Big Essay

Victtor Lopez

Life is almost as short as Ezra Pound’s poem “In a station of the Metro”. I am reminded of this belief through the patrons who frequent my uncle café in the town of Patterson, which is in the central valley. Many of his customers are people who are in their upper forties and lower fifties of age. Every time we have talks or discussions about life they always tell me that life is short and that it flies by, much like trains at a metro whizzing by as people wait for it to stop. In just two lines this poem presents the reader with imagery, symbolism, and a deep meaning of life.

The reader can infer from line one when Pound says “these faces”, he is implying that he is there observing and watching the people at the station. Through his eyes and the first line of the poem vivid imagery is created; it describes faces of people waiting at the transit station. The important factor of this line is the word “apparition”; this word is usually attached to a person or character that has passed away or been murdered. By using a word that denotes a singular noun, signifies that Pound sees no differentiation in all the faces that he sees, but rather that he sees them as one, ghostly blurred image. Maybe he is describing the people who didn’t standout of the crowd and make something happen of them-selves. Perhaps through his eyes, he sees no one who stood out to make a distinct and visible difference in this world.

The selection of the word “apparition” also incites the feeling and connotation that the faces have souls that are unfulfilled and searching for answers, much like ghosts. As an observer who sees this apparition, there is also a perceived sense of panic as these collective faces watch the selection of metro trains going here and there. Which train will lead them to their chosen destination and fulfillment in life; will it just pass them by and will they be one minute too late?

All of these images and invoked feelings are important to the poem because they seamlessly relate to the second line, “Petals on a wet, black bough”. This adds to the ominous yet true meaning of the poem which describes how all the people at the station are bound to pass through their own, personal timeline of life. Everybody there at the station has their short and limited existence on this earth. That is why Pound describes them as “apparitions” because he knows that people will come and go as long as the earth keeps revolving. This is an interesting point because he is at station which is where trains come and go on their timeline as well, they come on an expected time just as humans do, and leave at an expected time as some humans do. The second line also paints a picture in the reader’s mind of petals on a black branch of a tree. The petals’ lives are imminently to the end, as their branch that sustains them to life is black and is dying, just as we have to fall to death at some point in our lives. I have never seen death portrayed in such an environment as the metro. Pound brilliantly chose this location perhaps to lead the reader to think about the shortness of life and how it flies by before one knows that it has, and to draw parallelism between the trains and the people who both have a timed schedule to meet.

Another important factor that makes “In a Station of the Metro” a tightly, well-woven piece of literature, is the irony of its shortness. The briefness of the two lines makes a powerful statement that eludes tour limited presence on this earth. Pound creates parallelism between the shortness of life and the shortness of the poem by the fact that the poem is only two lines but there is more than meets the eye to it. Furthermore, he brings that parallelism to life and provokes emotion through imagery and perhaps even sound. The metro must be full of trains, representative of life destinations because no two lives or people are the same. However, the metro is also full of roaring and pounding noise, representative of everything and everyone around our lives. The apparition is the fading blur of the individuals who let life go by without making a difference…and the reality is that their train is coming to a screeching halt. Although Pounds poem is only a simple poem with not very images in the poem. It evokes more than what is written on the pages of our books. This poem is very compelling and very delightful to read.

All this delighfulness is found in this two-line poem. While it may be too late for the faces in the apparition, the writer is perhaps reaching out to us, its lets readers have an opportunity to reflect about our own lives and our own destinations. Will we allow life to pass us by? Will we just be a face in the crowd blending in? Will I be the café’s patron complaining and commenting that life is too short, or will I be making a difference in this world and for the individuals around me? I hope my ticket takes me to the latter destination.
Pound, Ezra. “In a Station of the Metro”. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Peter Simpson. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.