aments it. Within his expressions of loss, cynicism and rejection is hope: hope for Confucian order and harmony.
The distance between ideals and reality, the gap between what is and what appears to be, is exploited throughout the Cantos, but notably in the section known as the Pisan Cantos. Within this sequence, Pound addresses his role as mediator between perfection and the corporal world. He draws attention to the function of the poet, to the existence of a bridge between the real and the ideal within the confines of poetic communication.
One of the ways that he expresses these themes is through the literary device of irony. Viewing the degenerate world from a position of idealism, Pound frequently assumes an ironic stance. Irony appears in both Canto LXXX and Canto LXXXI, serving to place the poems within the thematic context of the rest of the work and giving special consideration to Pound's immediate concerns.
The Pisan Cantos were written when Pound was interred at the American Disciplinary Training Center in Pisa, Italy at the end of World War II. Faced with the pain, drudgery and oppression of a prisoner's camp, Pound is in a perfect position to explore the gulf between his immense learning and the fallen world. As Pound was detained under suspicion of treason, because of his pro-fascist broadcasts in support of Mussolini, he was facing the prospect of execution. Keeping this in mind, as well as viewing the whole of the Cantos as an attempt by Pound to rein in his vast intellect for the purpose of illustrating the world's condition, the reader can see the Pisan Cantos as "Pound's Testament" (Cookson 71). What concerns, beliefs, interests and experiences have been expressed throughout the rest of the work are in the Pisan sequence revisited, only in a transformed and heightened fashion. In many ways, Canto LXXXI represents the thematic high-water mark of the collection. Spirituality, particularly Confucian spiritualit...