the Bábi and later the Bahà’i Faith. In 1894, Ibrahim Kheiralla,
> a Syrian Bahà’i, settled in Chicago and began systematically to teach the cause
> he had espoused, achieving remarkable success. Although later he defected
> from the religion, many of those he first introduced to Bahà’i teachings came to
> be among the most devoted followers of Bahà’u’ilàh and further spread the
> Bahà’i Faith to England and Canada.
> By 1911, there were a number of BaháT communities in centers through
> much of Europe and across most of North America. However, it was ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá who was instrumental in establishing the new religion in the West.
> ‘AbduT-Bahá, recently released from prison, was finally able to respond to the
> Western Bahà’is’ repeated appeals and embarked, despite his advanced age and
> broken health, on a three-year journey to Egypt, Europe, and North America.
> He first arrived in London on 4 September 1911. After a stay of about a month,
> he went to Paris, where he stayed for nine weeks. He sailed to New York the
> following March and travelled from coast to coast during an eight-month tour.
> He arrived back in England in December, 1912, and proceeded to travel in
> Europe before returning home to Haifa on 5 December 1913.
> ‘A h du' l - Buhú a n d Ez r a Pound' s Ci r c l e                   3
> 
> During his extensive travels, ‘AbduT-Bahá met a great many socially
> prominent people. One of the most interesting and significant of these meetings,
> however, has until now gone without notice or comment. This is 'AbduT-
> Bahii’s meeting with American poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972) in London, on 28
> September 1911. As one of the founders of the Imagist school of poetry, a
> champion of the modernist movement, and a patron of many important literary
> figures, Pound is recognized as one of the central figures in the twentieth-
> century revolution in poetry. The lack of comment on his meeting with ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá is perhaps due to the fact that the meeting was an isolated incident which
> appeared to have little influence on subsequent events in the lives of either
> ‘AbduT-Bahá or Pound. However, Pound not only referred to the meeting,
> although briefly, in several letters, he also incorporated it into his major poetic
> work. The Cantos.
> Ezra Pound met ‘AbduT-Bahá on the latter’s first trip to England. This fact
> by itself would perhaps not be particularly significant were it not for a certain
> common ground between ‘AbduT-Bahà’s message and some of Pound’s ideas.
> As a world religion, the Bahà’i Faith “upholds the unity of God, recognizes the
> unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness
> of the human race” (Shoghi Effendi, Faith 8), a principle it seeks to realize
> through laws and teachings for the individual as well as an administrative order
> for society as a whole. However, like all religions, it also has strong mystic
> elements that deal with humanity’s spiritual life and the operations of divine
> revelation in the world. This latter concern with spiritual matters is shared to
> some extent by various occult movements, especially many that flourished at
> the turn of the century.
> 
> The Bahà’i Faith and Occult Movements at the Turn of the
> Century
> Pound was deeply interested in the occult and became more intimately associated
> with it when he emigrated from the United States to England. Both his poetry
> and prose express, often in esoteric terms, his mystical views. This aspect of his
> thought has not been widely recognized and has received scholarly attention only
> recently. Many of the people and publications with which both Pound and
> ‘AbduT-Bahá had some contact are, to varying degrees, related to occult circles.
> One of the central concepts of the BaháT Faith, affirming the oneness of
> divine truth, is that of progressive revelation. In the words of ‘AbduT-Bahá,
> “The religion of God is one religion, but it must ever be renewed” (Selections
> 52). The prophets of God are all mediators between God and humanity, and
> they have all taught the same essential truths. Through the passage of time,
> however, religions “change from their original foundation, the truth of the
> Religion of God entirely departs, and the spirit of it does not stay; heresies
> appear, and it becomes a body without a soul. That is why it is renewed”
> 4          TH E J O U R N A L OF B A H Á ’ I S T U D I E S           6.2.1994
> 
> (‘Abdu’l-Bahà, Some Answered Questions 166). The Bahà’i Faith teaches that
> knowledge of God is available to all those who accept and obey the words of
> God as revealed through the divine religion for each age.
> There are obvious parallels to this idea among occultists. One group which
> voiced a belief in a single truth that unites all cultures was the Quest Society.
