Blog 2

The key elements in Imagism are imagery and clear, sharp language. One of the examples will be Ezra Pound’s poem "In a Station of the Metro". The poem only has two lines. It presented a picture to the world so clear that we can turn it into a two paragraphs summery. Normally, we often think about an event or an idea when we thinking about poem. But it is different in Imagism. In Pound’s poem, there is no story or idea, because it is just a picture store in these two short lines. We could interpret the story behind picture in so many what yet the picture itself remain the same. That’s why over the years people are coming up with so many interpretations. They are similar but different at the same time. Because this is just an image that Pound observed then put it in word. One might say he must put so many meaning in to the words to describe his image. Yes and no. You can understand the poem as it is. Because of the length of the poem, every word is important when we try to interpret the poem, even the title. In fact, the title gave us very important background information. In this case, it is the location. Without knowing it take place in the metro station, the first line will lost its clarity. Faces in the crowd could be anywhere, and then this image will blurry. Now, we given the location, this image will make more sense. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd” can be understood as people moving in a busy metro station. If you just stand there still and watch the crowd, you can see one face appear and disappear then another face. That is one image, then what about the second line? It has nothing to do with the metro station. On its own, the second line is a completely different image. But combining it with the first line and the title, it acts like an adjective to enhance this image. And it fits so well that no transition is needed. Petals on a bough is the same thing as face in the crowd, they are the same yet different at the same time. In this image, the focus is on the face and the petals while the crowd and the bough act as the background. We could say each line can stand along as an image, but what makes this poem great is the combination of the two. The first line shows that Pound sees in his eyes, the second line express the feeling in his mind.

So far, everything looks normal. If we look deeper, this image might not look the same. First word that I care the most is “wet”. “Petals on a ‘wet’, black bough” there is one obvious reason that the bough is wet, that is after a rain. My first thought about petals is how beautiful it is. But how will it look like after a rain or even a storm. Pound could just use “Petals on a bough”. The usage of the words “wet” and “black” add a weight into the image. Since the second line was use to describe the first, we can integrate the meaning into the first line. We could stay that looking at the outside, each people seems okay. But we cannot see their struggle beneath it just like we cannot see how the petals struggle to hold on in the storm. This is more than an image in the metro station, this is an image about the world; everything looks claim and peace on the outside, but no one know the story within.