No Smoke, No Fog For Imagists: Ezra Pound

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m...

Pound's poetry exemplifies these principles. For example, in the following poem entitled "In A Station of the Metro " observe the conciseness, the rhythm, and the images.

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?454...

The fresh image of a dark metro station compared to a black bough may shock the reader at first, perhaps. However, the metaphor so gently yet starkly presents the idea that each human is beautiful. Crowds may not appear so frightening.

In the poem, "The River-Merchant's Wife" readers can see the picture of two children, though not thinking of marrying one another at first become young lovers, who soon depart from each other for a lifetime.

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

The images of a little girl and boy playing is clearly presented. A later stanza brings to readers the teenage girl's desire girl to be loved forever, followed by the young man's departure. These are universal themes that most any reader can identify with. For the rest of the poem, click to http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?454...

More of Ezra Pound in the next article!

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