> G. R. S. Mead, initially secretary to Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the
> Theosophical Society, split with Annie Besant, Blavatsky’s successor, and
> formed the Quest Society in 1910. He published many articles in The Quest, for
> instance those of Jessie Weston, which argued for the persistence of ancient
> traditions that had once been the expressions of divine revelation. Expressed in
> ancient times through ritual, but later suppressed and driven underground, these
> traditions still survive in secret, unknown to all but the initiate. Pound’s
> “Psychology and Troubadours,” first published in The Quest in 1912, articulates
> a similar position by maintaining that Provençal troubadours developed their
> own unofficial mysticism and safeguarded it against the oppressive rule of the
> Church by cultivating an esoteric tradition kept secret from all but a select few.
> The emphasis here is on the ecstatic experiences of individuals who are initiated
> into the inner mysteries of the occult. This is very different from the Bahá’1
> approach, which has no rituals and no initiation rites, secret or otherwise. Still
> the belief in a truth that survives or is renewed throughout history is certainly a
> point of agreement between the two groups.
> The Quest welcomed “contributions which exemplify the investigation and
> comparative study of religion, philosophy and science as complementary to one
> another in aiding the search for that reality which alone can give complete
> satisfaction” (Mead, “The Quest” 290). Strangely, it made no mention of
> ‘Abdu'1-Bahá during his stay in London, although harmony between science
> and religion and the investigation of truth were themes upon which he
> expounded frequently in his talks. There are, however, two interesting articles
> that appeared in The Quest just before ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s arrival. One is an essay
> by Wellesley Tudor-Pole, entitled “The Passing of Major P.,” which discusses
> spiritual life, the ethereal body, and related mystical topics. What is of interest
> is that in September that year, Tudor-Pole was present at the. City Temple,
> Holbom, where ‘Abdu’l-Bahà gave his first public address. He spoke in Persian
> and “the translation was afterwards read by Mr. W. Tudor-Pole” (Christian
> Commonwealth). Tudor-Pole had previously met ‘Abdu’l-Bahà in Egypt in
> 1910 and was later his host in Bristol. A devoted admirer, he later exerted every
> effort in his capacity as a major in the British army stationed in Palestine to
> ensure ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s safety during World War I.
> Another article that appeared in The Quest in July 1911 was the record of a
> general meeting of the Quest Society held on 23 March 1911. The topic of the
> meeting had been “Can any great religion admit spiritual equality with other
> great religions?” The proceedings are fully recorded and show that spokesmen
> for the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim viewpoints were Claude G. Montefiore,
> ‘A b d u ’ l - B a h á a n d E z r a P o u n d ’s C i r c l e                  5
> 
> Rev. Roland Corbet, and Syed Ameer Ali, respectively. All were progressive
> and open-minded exponents of their religious traditions and well known and
> respected in their fields.
> Montefiore was among the speakers when nearly 500 people gathered at
> Passmore Edwards’ Settlement, Tavistock Place, on 29 September to hear
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speak of Bahà’uTlàh’s teachings:
> 
> He brought the light o f guidance to the world. . . . He sought to destroy the
> foundations o f religious and racial prejudice and o f political rivalry. He likened the
> world of humanity to a tree, and all the nations to its branches and the people to its
> leaves, buds and fruits. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London 37)
> 
> Afterwards, “Mr. Claude Montefiore . . . rejoiced in the growth of the spirit of
> unity, and regarded that meeting as prophetic of the better time to come. . . ”
> ( ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London 35). Ameer Ali met ‘AbduT-Bahá during ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahà’s second visit to England when he spoke at the Woking mosque in Surrey
> on 18 January 1913. He was followed by Ali, “member of the Judicial
> Committee of the Privy Council, who paid Him high tribute” (Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá 370-71). Corbet was also among those who called on ‘AbduT-Bahá in
> London (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By 285).
> New Age was another literary magazine whose editor, A. R. Orage, had
> occult interests. He first started his magazine with financing from George
> Bernard Shaw and Lewis Wallace, both of whom had theosophical leanings.
> Pound, whose “Patria M ia” first appeared in N ew Age, was a regular
> contributor; the magazine was in fact his “principal source of financial support
> since 1911” (Surette, A Light 80). “Notes of the Week,” a regular column
> written by Orage himself, includes the following entry for 21 September 1911 :
> 
> Seeds of strange religions are wafted from time to time on our shores. But fortunately
> or unfortunately, they do not find the soil in us in which to flourish. . . . The latest to
> land in public is Bahaism, of which, indeed many o f us have heard in private these
> many years. (484)
> 
> The comments coincide with ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s arrival in London. It is clear that
> Orage had had some previous contact with the BaháT Faith although he makes no
> other mention of it in his column during the remainder of ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s stay.
