A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the case of an emergency. In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound Although the poem is not your standard flowery, romantic, descriptive or lengthy work.... it is a poem, written in a Modernist approach to poetry. It is true that the changes Pound made to the poem are small, but they remain far from unimportant, as I … In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound. The art form is filled to the brim and beyond with every imaginable idea under the sun, and throughout time, various poets have tried out just about everything. The first image of ‘In a Station of the Metro’ is entirely constructed by humans, and the second one is entirely a phenomenon of the natural world. George and Mary Oppen were branded enemies of the state. The haiku as Pound uses the form sets a typically Modernist image of the city in relationship to an image from nature. Although what would follow in Pound’s life was a long and difficult period of controversy and unhappiness, this poem stands as a strong legacy to his unique worldview, and incredible capacity to explain and demonstrate powerful emotions with simple images, different thinking, and, of course, some of the best economy of the written word that could possibly exist in poetry. The original drafts of ‘In a Station of the Metro’ was thirty lines long; Pound was able to cut it down to fourteen words in an attempt to focus entirely on the economy of his language, and the important images only. This definition of images fits perfectly the images found in Ezra Pound’s poem IN A STATION OF THE METRO. "In a Station of the Metro" takes place in an underground setting that might feel a bit like Hades, the underworld of Greek mythology, which classical poets described as being crowded with souls. Because of its succinctness and unique style, it is considered one of the foremost examples of Imagist poetry, even today. This is basically what a haiku would look like rendered into English. View the full text of the poem in this episode. Next, give students a hard copy of the poem “In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound. As the others in this node attest this is a startlingly visual piece of verse possessing the ability to leave readers thinking for a long time. To some, the poem might say more in its structure, as a verbless imagist poem of fourteen words than with those fourteen words. In a Station of the Metro published in 1913 by Ezra Pound is the best example of Imagist poetry that contains just 14 words reduced from thirty lines which depict the precision of language. The editors discuss a few favorite poems from the new centennial anthology. The apparition of these faces in the crowd; As previously mentioned, one of the most striking elements of In the Station of a Metro is that it is written entirely without verbs. (I'll quote it in a bit, but I want to hold off for now, for reasons that will momentarily become clear.) "In A Station of the Metro" is an Imagist poem by Ezra Pound published in April 1913 in the literary magazine Poetry. In Ezra Pound ’s short poem “ In a Station of the Metro,” Pound compares the apparitional faces of subway riders in Paris to “petals on a wet, black bough.” In … Recent critics, commenting on Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro," have invariably referred to the connotative power of the word apparition in the first line of that poem.Accordingly, one critic has called it "the single word which lifts the couplet from bald statement to poetry." "In a Station of the Metro" is an Imagist poem by Ezra Pound. Image is central to this form, and Pound’s concept of “phanopoeia,” or the casting of images on the imagination, is certainly at the center of this poem. By Dr Oliver Tearle ‘In a Station of the Metro’, written by Ezra Pound in 1913, is the Imagist poem par excellence. The petal weathers, the petal is rained on, and eventually, that petal wilts and dies, just like each person entering and leaving the view of the author. However, his belief t… 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. Ezra Pound ’s “In a Station of the Metro” of 1911, reads, in its entirety: The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. Ezra Pound is widely considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th century; his contributions to modernist poetry were enormous. The real engine of this work is the metaphor likening faces in crows to petals on a wet, black bough (referring to the main branch on a tree). I agree – he’s a bit of a genius. Ralph Bevilaqua. Pound’s Parisian 'Metro station' has the same iconic status as 'the red wheelbarrow' of William Carlos Williams. Indeed, "In a Station of the Metro" is quoted widely in modern criticism with very little distinction being made between its various stages, as if the differently-punctuated early versions are interchangeable. In a Station of the Metro. One of the best aspects of poetry is its total lack of rules. "In a Station of the Metro" is a poem by American writer Ezra Pound, originally published in 1913. In a Station of the Metro By Ezra Pound About this Poet Ezra Pound is widely considered one of the most influential poets of the 20th century; his contributions to modernist poetry were enormous. ‘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. The sparseness of the poem, its lack of verbs, and its rhythmic quality (a long, iambic line followed by a short, heavily accented one) … As with most poetry, it tends to be the eye of the reader that gives it its true definition. The monumental artistic movement that changed poetry forever. A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". This poem is one of the verb-less poem among the very few. - From a 31 line poem, Pound was constantly deconstructing a moment at the Metro station in Paris until he created this "verbal moment". It was published in 1913 in Poetry, which puts it in the public domain in the United States.. The poem, as most all know — IN A STATION OF THE METRO The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. feminism harvard cultural diversity othello acts academic interest and career goals cyber-bullying autism expository essay poet the crucible university of central florida thanksgiving alexander the great plagiarism. 