Published in the April 1913 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” embodies the Imagist ideal. The poem is only 14 words long and creates a clear and concise image of a subway.
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
In true Imagist fashion, Pound avoids narrative, rhyme, and exposition and instead presents a single, clear image. It embodies the Imagist ideals of economy, clarity, and concentrated imagery. Imagist poetry is a reaction to excessive ornamentation, sentimentality, and abstraction of the late 19th-century Victorian and Romantic styles. Pound is reviving poetry by stripping language down to its most essential, powerful elements.
Works Cited:
"Cover of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, August 1913." Wikimedia Commons, uploaded by Cksavich, 24 Aug. 2021, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trees1913.jpg. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.
Pound, Ezra. “In a Station of the Metro.” Poetry Foundation, 2012, www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12675/in-a-station-of-the-....