> Beneath the sardonic tone of the comment is an undercurrent of respect as
> Orage continues to quote a BaháT' teaching:
> 
> We are told       . A Bahai must take part in some work for the benefit o f the
> community.” From this we forecast less success in England for Bahaism than for
> Christian Science, let us say, that makes no such demands on the idle rich. (Orage,
> “Notes" 484)                                         •
> 6           TH E J O U R N A L OF B A H A ’I S T U D I E S                  6.2.1994
> 
> The concluding prognostication, which perhaps explains the lack of further
> attention to BaháT ideas on Orage’s part, is interesting for its inaccuracy.
> ' Abdu’I-Bahà was in fact enthusiastically welcomed by large numbers of people
> in England, and many publications noted his presence and quoted from the
> principles he enunciated.
> The Times of London, for instance, printed an announcement of ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahà’s arrival on 6 September 1911, two days after his arrival. The New York
> Times had already published several articles about his impending journey to
> England, including a full-page report on Bahà’i history on 2 July and a
> description of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá together with his photograph on 24 September. In
> the following months, and again during ‘AbduT-Bahà’s second visit in early
> 1913, two English reviews carried at least four lengthy accounts of various
> features of BaháT history and teachings.
> 
> Newspaper Coverage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s Visit
> Contemporary Review begins its article, titled “Bahaism: The Birth of a World
> Religion,” with a quotation from ‘AbduT-Bahá: “There is one God; Mankind is
> one, and the foundations of religion are one” (Johnson, Bahaism 391). The writer
> proceeds to give a detailed, and for the most part accurate, history of the religion
> of the Báb and Bahà’u’Hàh, and then goes on to summarize its teachings with
> special emphasis on its ultimate aim, the spiritual unification of humanity.
> Another journal which gave prominent coverage to ‘AbduT-Bahà’s message
> was Fortnightly Review, to which Pound, as well as other literary figures such as
> Roger Fry, Hilaire Belloc, Thomas Hardy, and Ford Maddox Ford, were
> contributing in the same period. The earliest article, “Abbas Effendi: His
> Personality, Work and Followers” (June, 1911) by E. S. Stevens, is based partly on
> the author’s personal experiences during a visit to ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s household in
> Palestine at the turn of the century. In the same year, Stevens also published The
> Mountain o f God, a novel “which revolved around the lives of the BaháT
> community in the Haifa-*Akká area.. . . ‘AbduT-Bahá himself, although appearing
> only once in the book in person, pervades the whole book by the influence that he
> exerts on the characters” (Momen, Bábi and Bahďí Religions 50).
> A second article, appearing in April, 1912, in the same volume as Pound’s
> “Canzone: of Angels,” is Constance E. Maud’s impressions of ‘AbduT-Bahá.
> In the house where he and his entourage were staying,
> 
> came a constant stream of all sorts and conditions of men and women. Christians of
> every denomination, Buddhists o f every nationality, Theosophists, Zoroastrians and
> Mahometans, Agnostics and Gnostics. To all he spoke some individual message, and
> to their varied questions he gave a simple, direct, and quite spontaneous answer. . . .
> Abdul Baha possesses an amazing power of going straight to the core o f men and
> things. (Maud, “Abdul-Baha” 708-9)
> ‘   A b d u ’ l-Bahá and Ezra Hound’s Circl e                                7
> 
> The last article, also by Maud, concerns Táhirih, “The First Persian
> Feminist,” one of the Bâb’s earliest disciples and a poet “gifted not only with
> exceptional beauty, but with intellectual gills" (Maud, “First Persian Feminist”
> 1176). An eloquent and fearless expounder of the Bâb’s teachings, Táhirih
> proclaimed his inauguration of a new religious dispensation by appearing
> unveiled before a company of the Bab’s followers. Before her martyrdom in the
> midst of the wave of persecution that engulfed the Bábi community, she is
> reported to have declared, “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot
> stop the emancipation of women” (quoted in Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By
> 75). She thus became an emblem of the BaháT principle of the equality of the
> sexes, a principle to which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá frequently referred in his talks.
> Another publication that paid great attention to ‘AbduT-Bahá was the
> Christian Commonwealth, edited by Albert Dawson. The unofficial organ of the
> City Temple, it reported in full ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s address at that church. R. J.
