Blog #2 Topic #2

The short fourteen words in the poem “In a Station of the Metro,” by Ezra Pound, can be interpreted in various ways. The Imagist manifesto, originating and supported by Pound, is concentrated on precise visual images with freedom in any subject of the author’s choice. Imagists, as the authors of the movement were called, focused on creating poetry that was clear, concentrated, and to the point.

The poem gives the reader an incomplete feeling as it contains no verb to emphasize the imagery. The fourteen word were specifically chosen and placed exactly as they are; there’s no room for excess words. A major poetic device Pound uses is the visual spacing; dividing the sentence into two lines and using a semicolon. The author does this to show the comparison between the two lines that have completely different images. The semicolon also provides a pause, linking the two lines like a metaphor; it takes the place of “like” or “as” and creates an apt place for the line to break. The semicolon, creating a metaphor, dismisses the need for extra words as imagist poetry should be as rich and simple as possible. Poetry usually has lines that are more important than others but Pound created the poem so the reader would have to take the entire poem and mentally process it to understand the full meaning.

The diction choices Pound uses produced a deeper meaning in the short poem as every word is specifically chosen to show the imagery. The rhythmic quality between the lines also reflect the content of the poem. The first line produces a long varied iambic rhythm while the second line includes short, heavy words without rhythm. In the first line, “apparition” is used to define something as unexpected, mysterious, and ghostly. He uses apparition to describe people in the metro, defining them as not completely present, but also not completely absent. It is used to show that the significance of human life cannot be absolute. The author also uses the second line “petals” and “wet, black bough” as a juxtaposition. Petals are seen as something pure and delicate while the diction choices of the tree branch are harsh and unwelcoming. Pound uses this image to show something beautiful in rough, depressing places. The metaphor between the two lines also links the faces with petals, creating a sense of beauty and elegance of life surrounded by a flawed world – the “wet, black bough.” The unmentioned yet implied rain in the second line impact the petals. The petals that are now stuck on the wet tree branch were previously connected to flowers. Since the rain, the petals, that allow the flower to live and reproduce, have been taken off by the rain. Without petals, the flowers are sure to die, causing the rain to be a cause of mortality.

The imagery poems cause many things to be left out for concentrated images. Not only does the poem not contain any verbs, but it also doesn’t contain an obvious point of view. The first-person view is missing the “I” from the observer though observations are still being made. The imagery of Ezra Pound causes every word to have meaning and unnecessary words to not exist in the poem.