The ''Ballad of the Goodly Fere'' is a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

by Ezra Pound, first published in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Jan ...

. The narrator is Simon Zelotes, speaking after the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

about his memories of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

(the "goodly fere"—

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

for "companion"—of the title). Pound wrote the poem as a direct response to what he considered inappropriately

effeminate Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rath ...

portrayals of Jesus, comparing Jesus—a "man o' men"—to "

capon A capon (from la, cāpō, genitive ''cāpōnis'') is a cockerel ( rooster) that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by for ...

priest(s)"; he subsequently told '' T.P.'s Weekly'' that he had "been made very angry by a certain sort of cheap irreverence".''A Guide to Ezra Pound's Personae: 1926
by K. K. Ruthven, University of California Press, 1969]

Critical response

Charles Elkin Mathews expressed his concerns that readers would find ''Fere''s humanization of Jesus offensive. Edward Marsh sought permission to reprint ''Fere'', which Pound denied because he wished to reprint it himself. T. S. Eliot said that ''Fere'' showed Pound's "great knowledge of the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

form".

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

said that ''Fere'' "will last".

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book '' The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by ...

is said to have "consistently disapproved" the poems of a "young poet", until one came to him which impressed him so much he wore "out the paper and the patience of friends by reading it at them", namely ''Fere''. The Poetry of Ambrose Bierce
by Jack Matthews, originally published in slightly different form in the ''Ohio Review'', fall 1997

References

External links

Text of the poem
at poets.org {{Ezra Pound Poetry by Ezra Pound 1909 poems Modernist poems American poems