> Campbell, the Congregationalist pastor of the City Temple from 1902 to 1915,
> “placed the distinguished visitor in his own chair” and, addressing the large
> congregation, said, “We have a visitor in the pulpit whose presence is somewhat
> significant of the spiritual drawing together of East and West.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> then stepped forward and “with considerable animation, his voice rising and
> falling as in a rhythmic chant,” spoke:
> 
> Today the light of truth is shining upon the world in its abundance. . . . The banner of
> the Holy Spirit is uplifted, and men see it, and are assured with the knowledge that
> this is a new da y . . . . This is a new cycle of human power. (Christian 13 Sept. 1911)
> 
> A week later, the Christian Commonwealth once again gave full details, on
> its front page, of ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s address at St. John’s, Westminster, at the
> invitation of Archdeacon Wilberforce. “Man all over the world is seeking for
> God,” said ‘AbduT-Bahá, “but the Reality of Divinity is holy above all
> understanding.” Expounding on the BaháT belief in God as an
> incom prehensible Essence who can only be known through divine
> Manifestations, he continued:
> 
> How can the temporal and phenomenal comprehend the Lord o f Hosts? . . . The
> perfect man, the Prophet, is one . . . who has the purity and clearness o f a perfect
> mirror— one who reflects the Sun o f Truth. . . . Therefore men have always been
> taught and led by the Prophets of God. The Prophets of God are the mediators o f
> God. (Christian 20 Sept. 1911)
> 
> On 30 September 1911, ‘AbduT-Bahá also met with the Theosophical
> Society at its new headquarters at the invitation of Annie Besant, its president.
> After words of welcome by A. P. Sinnett, ‘AbduT-Bahá commended “the
> eagerness of the Society in it:, scutch fut Truth" ('Ahdit'l Bahâ in London 26)
> 8           TH E J O U R N A L OF B A H À ’ Î S T U D I E S                    6.2.1994
> 
> and delivered an address on the distinctive features of the BaháT teachings. The
> text of this talk is quoted at the end of the article by H. Johnson in
> Contemporary Review, cited above, under the title “A short summary of the
> teaching of Bahà’u’ilàh: specially contributed by ‘AbduT-Bahá.”
> 
> Pound’s Meeting with ‘Abdu’l-Bahà
> Shortly before this, on 22 September 1911, Ezra Pound had written to Dorothy
> Shakespear, his future wife, that “they tell me I’m likely to meet the Bahi
> [‘AbduT-Bahá] next week in order to find out whether I know more about
> heaven than he does. Whatever the decision, I bet I can give him points on
> ‘Helsewhere’ ” (Letters 63). A week later, he wrote Margaret Cravens, a friend
> who lived in Paris, “I met the Bahi yesterday, he is a dear old man. I wonder
> would you like to meet him, he goes to Paris next week. I’ll arrange for you
> anyhow & you can go or not, as you like” (Ezra Pound and Margaret Cravens
> 90). On 6 October, he wrote Margaret again:
> 
> The Bahi— Abdul Baha, Abbas Effendi, or whatever you like to call him, is at the
> Dreyfus Barney’s . . . and any one interested in the movement can write and see him
> there by appointment. Its [sic] more important than Cezanne, & not in the least like what
> you’d expect of an oriental religious now. At least, I went to conduct an inquisition &
> came away feeling that questions would have been an impertinence. The whole point is
> that they have done instead o f talking, and a persian movement for religious unity that
> claims the feminine soul equal to the male, & puts Christ above Buddha, to the horror of
> the Theosophists, is worth while. Even if a lot of silly people do get mixed up in it. (95)
> 
> The change in attitude is significant and representative of many responses to
> ‘Abdu'1-Bahà’s personality. Pound goes from arrogant prejudgment to respect
> and admiration, seemingly in spite of himself. His tone remains slightly
> dismissive, but the admission of genuine surprise at the progressive beliefs of an
> “oriental religious” and of awe at ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s presence indicates the extent
> of the influence ‘Abdu’l-Bahà exerted on even those bent on inquisition.
