The Ballad of the Goodly Fere is a poem by Ezra Pound, first published in 1909. The narrator is Simon Zelotes, speaking after the Crucifixion about his memories of Jesus (the "goodly fere" -- Old English for "companion" -- of the title).
Pound wrote the poem as a direct response to what he considered inappropriately effeminate portrayals of Jesus, comparing Jesus -- a "man o' men" -- to "capon priest(s)";[1] he subsequently told T.P.'s Weekly that he had "been made very angry by a certain sort of cheap irreverence".[2]
Charles Elkin Mathews expressed his concerns that readers would find Fere's humanization of Jesus offensive.[3]
Edward Marsh sought permission to reprint Fere, which Pound denied because he wished to reprint it himself.[2]
T. S. Eliot said that Fere showed Pound's "great knowledge of the ballad form".[4]
William Butler Yeats said that Fere "will last".[5]
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