It appears that that someone is talking to us about walking onto a ship, loading it with sheep, and sailing away from an unknown place, with everyone crying. This reminded me of Dantes Inferno.
Then, people's names, start popping up throughout the story. Reading on you realize that Odysseus is sailing to the edge of the world so that he can summon up the spirit of the dead prophet Tiresias, which also has connections to Dante's inferno. However, while he's looking for Tiresias in the underworld, he runs into his mother and tries to run away from her. After seeing his friend Elpenor in the underworld too, it was news to Odysseus that he died.
It turns out that Elpenor died earlier in their journey together, but no one form Odysseus' crew noticed. And it is known that in Greek culture, one cannot go unburied and it would be unholy otherwise. Thus, Odysseus realizes that he might have to go back to bury his friend and then proceed his journey all over again.
Lastly, Pound ends Canto I with the phrase "So that:" as if Pound is asking the reader to take the Canto into consideration. It also appears that he may want us to draw our own conclusions about his Cantos.
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