> Pound’s understanding of ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s message, as he recounts it in this
> letter, is more or less correct as far as it goes, although it is neither complete nor
> profound as indeed it cannot be based on a single interview. It is instructive to
> compare some of Pound’s assertions with ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s recorded remarks. For
> instance. Pound mentions the fundamental purpose of achieving unity and refers
> to the equality of the female and male souls, a topic ‘AbduT-Bahá addressed
> repeatedly in his talks and letters: “... in the sight of Bahá, women are accounted
> the same as men, and God hath created all humankind in His own image. . . .
> men and women alike are the revealers of His names and attributes, and from the
> spiritual viewpoint there is no difference between them” (Selections 79-80).
> The next observation regarding Buddha, although doubtless appealing to
> Pound as it entails the discomfiture of the Theosophists, whom he seems to
> view as “silly people," is nevertheless inaccurate, in speaking of Buddhism,
> ‘A b d u ’ l - B a h á a n d E z r a P o u n d ’s C i r c l e        9
> 
> ‘AbduT-Bahá expressed the Bahà’i belief that all religions come from the same
> divine source. In this respect, “The real teaching of Buddha is the same as the
> teaching of Jesus Christ.” However, he also explained that in the course of time
> Buddhism, like other religions, has strayed away from its original teachings so
> that “if you look at the present practice of the Buddhist religion, you will see
> that there is little of the Reality left” ( ‘A b d u ’l-Bahá in London 63).
> Characteristically, Pound mentions only the part of the comments that
> corresponds to his own views.
> It is interesting, however, to note that before meeting him, Pound seems to
> have considered himself, in the letter to Dorothy, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s equal or
> superior in knowledge of the other world. After the meeting, however, he
> concedes ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s superiority. The admission, revealing in any case, is
> all the more significant if we take Pound’s initial claim seriously.
> Pound’s first response is in many ways typical of his approach to religion and
> makes his later comments on ‘AbduT-Bahá perhaps more understandable.
> Demetres Tryphonopoulos writes in an article on The Cantos that “Pound’s
> ‘religious’ ideas form a mosaic out of elements selected from a wide variety of
> pagan mystery religions and occult movements. . . . Pound nowhere takes the step
> of attempting to organize his religious ideas into a coherent system” (“The Cantos”
> 9). In his approach to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá he chooses elements that suit his own
> predilections but ignores or misunderstands the rest. Although he concedes that the
> Bahà’i Faith is worthwhile, and praises the Bahà’is for having “done instead of
> talking,” he cannot see the Bahà’i Faith as a whole. ‘Abdu’l-Bahà spoke on a
> variety of topics to the diverse people who came to see him. He discussed the
> power of God and true spirituality, Christ and Buddha, education, healing, art,
> world peace, and a universal language. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá fitted his utterances to the
> capacity and interests of his audiences, but, contrary to what Pound may have
> thought, all he said was part of a coherent religious system whose parts are
> organically related and must be understood in relation to each other.
> The failure to see them as such is not peculiar to Pound of course. Many
> others, including occultists, who met ‘AbduT-Bahá were happy to applaud his
> vision of the unity of all religions and incorporate parts of it into their own
> philosophies. But they treated it as an eclectic collection of beliefs and customs
> and not as what ‘AbduT-Bahá said it is, namely “the teachings of the Lord God,
> teachings which constitute the very life of humankind . . .” (‘AbduT-Bahá,
> Selections 52-53).
> Pound, who did not take the Bahà’i Faith as a whole, reverts to his
> condescending attitude in a 1913 article on Rabindranath Tagore in The New
> Freewoman. In praising Tagore as an artist, he insists that he is “not to be
> confused with that jolly and religious bourgeois Abdul Baha” (“Rabindranath
> Tagore” 187). He devotes three columns to Tagore because he is a poet and not
> a religious teacher, because Pound can take his work and give it “a certain place
> 10         THE J O U R N A L OF B A H Á Í S T U D I E S                  6.2.1994
> 
> in world-literature” (188) without having to take on a value system, something
> he would have to do if he similarly praised ‘Abdu’l-Bahà.
> 
> Pound’s Canto XLVI
> The meeting with ‘AbduT-Bahá apparently made a great enough impression on
> Pound for it to emerge several decades later in The Cantos. Pound’s great poetic
> work. The Cantos were begun during World War I, but successive volumes
> continued to be issued for the rest of his life. As a voyage of exploration of the
> modern world in relation to the cultural past, these poems draw on and adapt
> many sources, including Homer’s Odyssey , the works of Confucius, and
> medieval and Renaissance Christian doctrinal writings. In Canto XLVI, Pound
> quotes an anecdote which he attributes to ‘AbduT-Bahá:
> 
> Said Abdul Baha: ‘‘I said ‘let us speak o f religion.’
