A Fictitious Fragment of Sapho in Ezra Pound: Misquotation or Dramatic Monologue?

Pound's Papyrus poem is a fictitious fragment inspired in Sapho. Pound had a deep knowledge of Classical literatures and languages, and he was a great admirer of oriental literatures as well. For that reason, this concise poem can be analysed as a complex encounter between ancient, modern and oriental literatures from four points of view: the re-creation of an ancien poetic voice in which Pound wears the Sapho's mask - we are referring to the Browning's dramatic monologue-, the text as an invention or misquotation, the poem written in a pretended fragmentary state and finally, the possibility of reading it as an oriental poem.