This is a list of persons, places, events, etc. that feature in Ezra Pound's The Cantos, a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a canto. It is a book-length work written between 1915 and 1962, widely considered to present formidable difficulties to the reader. Strong claims have been made for it as one of the most significant works of modernist poetry of the twentieth century. As in Pound's prose writing, the themes of economics, governance and culture are integral to its content.

The most striking feature of the text, to a casual browser, is the inclusion of Chinese characters as well as quotations in European languages other than English. Recourse to scholarly commentaries is almost inevitable for a close reader. The range of allusion to historical events and other works of literature is very broad, and abrupt changes occur with the minimum of stage directions.

This list serves as a collection of links to information on a wide range of these references with clear indications of the cantos in which they appear. It also gives relevant citations to Pound's other writings, especially his prose, and translations of non-English words and phrases where appropriate. Where authors are quoted or referred to, but not named, the reference is listed under their names and the quoted words or phrases are given after the relevant canto number. Individual canto numbers are given in bold for ease of reference.

A Acoetes – Acoetes is the narrator of the tale from Ovid's Metamorphoses retold in Canto II. Acoetes is the pilot of the pirate ship that kidnaps a youngster who turns out to be the god Dionysus and who transforms the ship into a rock and the sailors into fish. Acoetes warns his fellows about the wrong they are doing, but they don't heed him, being "mad for a little slave money".Edwards & Vasse 1959, p. 1.Nadel 1999, p. 71.Nadel 1999, pp. 70, 71, 72, 75, 76. Abd al Melik (Abd-el-Melik, Habdimelich) – The first Caliph to strike Islamic coinage – Canto XCVIIWilhelm 1977, pp. 117-18, 127-28, 132. John Adams – Second President of the United States; "the man who at certain points/made us/at certain points/saved us" (Canto LXII), and one of Pound's great political heroes. – Cantos XXXI – XXXIV, L – "the revolution was in the minds of the people" , LXII – LXXIWilhelm 1977, pp. 4, 14, 16, 25, 26, 49, 64, 69, 76, 89, 97.Kearns 1989, pp. 10-15, 38, 43-44, 48, 50, 53, 57, 94-99.Edwards & Vasse 1959, pp. 2-3.Nadel 1999, pp. 5, 6, 7, 10, 15, 19, 86, 90, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 103, 105, 106, 107, 256, 261, 293. Novanglus – Pen-name Adams used for essays written in 1775 to argue against the British Parliament's right to tax or legislate for the American colonies. Canto LXII John Quincy Adams – Son of John Adams – Canto XLVIIIEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 3.Wilhelm 1977, pp. 65, 69, 71, 76.Nadel 1999, pp. 86, 98. Charles Francis Adams – Son of John Quincy Adams – Canto XLVIIIEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 2.Nadel 1999, pp. 98, 107. Samuel Adams – Cousin of John Adams – Adams Cantos Adonis – Canto XVIIL Aegisthus – Canto XCWilhelm 1977, p. 86. Aeschylus – Cantos II, VII: Puns on the name of Helen of Troy as "destroyer of men" ("Eliandros") and "destroyer of cities" ("Elanpolis") from his play Agamemnon used by Pound. In his 1920 essay Translators of Greek: Early Translators of Homer, Pound criticises Robert Browning's translation of the passage containing these puns. – Canto LXXXII: Swinburn on.Edwards & Vasse 1959, p. 4. Louis Agassiz – Naturalist. He is cited approvingly in Pound's ABC of Reading (1934) for his insistence that students should actually look closely at specimens before writing about them as exemplifying "the proper METHOD for studying...that is, careful first-hand examination of the matter, and continual COMPARISON". – Cantos LXXXIX, XCIII, C, CXIIIWilhelm 1977, pp. 61, 92, 101, 186. Olivia Rossetti Agresti – Cantos LXXVI, LXXVIII Rodolphus Agricola – Canto LXXXIX: quoted on the roles of writing: "ut doceat, ut moveat, ut delectet" ("to teach, to move, to delight"). Leon Battista Alberti – Architect and Renaissance theorist – Canto IX Albigensian Crusade – Canto XXXIIIEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 5. Alcmene – Mother of Hercules – Canto XCEdwards & Vasse 1959, pp. 5-6.Wilhelm 1977, pp. 31, 86. Alexander the Great – Cantos LXXXV, LXXVI, CXIV: Enlightened rule exemplified by the fact that he paid his soldiers' debts. Algazel – Canto XCIII St. Ambrose – Canto LXXXVIII: Against monopolists, Canto CWilhelm 1977, pp. 69, 163. Amphion – Canto LXXXIII: Mythical founder of music. – Canto XCEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 8.Wilhelm 1977, pp. 80, 82, 85, 87. Anacreon – Canto LXXXIII: Fragment 7 quoted in German translation ("The women say to me 'you are old'") John Penrose Angold – Poet and friend of Pound who died in World War II – Canto LXXXIV Annals of Spring and Autumn – Cantos LXXVIII, LXXXII ("there are no righteous wars" quoting Mencius) Gabriele d'Annunzio – Italian poet – Canto XCIII Meyer Anselm – Banker – Canto LXXIV St. Anselm of Canterbury – 11th century philosopher and inventor of the ontological argument for the existence of God who wrote poems in rhymed prose. Appealed to Pound because of his emphasis on the role of reason in religion and his envisioning of the divine essence as light. In a 1962 interview, Pound points to Anselm's clash with William Rufus over his investiture as part of the history of the struggle for individual rights. Pound also claims that Anselm's writings influenced Cavalcanti and Villon. – Cantos CI, CVWilhelm 1977, pp. 31-32, 87, 91, 148, 154, 156–66. Anti-Semitism – Cantos XXXV, XLVIII, L, LII, LXII, LXIII, LXXIV, XCI Emperor Antoninus Pius – Canto LXXXVII: Law of the sea (Lex Rhodia), Canto LXXXVIII: Lending money at 4%, Cantos XCVII, XCVIIIEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 9.Wilhelm 1977, pp. 68, 98, 112, 139. Anubis – Egyptian god of the dead – Canto XCII Aphrodite (also called Cythera, Kuthera Kupris and Venus) – Cantos I, LXXIV, LXXVI, LXXVII, LXXIX, LXXX, LXXXI, XC, XCI.Edwards & Vasse 1959, p. 10.Wilhelm 1977, pp. 20-21, 27, 82, 104, 107, 182.Nadel 1999, p. 202. Terracina – Seaside town between Rome and Naples which was formerly the location of a temple to Venus (or possibly Jupiter). In his 1930 essay Credo, Pound wrote "Given the material means I would replace the statue of Venus on the cliffs of Terracina." – Cantos XXXIX, LXXIV, XCI. Apollonius of Tyana – Philosopher and 'lost' alternative to Christianity. Pound was particularly taken with this dictum that the universe is alive. – Cantos XCI, XCII, XCVIIWilhelm 1977, pp. 47-48, 63, 88–101, 112, 136, 154, 178. Thomas Aquinas: Canto CWilhelm 1977, pp. 50, 52, 156. Aristotle – Canto XCIVWilhelm 1977, pp. 48, 50-53, 56, 168.Nadel 1999, pp. 83, 275. Artemis – Canto CX Athelstan – Early English king who helped introduce guilds in that country. – Canto XCVII Saint Augustine – Canto XCIV Avicenna – Canto XCII