> “Camel driver said: I must milk my camel.
> “So when he had milked his camel I said ‘let us speak of religion.’
> And the camel driver said: It is time to drink milk.
> ‘W ill you have some?’ For politeness I tried to join him.
> Have you ever tasted milk from a camel?
> I was unable to drink camel’s milk. I have never been able.
> So he drank all of the milk, and I said: let us speak o f religion.
> T have drunk my milk. I must dance.’ said the driver.
> We did not speak of religion.” Thus Abdul Baha
> Third vice-gerent of the First Abdul or whatever Baha,
> the Sage, the Uniter, the founder o f a religion,
> in a garden at Uberton, Gubberton, or mebbe it was some
> other damned suburb, but at any rate a suburban suburb . . . . (242-43)
> 
> Canto XLVI is one of many devoted to “exposure or ridicule of
> businessmen, bankers, economists,” a favorite topic with Pound in his later
> years (Surette, A Light 95). The Canto is particularly important in its “general
> summing-up of the economic lesson taught by The Cantos” (Surette, A Light
> 95), a lesson based on the theories of C. H. Douglas’s Social Credit, which
> condemned the organized robbery by banks and which saw underconsumption
> and mismanagement of money as the causes of unemployment and waste, and
> ultimately of war. Pound’s economic views gradually gave rise to his political
> and racial extremism, as he and Douglas failed “to convince any significant
> element of the community of the justice and truth of their views” (Surette, A
> Light 82).
> The appearance of ‘AbduT-Bahá in this context may seem inexplicable at
> first. But Pound seems to draw a parallel between himself and ‘AbduT-Bahá.
> The camel driver refuses to discuss religion with ‘AbduT-Bahá because he is
> preoccupied with his own concerns. In the end, ‘AbduT-Bahá, “Sage” and
> AbJu' l-Iialia and Ezra Pound's Circle                             11
> 
> “Uniter” though he is, cannot convert the camel driver. Similarly, Pound who
> has found an economic vision on which he bases his other views cannot
> convince anyone else of its validity. The reaction he commonly gets is
> "Wouldn’t convert me, wdn’t HAVE me converted” (Cantos 242).
> The portrait of ‘AbduT-Bahá, despite its flippancy, is basically sympathetic
> and as respectful as Pound can manage to be. Pound did not interest himself in
> ‘AbduT-Bahà’s message beyond expressing approval of its unexpected
> modernity, but he was sufficiently impressed by him to identify his position
> with respect to an unbelieving world with his own. The comparison, however, is
> self-serving on Pound’s part. There is no indication in ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s recorded
> talks that he uttered any anecdote that could be construed as the story of the
> camel driver. Moreover, the depiction of ‘AbduT-Bahá as a frustrated religious
> teacher without an audience is completely at variance with the well-established
> fact that people of all kinds thronged to his presence and sought to listen to him
> both at home in Palestine and during his Western travels.
> 
> The Bahà’i Community and Avant-Garde Circles
> Pound’s second letter to Margaret Cravens discloses another possible
> connection between him and the BahâT's in London and Paris. The Dreyfus-
> Barneys he mentions are Hippolyte Dreyfus and his wife Laura Barney, both of
> whom were among the earliest Western BaháTs. Dreyfus learned Persian and
> Arabic in order to translate BaháT writings; he also wrote a book, Essai sur le
> Bahaisme. Barney, a sculptor and painter from a family of artists and scholars,
> is best remembered for her compilation of Some Answered Questions, informal
> talks given by ‘AbduT-Bahá in response to her questions on a variety of themes
> and fundamental tenets of the BaháT' Faith.
> Laura Barney was also the sister of Natalie Barney, a writer who held a
> famous salon in Paris which “attracted, for 60 years, most of the great literary
> figures” including Pound, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Gertrude
> Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ernest Hemingway, and many
> others (Lorusso, “Afterword” 164). Her long association with Pound was one of
> her most important literary connections. Together, they devised “Bel Esprit,” a
> project for financial patronage of promising writers: “The idea was Pound’s; the
> name and money were Natalie’s” (Lorusso, “Afterword” 164). T. S. Eliot,
> chosen to be the first recipient, declined and the venture failed, but the literary
> relationship between Pound and Barney continued. Although Natalie Barney
> knèw of the BaháT Faith and had met BaháTs through her sister and her mother,
> she showed no interest in it (Gail, Summon 49-54). It is possible, and indeed
> probable, however, that her circle may have learned something of the BaháT
> ideas through her family who were also well known in Parisian artistic circles.
