South-folk in Cold Country
South-folk in Cold Country - meaning Summary
Hardship and Costly Loyalty
Pound’s poem presents a stark northern landscape where natural elements and human forces collide. It depicts soldiers and nomads moving through wind, snow, and desert confusion, emphasizing weariness, hardship, and the routine birth of emotion amid conflict. The speaker notes material squalor and the lack of reward for valor, closing on the tragic image of a once-swift general whose white hair and sacrifice go unavenged, underlining war’s cost and ambiguous loyalty.
Read Complete AnalysesThe Dai horse neighs against the bleak wind of Etsu, The birds of Etsu have no love for En, in the north, Emotion is born out of habit. Yesterday we went out of the Wild-Goose gate, To-day from the Dragon-Pen. Surprised. Desert turmoil. Sea sun. Flying snow bewilders the barbarian heaven. Lice swarm like ants over our accoutrements. Mind and spirit drive on the feathery banners. Hard fight gets no reward. Loyalty is hard to explain. Who will be sorry for General Rishogu, the swift moving, Whose white head is lost for this province?
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