In In A Subway Station (written by American poet Pound), the poet deliberately left a blank, just to let readers use their imagination and take the initiative to fill it. The phrase "many petals on a wet black branch" is not only prominent in color contrast, but also vivid in visual image, which gives readers a great impact because it is very specific and emotional.
Comparing the crowd in the subway station with the wet and dark branches is both an indifferent and depressing image. The two pleasing images, beautiful face and petals, are superimposed, and they correspond to each other, which is quite like an impressionist painting, causing subtle feelings in an illogical jump.
Characteristics of works
Poetry in the Subway Station fully embodies Pound's aesthetic orientation of imagism, that is, "image itself is a language without decoration".
Although the "face" in the first line and the "petal" in the second line are two completely different images, once they are superimposed, they form a metaphor that complements each other. Finally, these two images merge into one in the reader's mind and become a new image complex.