> A final interesting connection between Pound’s circle and the BaháT
> community is through a contributor to The New Freewoman (later The Egoist),
> 12           TH E J O U R N A L OF B A H À ’ Î S T U D I E S                    6.2.1994
> 
> a magazine to which Pound contributed frequently and that was later edited by
> Eliot. Two poems, “Eve” and “The Plain Woman,” published in the first two
> issues of the magazine (June and July, 1913), as well as other works in Century
> and Current Opinion, were written by Horace Holley. Holley had become a
> Bahà’i in 1911. Soon after, he and his wife, then living in Italy, heard of
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s arrival at Thonon-les-Bains, France, and left immediately to
> meet him. Holley describes his first meeting on 29 August thus:
> 
> . . . I saw . . . a stately old man, robed in a cream-coloured gown, his white hair and
> beard shining in the sun. He displayed a beauty of stature, an inevitable harmony of
> attitude and dress I had never seen. . . . In ‘AbduT-Bahá I felt the awful presence of
> Bahà’u’ilàh.........
> . . . we were given unusual opportunity of questioning the Master, but I soon realized
> that such was not the highest or most productive plane on which 1 could meet Him. My
> questions answered themselves. I yielded to a feeling o f reverence which contained more
> than the solution of intellectual or moral problems. (Religion 232-33)
> 
> Two volumes of Holley’s verse. The Inner Garden and The Stricken King,
> were published in the years before the War, and Creation: Post Impressionist
> Poems appeared in London in 1914. His books on the BaháT' Faith include The
> Modern Social Religion (1913), B a h a i: The Spirit o f the Age (1921), and
> Religion fo r Mankind (1956), as well as the first comprehensive compilation of
> Bahà’i writings in English, entitled Bahd’i Scriptures (1923). A long-time
> secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the BaháTs of the United States,
> he was, in 1951, appointed by Shoghi Effendi as a Hand of the Cause of God.
> As Holley was the founder and director of the Ashur Gallery of Modem Art
> and his wife was an artist, they “enjoyed the entrée to many interesting circles
> of artists and intellectuals . . .” (Bahd’i World 13:851). In all likelihood, he
> associated with other poets and writers of the period and may even have known
> Pound, although there is no evidence of such acquaintance. But the careers of
> the two men represent two divergent reactions to contact with the same force.
> Pound, despite a momentary sense of awe, ultimately dismissed both ‘AbduT­
> Bahá and the religion he promulgated. The inclusion of ‘AbduT-Bahá in the list
> of the “blasted” in Wyndham Lewis’s Blast bears witness to the fame he had
> achieved in London society (the rather cryptic list also includes Henri Bergson,
> Besant, and Tagore) but also indicates the adoption of a sarcastically superior
> pose by the compilers of the list, one of whom was Pound. By contrast, Holley,
> who at first also thought it “possible to encompass the Revelation of
> Bahà’uTlàh by reducing it to a formula or confining it within a well-turned
> phrase,” came to realize that “I myself was to be encompassed, re-oriented,
> remoulded in all the realms of being. For religion in its purity reveals God, and
> only God can reveal man to himself’ (Holley, Religion 9).
> ‘   A b d u ’ l-Bahá and Ezra Pound's Circle                                13
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha's influence on Ezra Pound may have been limited in terms of
> the latter’s subsequent development, but his impact on the countries he visited
> was considerable. His journey was most timely: many in the West were
> beginning to recognize and articulate truths that BaháVlláh had revealed some
> fifty years previously. ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s journey established the foundation on
> which the Bahà’i administrative order was to be raised and led to the
> establishment of the Bahd’i Faith worldwide, so that it is now the second most
> widely spread religion in the world (Encyclopaedia Britannica Book o f the Year
> 1992). Those who came into contact with ‘AbduT-Bahá inevitably responded to
> him in their own different ways, ranging from wholehearted acceptance to
> varying degrees of adm iration and respect, to occasional cases of
> misunderstanding and rejection. In general, however, the following comment in
> the Christian Commonwealth upon ‘AbduT-Bahà’s second visit to England in
> January, 1913, is an apt evaluation of his presence there: “London has rarely
> sheltered a more significant and impressive personality than the leader of the
> Bahai movement.”
