Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot Cornell were two of the most influential poets of the 20th century. Pound was an American expatriate poet, critic, and intellectual who was a major figure in the modernist movement. He was also a major influence on the development of the Imagist and Vorticist movements. Cornell was an American poet, essayist, and playwright who was a major figure in the modernist movement. He is best known for his long poem The Waste Land, which is considered to be one of the most important works of the 20th century. Both Pound and Cornell had a profound impact on the development of modern poetry.