The poem is Pound’s written equivalent for the moment of revelation and intense emotion he felt at the Paris Metro’s Concorde station. The poem is essentially a set of images that have unexpected likeness and convey the rare emotion that Pound was experiencing at that time.

Why is In a Station of the Metro a metaphor?

The metaphor stays with you because the ground has been laid by that initial abstraction: “apparition.” Without it, I don’t think this poem would have the same hold on your memory. The way “apparition” points us towards the kind of experience the perceiver has is more profound than simply, “these faces in the crowd.”

Why is in a station of the Metro a metaphor?

What does the wetness of the bough imply in the poem In a Station of the Metro?

Furthermore, the adjectives modifying “bough” (“wet” and “black”) could also describe the metro station itself: “black” may be appropriate given the station’s dark, underground setting, while “wet” could describe the shimmering metal of the train and its tracks, or even leftover rain on pedestrians’ jackets.

Why is in a station of the Metro so short?

Why? Because it’s two lines long. This “In A Nutshell” already contains more syllables than the entire poem. However, it’s not just that the poem is so short – it’s also that Pound’s other, “famous” poems are so darned long.

What is the image presented in in a station of the Metro?

Seeing all these people’s faces pass by in a crowded subway station brings to mind the image of petals on a wet, black tree branch.

What is the poem in a station of the Metro about?

By juxtaposing these two very different images, the poem blurs the line between the speaker’s reality and imagination and invites the reader to relate urban life to the natural world—and to perhaps consider each of these realms in a new light. Get the entire guide to “In a Station of the Metro” as a printable PDF.

What makes Ezra Pound’s ‘in a station of the metro’ so special?

‘In a Station of the Metro’ by Ezra Pound is the quintessential Imagist poem. Using very few words, he paints a clear and unforgettable image. One of the best aspects of poetry is its total lack of rules.

How many words are in ‘in a station of the Metro’?

With only fourteen words used throughout ‘In a Station of the Metro’, it stands to reason that each one was chosen specifically for one particular conveyed image. For example, the word “apparition” in the first line suggests the nature of traveling in a crowd — it is a fleeting action, so much so that people seem like ghosts to the observer.

What is pound’s relationship with the Metro and the metro station?

The relationship between the two ideas is an abstract one, but by pairing them together, Pound seems to be suggesting that there is that specific kind of beauty in the station of a metro, and that the fleeting apparitions of people drifting through is no different than the wilting nature of a petal stuck to a wet tree.