Appreciation of Poetry in Subway Station

It is the basic principle of imagist poetry creation to find appropriate and concise expression images for feelings. In the subway station contains two overlapping and contrasting images: the looming face in the crowd and the petals on the black trunk. From the perspective of language structure, there is no clear grammatical relationship between the two lines of poetry. Only by reading imagination can we reproduce the metaphorical link deliberately removed in poetry: image or like. The whole poem should be:' these faces in the crowd appear like ghosts', just like or like' many petals on a wet black branch'. Only by clarifying the metaphorical relationship between these two lines can we further interpret them.

From the perspective of reading experience, the images in the poem are very textured. The first line describes the poet's specific experience: in the dark crowd, several "beautiful faces" flashed from time to time, which made people feel refreshed. The second March is a metaphor. Seeing those fresh and beautiful faces in the crowd is like seeing' many petals on a wet black branch'. The dark and gloomy crowd and a few glowing and energetic faces flashed in it are tangible, and their visual images are very vivid. The second line highlights the contrast in color of the image,' wet black branches'. With bright petals. From the emotional implication of the image, the crowd and the wet black branches make people feel cold and depressed, while those beautiful faces and petals that shine,

It also makes people suddenly shine at the moment and has a bright and fresh feeling. In a subway station, the image is clear, concise and concrete, which can be called the masterpiece of imagist poetry.

Pound believes that a vivid and lively image is like a core or vortex of radiation, from which the multiple meanings compressed are constantly unfolding. Images in subway stations have extensive radiation significance. On the surface, it shows the poet's sudden freshness when he sees "beautiful faces" in the crowd. If we go deep into its symbolic meaning, it will be more complicated. Critics have many different interpretations of this little poem. Some people think that the poem shows the corruption of modern life experienced by Pound, but the world has not completely fallen, and beauty sometimes appears. Others have a more specific understanding. People are pouring out of the subway station. People who have just left work or just started work are tired and gloomy.

Material labor devoured their vitality. Although they are still alive, this is the alienation caused by modern capitalist industrial civilization. Only some "beautiful faces" symbolize the good things in life, but not many have survived. The author aims to expose the evils of capitalism. According to our reading experience, these explanations can be established. Of course, readers can also make other explanations. The key is to demand your own effectiveness.

"In a Subway Station" implies the possibility of various interpretations, which in itself shows that it is rich in connotation and strong in image radiation, which conforms to the poetic proposition of Imagism and is worthy of being a masterpiece of Imagism. (Zhou Ning)

These two lines of Pound's poems, like two railway tracks, extend from the deep hole of time, bearing the moist historical traces and mottled words of that era, and have been passed down to this day. And there are nearly 20 translated versions.