Award in principle for Ezra Pound poem discovered in retirement (7)
I believe the answer is:
ennoble
'award in principle' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'ezra pound poem discovered in retirement' is the wordplay.
'ezra' becomes 'e' (this might be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'pound' becomes 'lb' (abbreviation for the unit of weight).
'poem' becomes 'sonnet' (type of poem).
'discovered' indicates the central letters (dis-covered - outer letters removed).
'in retirement' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (retire can mean to go back or backwards).
The middle of 'sonnet' is 'onne'.
'e'+'lb'+'onne'='elbonne'
'elbonne' written backwards gives 'ENNOBLE'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ennoble that I've seen before include "Raise to the knighthood or make more dignified" , "Kick upstairs" , "Raise to greater dignity" , "Raise status" , "Distinguish" .)