Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” Essay

Ezra Pound maiden published this meter in 1913, at a time when writers of poetry were hard to break from the traditional pentameters associated with their craft. This piece is an resplendent example of Imagism, in which poets, instead of describing an persona in detail , tried to phthisis a minimal amount of news shows, and give nonice an image by use of a well-written phrase. Pound uses haiku style of poetry in this piece which contains only 14 words- a stark contrast to the 20-30 lines from previous epoch of Victorianism.Pound once explained that he did non wish the heart of the poem to be in the first or south line- but to be the thought performance that connects them. While this is a concept use in Imagism, it is to a greater extent like the last mentioned form he embraced- Vorticism. This categorization comes from the strive of the author to treat the poem as a piece of graphic art. Upon exam of the poem itself, it is interesting to note that no verbs are used in the poem, that it conveys a sense of movement.His choice of the word apparition automatically makes the reader remonstrate images of mysticism and spirits, thus he begins his contrasts mingled with the real and the unreal the beautiful and the unattractive the mundane and the exotic. His contrast of nature versus celluloid and the quick transition he makes is real typical of the Japanese haiku style. Interestingly he uses petals instead of flowers, giving it a softer, more feminine quality thus the risque masculinity of the black bough is doubled.The comparison of these both is simultaneous with what the poet has seen on the railway platform- opposites that not only are extremes but that laudation each other. There is continued disputation among scholars as to the true meaning of this poem and what Pound intended to convey when he wrote it. Nevertheless, they all have to agree that he did what he set out to do- outstrip traditional form and make an eye-opening recital t o his readers.ReferencesPounds In A Station of the Metro A textual Note. English Language Notes 8. 4 (June 1971). retrieved on June 16, 2009, from http//www. english. illinois. edu/ Maps/poets/m_r/pound/metro. htm Hishikawa, Eiichi Ezra Pound published by Kobe Univesity April 2004 retrieved on June 16, 2009 from http//www. lit. kobe-u. ac. jp/hishika/pound. htm