> 
> Works Cited
> ‘AbduT-Bahá. Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Comp. Research Dept.
> Universal House o f Justice. Trans. Marzieh Gail et al. Haifa: Bahà’i World Centre,
> 1978.
> ---------- . Some Answered Questions. Comp, and trans. Laura Clifford Barney. 4th ed.
> Wilmette, 111.: BaháT Publishing Trust, 1981.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London: Addresses and Notes of Conversations. London: BaháT
> Publishing Trust, 1987.
> Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 5th ed. Fort Worth: Holt, 1988.
> Bahâ’i World. The. 18 vols, to date. Haifa: BaháT World Centre, 1925-.
> Bahà’uTlàh. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha u lláh. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed.
> Wilmette, 111.: BaháT' Publishing Trust, 1976.
> Balyuzi, H. M. ‘AbduT-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald, 1971.
> “Can any great religion admit spiritual equality with other great religions?” Proceedings of
> General Meeting of the Quest Society. 23 Mar. 1911. The Quest 2.4 (July 1911): 601-14.
> Christian Commonwealth. 13 Sept. 1911: 850; 20 Sept. 1911: 1; 1 Jan. 1913: 261.
> Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year. 1992
> Gail, Marzieh. Summon Up Remembrance. Oxford: George Ronald, 1987.
> Holley, Horace. Religion for Mankind. Oxford: George Ronald, 1956.
> Johnson, Harrold. “Bahaism: The Birth o f a World Religion.” Contemporary Review 101
> (Mar., 1912): 391^102.
> Lorusso, Edward N. S. “Afterword.” The One Who is Legion. By Natalie Clifford
> Barney. Orono: National Poetry Foundation, 1987.
> “Manifesto I.” Blast 1 (June, 1914): 11-29.
> Maud, Constance E. “Abdul Baha.” Fortnightly Review 91 (Apr., 1912): 707-15.
> ----------. “The First Persian Feminist.” Fortnightly Review 93 (June, 1913): 1175-82.
> 14         TH E J O U R N A L OF B A H A ’ I S T U D I E S               6.2.1994
> 
> Mead, G. R. S. “The Quest— Old and New: A Retrospect and Prospect.” The Quest
> (April, 1926): 289-307.
> Monien, Moojan. The Bábi and Bahďí Religions 1844-1944: Some Contemporary
> Accounts. Oxford: George Ronald, 1981.
> New York Times 2 July 1911: 5.8; 24 Sept. 1911: 3.2.3.
> Orage, A. R. “Notes o f the Week.” New Age 9 (Sept., 1911): 481-85.
> Pound, Ezra. Ezra Pound and Margaret Cravens: A Tragic Friendship. Ed. Omar Pound
> and Robert Spoo. Durham: Duke University Press, 1988.
> ----------. Ezra PoundIDorothy Shakespear, Their Letters: 1909-1914. Ed. Omar Pound
> and A. Walton Litz. New York: New Directions, 1984.
> ----------. “Psychology and Troubadours.” The Quest 4.1 (1912): 37-53.
> ----------. “Rabindranath Tagore. His Second Book into English.” The New Freewoman
> 1.10(1913): 187-88.
> ----------. The Cantos of Ezra Pound. London: Faber, 1957.
> Shoghi Effendi. The Faith ofBahau’llah. Wilmette, 111.: Bahà’i Publishing Trust, 1980.
> —--------. God Passes By. Rev. ed. Wilmette, 111.: BaháT Publishing Trust, 1974.
> Stevens, E. S. “Abbas Effendi: His Personality, Work and Follow ers.” Fortnightly
> Review 89 (June, 1911): 1067-84.
> Surette, Leon. A Light from Eleusis: A Study of Ezra Pound’s Cantos. Oxford:
> Clarendon, 1979.
> Times (London) 6 Sept. 1911:6.
> Tryphonopoulos, Demetres S. “The Cantos as Palingenesis.” Paideuma 18.1-2 (1989): 7-33.
> Tudor-Pole, W ellesley. “The Passing of Major P.” The Quest 2.4 (July, 1911): 750-55.
>
> — *Abdu'l-Baha and Ezra Pound's Circle (Used by permission of the curator)*