In A Station Of The Metro Poem

Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” uses a variety of literary techniques to express the poems meaning, an important focus being the fast paced rhythm, which guides the reader through the poem. In short, Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” may be brief in length but there is much to discuss, from the contrasting imagery to the metaphor of the second line and even the way Pound strings the lines together with notable breaks. The structure of Pound’s poem is cause for discussion because it is simply two lines: a longer line followed by a shorter one. It is very minimalist. Since the poem is so short, every word and arrangement becomes exponentially important, which is why it is so widely discussed and analyzed. It is similar to a Japanese haiku in that it evokes images and emotions particularly that of the natural world; the juxtaposition of the man-made metro and the petals on a tree, dark and light, earthly and spiritual, nature and …show more content…
Both poems are brief and rely heavily on the visual senses, for example in Williams’s poem, “a red wheel/ barrow/ glazed with rain/ water” and in Pound’s, “petals on a wet, black bough”. Another note to make in both poems is the structure and where the poet inserted breaks. “In a Station of the Metro” is uniquely arranged with large spaces separating words in the same line and “The Red Wheelbarrow” has interesting line breaks, “so much depends/ on”, “beside the white/ chickens”. And as with both poems, the arrangement serves to highlight the meaning and set up an appealing visual. Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” is more than just a two-line poem about faces in a station and petals on a tree; it seems to be about the human condition and the hope for something better. Through the use of many literary devices Pound effectively conveys a deeper meaning while doing do in the fewest words