IMAGISM AND THEMES IN EZRA POUND’S POEM 'IN A STATION OF THE METRO'

Ezra Pound (1885-1972) is beyond doubt the poet most responsible for defining and promoting a modernist aesthetic movement in poetry called Imagism. Imagism was a movement in early twentieth century English and American poetry that sought “clarity of expression through the use of precise images” (Caso 25).  It was formulated about 1912 by the eminent poets such as Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell in conjunction with fellow poets Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Richard  Aldington, F. S. Flint, D. H. Lawrence, and John Gould Fletcher . These poets were apparently  inspired by the critical views of  T.E. Hulme who revolted against the Georgian Romanticism. 

Historically, Imagism was the first organised Modernist English-language literary movement. The first tenet of the Imagist manifesto was "To use the language of common speech, but to employ always the exact word, not the nearly-exact, nor the merely decorative word”.  The original imagist ideas upon which Pound insisted were summarized in three ‘principles’ published in Poetry in 1913. They are “direct treatment of the ‘thing’ whether subjective or objective;  to use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation; the rhythm should be composed in sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of the metronome”. In simple terms, Imagist poetry aimed to discard vague abstractions of traditional forms, techniques and ideas and replace them with observed details, apt metaphors, and powerful language. Charles Bernstein finds that, “Pound strenuously attacked the prevailing verse styles of his time, which he found flabby and vague” (Bernstein Web).

Imagist poets attempted to bring in a single moment at a time and capture the emotions of that moment through the direct presentation of images, or word pictures. They also used specific adjectives to enhance the specificity of word choice. The characteristics of Imagist poems also mirror contemporary developments in avant-garde art, especially Cubism in which a single image is synthesized from multiple perspectives. According to Pound, “An Image is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time” (Schucard, Moramarco and Sullivan 73).  This comes very close to Bergson’s idea of images which says that images can create a “moment of intuition” that captures reality. On the other hand, Hulme’s refers only a conventional image like the child’s balloon in ‘Above the Dock’.  

"Above the quiet dock in midnight,

Tangled in the tall mast's corded height,

Hangs the moon. What seemed so far away

Is but a child's balloon, forgotten after play" (Jones Web).

The midnight moon is compared with a balloon. Thus, there is a metaphorical implication found here.

Imagist poems were influenced by Japanese Haiku, poems of 17 syllables which usually present only two juxtaposed images separated by punctuation. Haiku is the classical rhythm of Japanese poetry with seasonal references. This poetry strives to suggest more than its literal meaning, yet avoids figurative devices like allegory and even metaphor.  One of the Haiku master Issa writes,

"The wren is chirping,

But it grows dusk

just the same" (Haiku Web)

Two distinct images such as “a wren chirping and the growing dusk” are juxtaposed by enlightening a connection between the two.

Ezra Pound, clearly influenced by Haiku brings in Imagism in her masterpiece In a Station of the Metro (1913). It is one of the most earliest compositions in Modernist Poetry and Imagist traditions. Pound says about the composition of this poem that, "I wrote a thirty-line poem, and destroyed it because it was what we call work of second intensity. Six months later I made a poem half that length; a year later I made the following hokku-like sentence:—

"The apparition of these faces in the crowd; 

Petals on a wet, black bough” (Sutton and Foster 136).

Like Hulme’s poem ‘Above the Dock’, In a Station of  the Metro’s success lies in a central metaphor: “faces seen as petals”. The effect is therefore not cumulative but occurs beyond the words breaking the poem discretely into visual elements. Earl Miner says that, “Pound’s interest in “Whistler and the Japanese”, in Wadsworth, in the sculptor Gaudier- Brzeska, and indeed in the general state of Europen art suggests that his concept of imagery is largely pictorial” (Sutton 118).

Through the major conventions of precision, concision, and free-verse, Ezra Pound and his contemporaries accomplished the Imagist Movement. The poem In a Station of the Metro follows a typical modern format in its form, length, and details and is a finest example of Imagist poetry.   In the poem Pound's first convention of the importance of precision in word choice is very much relevant. Pound uses the word "apparition" inorder to provide the reader an image of an unexpected appearance of a supernatural like a ghost. Then suddenly Pound switches over to an image of ‘petals’. By blending these two distinct images, Pound draws a parallel line between reality and non-reality. 

Pound’s second convention of concision in word choice is immediately apparent in noticing the two-line length of the poem.  Pound uses the break between the first and second lines to create confusion over two levels of reality – the reality of everyday things and the reality of spiritual visions. This concision demonstrates the importance of each word that Pound elects to use in his poem, while also adding to the ambiguity of poem. Also, because the poem does not uses any verbs to connect the images, the juxtaposition that Pound sets up in the poem leaves open for numerous interpretations. 

Pound's third convention of free-verse with organic rhythm is also present in this poem. While the length of the poem does not require much attention to rhythm like longer poem, "In a Station of the Metro," flows smoothly without any sort of serious language. The organic rhythm that the poem follows allows the reader to focus more on the images and the meaning of the poem rather than struggling with a complicated meter.

