I have just sown a few bulbs of freesias. Rain clouds are hovering. Soon a drizzle will ‘baptize’ them. Sowing a few bulbs and seeds in my balcony pots at this time of year is a ritual. It is also an act of vehement defiance since my balcony crisscrosses wind gusts from all directions plus I am not particularly green fingered.
Just as I get the job done, I recall how last Spring I woke up to a cluster full of magic.
A misty morning had welcomed my first bouquet of freesias adding dewy drops to the ballerina grace with which their blossoms half-tilt, half-wilt, half-droop, half-swoop.
Sinking my nose into their deep, delicate fragrance is scenting heaven. Always worth pressing pause on whatever you happen to be doing, or not doing. This year I also had the claret and purple blooms jostling with their yellow and white siblings – jewel colours adding vibrancy to zing and innocence.
I remember that as the morning chill hit me, my mind somehow recalled Ezra Pound’s 2-liner poem, ‘In a Station at the Metro’ which goes like this:
The apparition of these faces in a crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
I honestly cannot say how this Imagist poem came to my mind at that precise moment. Yet it would not let go, especially during my commute back home. We may never have a metro in Malta (a currently controversial topic); however, like any urbanised, millennial society, isolated, alienated faces are everywhere you look. More so, since everyone is constantly head-phoned and swiping their smart phones in total oblivion of what is going on around them. I get a daily double dose of such a scene since I use public transport. As if this is not enough, people of all ages hooked to their devices are everywhere wherever you go.
Given its focus on a crowd at rush hour, it is hard to believe that Pound published this poem in 1913. Its brevity is even more fascinating since apart from steering clear of conventional description, it shocks the reader with a perplexing bewilderment that invariably elicits ‘What is this poem all about?’ ‘What on earth is Pound saying?’
To begin with, this is an Imagist poem. Meaning a succinct poem that works on the reactions to the images it conjures. This poetic style is highly influenced by the Japanese Haiku poetry which Pound found utterly intriguing. Typical of Modernist literature, the reader is required to play an active role in bringing the text to life. Indeed, if the poem fails to jolt our imagination, it looms as a static blank. Though it does not make relaxed reading, such a poem beckons unexpected routes to take.
Like any titled poem, the title offers the road signs. In this case, the key words are: ‘In’, ‘Station’ and ‘Metro’, which prefigure Pound’s fascination with the blur of ghostlike figures in an underground station. The difficulty to take in the telling blankness of their facial expressions is conjured by the ghostly connotations of ‘apparition’. This in turn is reinforced by the metonymic image of ‘faces in the crowd’; for these are disembodied persons whose faces are disturbing the poet… and us.
Moreover, homing in on their faces suggests his struggle to recognise how different and similar he is to them. He can do so because he is assuming the detachment of an observer. But being at the station makes him one of the crowd too. Being underground also has all commuters submerged bereft of natural light. The brief reference to faces, and nothing else, also emphasises how disembodied they appear. This is an important point to reiterate because it suggests a spiritual sterility and links to the poem’s feeling of something cut off and broken. I find this most resonant with our godless world.
The realisation that ‘these faces in the crowd’ are also trapped in a soul-deadening routine gains more weight in the second verse because ‘petals’ suggests a plucked flower severed from the lifeline of its stem. Furthermore, the ‘petals’ have fallen on a ‘wet, black bough’, that in turn suggests a dank and burnt out setting. Consequently, the ‘petals’ are another metonymic rendition of the crowd. Once again, we can relate to the tedium of our humdrum lifestyles in which it has become a challenge to dare to stare.
Yet, the association of fragile beauty evoked by ‘petals’ also hints at the poet’s empathy for the conscious and subconscious feelings of angst that torments the soul of the ‘faces’ Pound is looking at. Similarly, the ‘wet, black bough, is also a metonymic image evoking spiritually aridity. The petals’ decay is therefore, quickened by the corrosive and corroded bough. Is this the natural decay of a life’s cycle? Possibly. But I think it is more of an analogy to a rudderless society rotting away. If so, can we prevent such decay?
It is also significant to note that the metonymic images in the poem work in combination whose impact creates a metaphor for a glimpse of a spiritually sterile society. The shoving crowd heaves with people who cannot and do not care about each another. Locked in their own private world and possible abject loneliness recalls a line in T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ where he states: I had not thought death had undone so many.’
That such isolation and alienation continue to hound us over a hundred years on should halt us in our tracks and make us rethink on how we are unravelling our thread of life. What I find even more chilling is that we are infinitely more isolated and alienated primarily because the safe harbor of the nuclear family is no longer sacred in a world where everything and everyone is labelled and regarded in terms of ‘exchange value’. Also, because our smart phones and laptops (and I have not even considered AI) have become the centre of our actions rendering lives lived in virtual, segregated, disconnected bubbles.
