Ezra Pound (October 30, 1885 – November 1, 1972) was an American expatriate, poet, musician, critic and intellectual who, along with T. S. Eliot, was a major figure of the modernist movement in early 20th century poetry. He was the driving force behind several modernist movements, notably Imagism and Vorticism. The critic Hugh Kenner said on meeting Pound: I suddenly knew that I was in the presence of the center of modernism.