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. The concise two line poem also is an example of Pound at work fulfilling his own dictum for what the ideal Imagist poem should be. In a Station of the Metro - The apparition of these faces in the crowd; The apparition of these faces in the crowd; - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. The login page will open in a new tab. The poem is instead formed by combining two sentence fragments, each with a subject, but without an action, for that subject to perform. Because of the treatment of the subject's appearance by way of the poem's own visuality, it is considered a quintessential Imagist text. ‘In a Station of the Metro’ by Ezra Pound is an incredibly short, but incredibly effective, representation of the Imagistic movement in poetry. In the United Kingdom, they are known as underground stations, most commonly used in reference to the London Underground Every single person that visits Poem Analysis has helped contribute, so thank you for your support. He is well-known for his arrest for treason by the United States government during World War II because of his support for Mussolini’s fascism, and even for Hitler’s government. Needless to say, it can be very difficult to write without using action words, but this style does achieve one thing especially well: it captures a moment in time. He has put on his great effort to cut short those lines…… He proved well that he was a imagist poet. In just two lines, Pound distils the entire manifesto for Imagism into a vivid piece of poetry, what T. E. Hulme had earlier called ‘dry, hard, classical verse’. International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, As previously mentioned, one of the most striking elements of, On their own, each of the two-sentence fragments that make up this work has almost no real meaning. Top Tag’s. Sign up to unveil the best kept secrets in poetry, brought to you by the experts, Home » Ezra Pound » In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound. Therefore, it would be difficult to argue his poem has themes in the traditional sense. They are apparitions, in one place for one moment, and then gone forever in the next. “In a Station of the Metro” is a type of poem called a haiku (sometimes spelled “hokku”) a traditional Japanese nature-image poem of precisely 17 syllables. This particular structure of In a Station at the Metro is from the 1916 edition of Lustra. The apparition of these faces in the crowd. In the poem, Pound describes a moment in the underground metro station in Paris in 1912; he suggested that the faces of the individuals in the metro were best put into a poem not with a description but with an "equation". Those who are familiar with Ezra Pound will know he lived a complicated and controversial life. The real engine of this work is the, With only fourteen words used throughout ‘. In a Station of the Metro Audio Poem of the Day. The poem is also a perfect example of the three ways one can “charge language with meaning” and thus create […] In the process, it seems to downplay the reality of everyday life as an "apparition," while the spiritual life of memory and the imagination is heightened. The process of deletion expresses a modernist-style desire to break away from the typical poetic styles of the time period. in a station of the metro Essay Examples. There are parallels and similarities and noticeable differences between the two images, and these can be defined in several ways. A pun is a literary device that’s defined as a play on words. Give students packets of the four cards below or direct them to the website to view the cards. Still, he left openings for readers to do the work of … The art form is filled to the brim and beyond with every imaginable idea under the sun, and throughout time, various poets have tried out just about everything. One of the best aspects of poetry is its total lack of rules. Audio recordings of classic and contemporary poems read by poets and actors, delivered every day. Words. In just two lines : » The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. ‘In a Station of the Metro’ predates all of this, however — it was published in 1913 in a literary magazine, and was written based on an emotion Pound had felt during a moment standing in a Paris underground metro station in the previous year. Tempo, echo, and the makings of poetic tone. Their FBI files document just how deep their activism went, and the price they paid for it. He concludes the whole theme under those words. "In a Station of the Metro"by Ezra PoundThe apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.This talk was given by Mark Doty at the Academy of American Poets' Online Poetry Classroom Summer Institute.MARK DOTY: Whenever I return to this poem I always have the sensation of being in a New York subway, the car