The Poem
Petals on a wet, black bough.
— In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound (1913)
About the Work
This two-line poem is one of the most celebrated examples of Imagist poetry. Written by American poet Ezra Pound, it captures a fleeting moment in a Paris metro station where the poet saw faces emerging from the crowd—transient, vivid, and haunting.
Rather than describing emotions directly, Pound uses precise visual imagery to evoke mood and meaning, embodying the Imagist principle: “Go in fear of abstractions.”
Interpretation & Impact
The “faces” are likened to “petals”—delicate, beautiful, yet ephemeral—set against the dark, wet backdrop of a city bough (a tree branch). This juxtaposition suggests both fragility and resilience amid urban anonymity.
“Pound distilled an entire emotional experience into seventeen words.”
The poem revolutionized modern poetry by proving that brevity could carry profound resonance.
Interactive Reflection
What do you see when you read this poem?