*In Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro,” the speaker steps off a train and suddenly has a new, positive reception of the people around him. He sees beautiful people dying, and Pound uses a metaphor to relate the station to nature.
The images of the first line of “In a Station of the Metro” are common. It is easy to picture a crowded place full of many faces. Usually, when you stand in the middle of a crowded place while people hurry around you, you only see blurs passing by, not distinct people with individual lives. I think the speaker in Pound’s poem stepped off the train and paused for just a moment. In that moment he seems to have realized everyone in that station is eventually going to die. In the music video, “Savin’ Me” by Nickelback**, one man’s appreciation of life changes when he is able to see every “face” in the crowd and how much longer they will live. Numbers appear over each person’s head representing the time they have left in the world. In “In a Station of the Metro,” I feel as though the speaker is experiencing a similar phenomenon to the man in Nickelback’s video. While numbers may not be appearing above everyone’s head, there is that realization the death is unavoidable and in that moment the speaker appreciates the beauty in every person around him.
The strongest way Pound conveys this image is with his clever use of the word “apparition,” which can mean to appear or can be used to refer to a ghost. Pound uses the first definition to explain that people are appearing in his eyes. While there have always been people in the train station, the speaker has never seen them as having purpose but he does at this time. Pound also uses the second meaning, which illustrates that everyone in the station is disappearing and fading into ghosts. The speaker is hit with reality when he realizes the people around him are important individuals, constantly inching towards death with every second they live. This meaning of “apparition” also creates an image of ghostly-white against the dark train station, symbolizing the purity and integrity each person has within them, regardless of outward, darkened appearances. Because the speaker sees this good in each person, he feels saddened that death will eventually claim them all.
The image of the second line is a metaphoric representation of the speaker’s experience in the train station. Literally, this line depicts flower petals stuck to a wet, dead tree, which is an uncommon sight to the average person. Because this sight is so rare, it emphasizes how exceptional the speaker is for being able to see the people as beautiful, unique individuals. Each petal, no longer attached to the stem, represents a person who is approaching death at every moment. The petals are brightly colored, portraying the beauty within each person, and set against a blackened tree which represents both the dark train station and eternal darkness of death. As the tree begins to dry, the petals will start to fall from the tree, one by one, as the people in the station succumb to the darkness. The speaker seems to have an emotional connection to the strangers around him because he has a new understanding of how short life truly is.
*Picture from Nickleback's music video "Savin' Me"
** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JQiEs32SqQ
I liked your blog, it made me think more about the poem itself and how it really does relate to death. You were able to explain in a logic way how the meaning of each word said in the poem connected to the images created by the speaker. Although, I would have chosen a different image, one that would portray more of the inner soul and beauty of the persons described in "In A Station Of The Metro".
ReplyDeleteWhat an imaginative take on this poem, Amanda! I had not considered that Pound may have at that moment realized the integrity and beauty among these people because it hit him that they are slowly dying. If each one of us had a countdown over our heads maybe people would see each other in a different way. I feel that the image you have chosen applies to your analysis because you explain the connection between Pound's experience and Nickelback's music video. I also think you did a nice job at elaborating on the second line of the poem where you describe how the petals represent people and the black bough to be the metro, or even something as dark as death. If the black bough=metro, and black bough=death, then maybe metro=death by the transitive property?
ReplyDeleteYour ironic comments about death in a positive manner was intriguing. I like how you were able to relate the overall theme of the poem (we are eventually going to die so smell the roses while you can) to the word apparition. Before I read your blog I didn't make the connection between death and the word apparition, and thus makes your blog something I really enjoyed reading.
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