In a station of the metro Summary and Analysis

Summary

Pound describes the appearance of watching faces in a metro station in this brief poem. It's not clear whether he's writing from the platform or as a passenger on the train itself. The setting is Paris, France, and as he portrays these countenances as a "swarm," it is very occupied to mean the station. He looks at these countenances to "petals on a wet, dark limb," recommending that on the dull metro stage, individuals seem to be bloom petals stuck on a tree limb following a stormy evening.

Analysis

This sonnet is very short, yet conveys a profound significance with it. This poem appears to have two distinct images: the branch and the crowd. In reality, Pound is putting one picture on top of the other, so we consider them to be a solitary picture. As a result, the faces of the crowd become beautiful, like raindrops. In the meantime, the petals become people's faces in a crowd. The actual "apparition" is this new composite image, which floats before our eyes like a ghost that doesn't belong in any particular time or place.

Pound creates a chain of images, including the metro station, the apparition, the faces in the crowd, and the petals on a wet black bough, in just three lines, including the title. The poem's title conjures up an image of the bustling city life, its people's carelessness toward one another, and the hustle and bustle. The word "apparition" literally translates to a ghostly figure that appears suddenly in front of you. Pound makes the strange new faces in a Paris subway with the apparition in this scene. The poet expresses surprise at these apparitions, which are mysterious. The appearances in the group are obscured for the artist and he tracks down unspeakable excellence in that obscure vision. Until now, the words and pictures conjure up an image of a bad and messy metropolis life. However, the unexpected beauty of the image of "petals on a wet, black bough" in a drab city metro station astonishes. In a very precise manner, the unexpected beauty in an unexpected location is beautifully and tactfully presented. This is precisely the brilliance and power of Imagist poetry, which uses the relationship between various images to convey beautiful meaning. Although "apparition" and "petals on a wet, black bough" are two distinct images in our minds, the poet surprisingly delivers a stunning message about finding beauty in life's chaos and routine. Although a person's color, shape, and size may vary, each possesses a unique beauty, which may be external or internal.

Only a few images that go beyond standard imagery are used to describe and summarize human life. Petals on a wet, dark branch' is the expression which strikingly shows the style of life and in the interim show the temporariness of human existence. Petals come in a variety of vibrant colors and are used in nature to represent various human faces. The petals on the black, wet bough represent the fleeting nature of life. A few moments ago, it was alive and attached to its stem; now, it lies lifeless on the wet surface of the bough. It might live for a few seconds, but not much longer. This allegory of petals on the outer layer of limb intensely yet basically sums up the human existence and its brevity: We are all merely beings.