The upper and lower lines of the poem present two sets of corresponding images respectively. One is a ghostly face in the crowd at the subway station; Second, there are many petals on the wet branches. The relationship between these two lines of poems is not a metaphor in the general sense, but a superposition of two groups of images. The power to attract these two groups of images is the poet's intuition, which makes the two groups of images splash out the sparks of poetry in the interactive state and produce profound significance. Pound himself said that it was "a combination of thoughts and feelings in an instant".
This poem occupies an important position in the history of modern western literature. It liberated poetry from the old writing techniques and lyrical habits in the19th century, and brought enlightenment to modern literature. Ezra pound later became the leader of imagist poets.
These faces in the crowd here are realistic images, and the crowd is the background of faces; Many petals on the black branch are imaginary images, and the branch becomes the background of the petals. The former image is realistic, while the latter image is nihilistic and creative. The first two sentences are figurative, and the word "like" can be added before the last sentence. The second sentence is an interpretation of the first sentence, that is, comparing the crowd to wet branches and comparing these faces to petals.