About the Poem
"In a Station of the Metro" is one of the most famous examples of Imagist poetry. Written by American poet Ezra Pound in 1913, it captures a fleeting moment in the Paris Métro with just two lines. Inspired by Japanese haiku and classical Chinese poetry, the poem distills intense emotion into a precise visual image.
Pound originally drafted nearly 30 lines before reducing it to its final, minimalist form—a testament to the Imagist principle: “To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.”
Historical Context
The poem was composed after Pound saw faces emerging from the dim light of a Paris subway station—an experience that struck him with emotional intensity. He later wrote that he spent a full day trying to capture the feeling in words, eventually realizing that brevity and juxtaposition could convey more than elaborate description.
Literary Significance
This poem exemplifies core tenets of Imagism: clarity, economy of language, and direct treatment of the subject. By comparing human faces to flower petals on a dark branch, Pound evokes beauty, transience, and urban anonymity—all without explicit commentary.
Critics often cite it as a bridge between Eastern poetic traditions and Western modernism, influencing generations of poets seeking to capture the essence of modern life in fragmented yet vivid imagery.