doors opening, and suddenly there's a scene framed by the doors. It is a short and very much to-the-point poem, and is also notable for not containing any verbs, creating a true rarity in the realm of written works. Hades was the part-time home to the goddess Persephone, who returned to … Speaking about poems one of his greatest work ever “In a Station of the Metro”. This poem is very short, and he made it somehow mysterious. The relationship between the two moments is what creates meaning in this work. So, when ‘In a Station of the Metro’ by Ezra Pound is introduced, it shouldn’t even be that surprising that what makes this particular poem stand out is that it is fourteen words long. It is through you visiting Poem Analysis that we are able to contribute to charity. Pound’s haiku has 19 syllables, 12 in the first line and 7 in the last. In this image, the reader is presented with the idea of small, fleeting, and weak elements of beauty within the natural world. In a Station of the Metro’, written by Ezra Pound in 1913, is the Imagist poem par excellence. One of Ezra Pound's most famous poems, " In a Station of the Metro ", is only two lines long. In many ways, this poem is impossible to truly define. January 23, 2016. First printed in 1913 in Poetry Magazine, it was originally a thirty line poem before he put it through his Imagist paces. In the following image, the observer views “petals on a wet, black bough,” which is to say they are looking at the leaves of a tree, likely following rainfall. The juxtaposition of two images, the travelers on the subway platform and the flower petals, offers what Pound called “direct treatment.”. In a sentence without action, nothing happens — in imagist poetry especially, this is a strength. Using very few words, he paints a clear and unforgettable image. With no doubt when we mention Ezra two things come into our mind his art, and his poetic. ‘In a Station of the Metro’ by Ezra Pound is the quintessential Imagist poem. to. Ezra is one of the guys who left his touch throughout his poetic in the twentieth-century literature. Pound's two-line poem is a famous example of "imagism," a poetic form spear-headed by Pound that focuses above all on relating clear images through precise, accessible language. Pound himself described it as a "hokku" (which seems to be an archaic term … Please continue to help us support the fight against dementia. 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. And although the style is uncommon, this is not at all because it is ineffective, as Ezra Pound demonstrates easily within this work. by Ezra Pound Related Authors. Ezra Pound; Related Poems. Pound’s anger and resentment of capitalism and the British government was forged by the bloodshed of World War I, and so while none of his bitterness made its way into this text, the complexity of his worldview certainly had. in a station of the metro. Earl Miner has spoken of it in terms of discordia concors(in J. P. Sullivan's Ezra Pound 235), others of an inter-relationship of subjective/objective imagery, and many have struggled for conclusive characterizations of its metaphorical nature. Ezra pound as a imagist gives the theme very strongly that the total content of the poem was in the title . In the case of this poem, it reads as an observation, as though the author has taken two photographs and paired them side by side. To others, it is the definition of an unusual emotion, one that does not have a correlating word in the English Dictionary. Discover and learn about the greatest poetry ever straight to your inbox, To create the home of poetry, we fund this through advertising, Please help us help you by disabling your ad blocker. During his time imprisoned, he suffered a mental breakdown and spent the next twelve years of his life in a psychiatric hospital. Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro" is a poem that capitalizes on the tension between similarity and polarity as extremely as ever a couplet has. On their own, each of the two-sentence fragments that make up this work has almost no real meaning. In writing "In a Station of the Metro," Pound's explicit goal was to present an experience without interpreting or developing it. In a Station of the Metro - The apparition of these faces in the crowd; - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. Seldom has the concision been carried so far as Pound’s 1913 verse, “In a Station of the Metro,” which consists of only two lines. The relationship between the two moments is what creates meaning in this work. It is difficult to describe the feeling of appreciation of a transient natural phenomenon, which is likely why Pound chose this particular image — to stand in for a feeling that can’t be easily described. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Very clever poem. His idea was to create the sense of the Japanese moment in words/feelings, to bring balance as though creating a painting with a visual. About “In A Station of the Metro” The most famous poem (1913) from the early twentieth-century movement known as Imagism. Which gives many meaning. ABOUT HIS POETRY :- o “IN A STATION OF THE METRO” Poem Contain Only FOURTEEN WORDS [WITH OUT VERB therein, a good example of the VERBLESS poetry] poetry is a early work of Modernist poetry o Poetry as it attempts to ‘break from the pentameter’, in corporates the use of visual spacing as a poetic device, and does not contain verbs 12. Discover the best-kept secrets behind the greatest poetry. The poem blends two images into one. 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