B

F.W. Baller – Translator of the Sacred Edict – Canto XCVIIIWilhelm 1977, pp. 133-47, 207-08. Edward Bancroft – Double agent in the service of the British – Canto LXV Bank of England – Canto XVIL John Hollis Bankhead II – U.S. Senator who met Pound in 1939 – Canto LXXXIV Josef Bard – Hungarian-born writer and friend of Pound – Canto LXXXI Béla Bartók – Pound admired his music and compared Bartók's Fifth Quartet with The Cantos as showing "the defects inherent in a record of struggle." – Canto LXXXIV Charles A. Beard Historian of Revolutionary America – Canto LXXXIV Aubrey Beardsley – In his 1913 essay The Serious Artist, Pound discusses two types of art; The "cult of beauty" and the "cult of ugliness". He compares the former with medical cure and the latter with medical diagnosis, and goes on to write "Villon, Baudelaire, Corbiere, Beardsley are diagnosis." – "beauty is difficult": Cantos LXXIV, LXXXEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 17. Mabel Beardsley – Sister of Aubrey Beardsley and renowned beauty. – Canto LXXXIIEdwards & Vasse 1959, p. 18. Cesare Beccaria – Italian author of On Crimes and Punishments, which had a great influence on the American Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. judicial system. – Canto LXIV Jonathan Belcher – colonial governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire from 1730–1741, governor of New Jersey from 1746 to 1757 – Canto LXIV Belgium – Canto LXXXVI: In the context of the Congress of Vienna Belisarius – Byzantine general – Canto C Gertrude Bell – Explorer – Canto LII Giovanni Bellini – Canto XVL. Julien Benda – Author of La trahison des clercs, the English translation of which was by Pound's friend Richard Aldington. – Canto XCI Thomas Lovell Beddoes – Cantos LXXX, XCV Thomas Hart Benton – U.S. senator from Missouri who opposed the establishment of the Bank of the United States. His Thirty Years View is a key source for the Rock Drill section of The Cantos. – Cantos LXXXV – XCVWilhelm 1977, p. 65. Blessed Berchtold – Canto LXXXVII Albert Jeremiah Beveridge – Canto LXXXI Nicholas Biddle – Canto XXXVIIWilhelm 1977, pp. 64-65, 68, 71, 76-77. Laurence Binyon – Poet and friend of Pound in his early London days. Pound advised him with his translation of the Divine Comedy and published a review of the first part in 1934 under the title Hell. – Cantos LXXX, LXXXIIIWilhelm 1977, p. 6. Otto von Bismarck – Cantos LXXXVI, CWilhelm 1977, p. 165. Wilfred Scawen Blunt – Cantos LXXXI, LXXXII Book of the Prefect (or Eparch) – Canto XCVI William Edgar Borah – U.S. Senator who met Pound in 1939 – Cantos LXXXIV, LXXXVI Bertran de Born – Troubadour: his lament Si tuit li dolh ehl planh el marrimen was translated by Pound as Planh for the Young English King and is quoted in Cantos LXXX, LXXXIV Boston Massacre – Canto LXIV Sandro Botticelli – Canto XVL: His painting La Calunnia mentioned. Cantos XX, LXXX: mentioned as "Sandro". James Bowdoin – American patriot, scientist and poet – Canto LXII Claude Gernade Bowers – Canto LXXXI Brendan Bracken – Canto LXXVI Joshua Brackett – Doctor and patriot who served as a judge in the New Hampshire maritime court during the revolution – Canto LXIV Constantin Brâncuși – Canto LXXXV: Mental state of the artist at work – Cantos LXXXVI, XCVII: "I can start something any day, but finish..." William Brattle – Information he provided to the British led to the Boston Massacre – Canto LXVI Henry Bracton – 13th-century British lawyer who wrote on constitutional law, stressing that the king is subject to law. His thinking influenced the American Founding Fathers. – Canto LXVII Eva Braun – Canto CX: associated with "beer-halls". Robert Browning – Cantos II, LXXX Henri Gaudier-Brzeska – Cantos LXXVIII, LXXX Basil Bunting – Cantos LXXIV, LXXVII, LXXXINadel 1999, pp. 5, 21, 139, 156, 200. Martin van Buren – U.S. politician whose Autobiography was an important source for Pound's cantos on the Bank wars. – Cantos XXXVII, LXXVIII, C Aaron Burr – Vice-President under Jefferson, Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. – Canto LXVIWilhelm 1977, pp. 65-66. Mather Byles – Clergyman who lost his parish in Boston and was almost repatriated to Britain because of his loyalty to the Crown. – Canto LXIV Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) – Canto XCVNadel 1999, pp. 80, 121, 122, 123, 143, 156.

C

Guillaume de Cabestang – Troubadour poet. According to legend, his heart was fed to his married lover by her husband. She then threw herself from a cliff to her death. – Canto IV Cadmus – Grandfather of Pentheus and Dionysus; founder of Thebes – Canto II League of Cambrai – Canto LI Piere Cardinal – Troubadour poet – Canto XCVII Carolingian Empire – Canto XCVI Kit Carson – Served as Fremont's guide. – Canto LXXXIX Castalia – A spring sacred to the Muses. – Cantos XC, XCIII Cathar heresy, also known as Albigensians – passim John Catron – Jacksonian judge and chief justice from 1830 till 1836. – Canto LXXXIX