For a better understanding of the poem the context of the time period in which it is written should also be taken into account. Being a poem written in 1916, World War I would be the biggest issue facing society. Against this backdrop, the setting of a crowded metro evokes the to and fro movement of soldiers from the front lines.

In the poem, Pound describes a very ‘precise’ moment in the underground metro station in Metro at La Concorde, Paris.  The faces of the individuals in the metro are well-versed in the poem without apparent description but with “an equation”.  It could be considered as a quintessential Imagist text for its simple visual imagery. 

All poets use images. In a Station of the Metro juxtaposes two unrelated but concrete images without predication. The poem is essentially a set of images that have unexpected likeness and convey the rare emotion that Pound was experiencing at that time. The heart of the poem is neither the first line, nor the second, but the conglomeration of both that links the two together with the reader’s mental process. Both "The apparition of these faces in the crowd," and, "Petals on a wet, black bough”, convey concrete images and it is precisely crafted. In a poem of this sort," as Pound explained, "one is trying to record the precise instant when a thing outward and objective transforms itself, or darts into a thing inward and subjective” (Sutton 53). 

The poem contains only fourteen words as the number of lines in a sonnet. The words are structured with eight in the first line and six in the second, imitating  the octet-sestet form of the Italian or Petrarchan sonnet. Thus, Pound successfully showcases the “precise economy of language”. The pivotal semi-colon leads the reader into a dilemma that the first line is in fact subordinate to the second or both lines are having equal  importance. Pound contrasts the factual, mundane image that  and infuses this “apparition” with visual beauty. There is a quick transition from the first line to the second line and this ‘super-pository’ technique exemplifies the Japanese haiku style. 

Pound stepped herself away from the verbose style of Victorian literature and commented that “is the sort of American stuff I can show here in Paris without its being ridiculed". The image is presented in a specific literary form, the (meta)-phor, recognized by Aristotle.  Aristotle made use of the ‘phor’ more efficiently to test the supremacy of a writer. 

In keeping with Imagist theory, the words in the poem are, with one significant exception, concrete and specific: “faces,” “crowd,” “petals,” and “bough” are all common English nouns, seen in the conventional English syntax. The two adjectives, “wet” and “black,” are precise words to modify a noun such as “bough.” Moreover, the metaphor is very logical. The beautiful faces seen against a rainy London evening are like flower petals on a dark, wet branch. Through a careful selection of relevant images, Pound has re-created the effect in the dark night. Thus, incorporates the use of visual images without verbs and first person nouns. 

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in Imagist poetry. Therefore, themes should be understood for identifying this poem. The predominant theme in the poem is Versions of Reality. In the process, it seems to mock at the reality of everyday life as an "apparition". Pound thought that a great image could reveal the higher reality of something that already seems existing.

The theme of Man and Natural World is also manifested in the poem. In the poem, people and nature literally merge like the faces in the subway become flowers on a tree. The analogy between faces and flowers is a metaphor which implies that the faces are petals on a tree.

The theme of Modernization is also seen in the poem. This poem presents the new face of the technologized Paris as the scene of a mystical experience, which reminds the serenity and calmness of a Japanese garden. Thus it shows how the two-lined imagination has proven to be the most powerful force when faced with the technologies of modern life. 

The theme of Supernatural is showcased in the poem. The “apparitions” seen in the underground make the reader to reminiscence epics such as Aeneid, the Odyssey, and the Inferno, which all include journeys to the underworld. Pound thus lends the apparitions of human faces an impression of the supernatural. 

In a Station of the Metro carries more emotional and psychological weight than Pound's contemporaries would have thought possible. Though Imagism as a movement was over by 1917, the ideas about poetry rooted in the Imagist manifesto intensely influenced free verse poets throughout the twentieth century.

Bibliography:

Primary Source:

1. Jones, Peter. Imagist Poetry. New Delhi: Penguin, 1972. Google Books.Web.10 Oct.2010.

Secondary Sources:

1. Beasley, Rebacca. Theorists of Modernist Poetry. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.

2. Bernstein, Charles. Introduction to Ezra Pound, from Poetry Speaks, ed. Elise Paschen, Rebekah Presson Mosby. Epc.buffalo.edu. 10 Oct 2013.

<http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/essays/pound.html>

3. Caso, Nicole. Practicing Memory in Central American Literature. United States: Macmillan, 2010. Print.

4. Shucard, Fred Moramarco, and William Sullivan.Modern American Poetry, 1865-1950.United States: University of Massachusets Press, 1990. Print.

5. Sutton, and Richard Foster. Modern Criticism. United States: The Odyssey Press, 1963. Print.

6.Sutton, Walter. Ezra Pound. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1963. Print.

What is Haiku Poetry. Haiku.poetry.org. 10 Oct. 2013.

<http://www.haiku-poetry.org/what-is-haiku.html>