What has become our point of reference? Have we really turned our back on the warmth and support of living in families and communities? Do our young people especially know what a community is? What kind of home do they go to? How many families still gather around a table and speak/listen to each other without a gizmo gadget in sight? Aren’t our chat groups voicing a hunger for ties that bind?
Nor are young people the only fallen petals ’on a wet, black bough’. One of the 40+ managers where I work, who ‘thrives’ on being driven and who regards a holiday as a hiatus, often declares that she has no time for love. Strangely, or not so strangely, she is always dressed in black. Her life is her choice. Who am I to interfere? Yet her words rank among the saddest I have ever heard.
If nothing else, this poem has made me look upon fallen petals as mirrors we may choose or not choose to face. What about you?
#millennials #alienation #isolation #spiritual sterility #community
Grazie Noemi per la bellezza di questo articolo e per la chiarezza che tanto mi è stata di aiuto a comprendere e valorizzare…
Il pericolo in cui rischiamo di trovarci… Il tormento inconscio dell’umanità, che siamo noi… Umanità che si arrotola nel ricercare un assoluto, al quale tutti aneliamo consapevoli o no, troppe volte a rischio di staccarci dal vivere quello che è più importante e prioritario nella vita, dandolo facilmente per scontato troppe volte o addirittura non accorgersene proprio, intrappolandosi in se stessi utilizzando i mezzi a disposizione e oscurandosi nel continuo cercare di soddisfare il proprio io, privandosi e seppellendo la bellezza della luce della vita che portiamo, che abbiamo dentro di noi.
Claudio
Grazie mille, Claudio. Non avevo mai immaginato un incubo come la pandemia del Covid-19 quando ho scritto questa analizi. Ma devo dire che questa poezia e’ piu’ relevante che mai.
Un virus invisibile ha fermato il mondo e la vita che tutti conosciamo – una vita basata su egoismo e narcisismo senza freni. Se questo incubo non offre una lezione chiarissima della nostra fragilita’ e impotenza’, non so come possiamo rinascere.
Dobbiamo scoprire e credere nella luce della vita che sempre si trova dentro di noi perche’ e’ data da Dio. Dobbiamo anche capire che siamo ospiti, non maestri di Pianeta Terra.
You are a master wordsmith Noemi, and as usual, I love reading and pondering the thoughtful imagery that your writing creates for me. The title of your piece in this case, instantly generated thoughts of using a dark background for high contrast, the purpose of the presentation being, the offering of beautiful, recently living flowers.
I had no instant recollection of Ezra Pound’s iconic modernist aesthetic poem. In a mere 20 words, including the title, he managed to evoke so much! I also consider similarly, ‘The Red Wheelbarrow’ from William Carlos Williams. After reading your article, metonymic, imagist, and other terms came back to my memory! The ability of these poets to make the ordinary extraordinary, causing the reader to mentally expose the layers of depth, using mere English words with American idioms, is legendary!
Your metaphoric interpretation is spot on also, in my opinion.
I agree with your descriptions of Pound’s view of the Parisian train station, now interfaced by you, with today’s crowds in any metropolis. The correlation is a rather scary one to contemplate in that we have not evolved to better interact with strangers in the subway. We just interpolate newspapers for cellphones. The searching questions though seem identical, “Why does my life seem so hopeless?” and “What is the meaning of all this?”
And we, collectively, do not still have definitive answers.
Garry, I am overwhelmed with your response. A heartfelt thank you is barely adequate. Moreover, your reflections about the deep sense of void many are feeling in the way we are living are very striking. While answers are not easy to come by, listening to what poets have to say challenges us to stop in our tracks and hopefully inspire us to begin to seek meaningfulness. Irrespective of the lives they have led, poets have the knack to bare bones and confront us with hard truths.
I used to feel these past days that I was an old butterfly who forgot to die with the last summer sun…
But, you got me into thinking differently!–and I thank you for being so kind and fragile!?
So very glad to have helped (even if a little) you flush out morbid thoughts. The fact they were beautifully expressed shows both deep pain and sensitivity. Also good to remember that there is strength in fragility if you channel it towards positivity. Many thanks for your time and appreciation.
This is very beautiful yet disturbing in context. My family has been discussing this very thing… not wanting the busy, crazy, distracted, disconnected world around us to drag us into being that. I think many are wanting something more simplistic, more genuinely connected, but not knowing how to systemically attain that. Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you, Ginger, for your time, appreciation and most of all your reflections. That you are discussing the matter with your family is the best start. There are no easy routes but willingness to be grateful for your roots and all that you have been given; to press pause; to connect, and to embrace the simple yet priceless joys of life will give you direction to live what is meaningful in life. Turning your back on materialism will also enable you to realise that we are neither negotiable nor pawns in a corporate world.
Thank you, Noemi, for helping us to stop and pause, to reflect on what and to whom we are connected-how important to be with people in person, to look in each other’s eyes, to offer a kind touch, for this positivity resonance to grow. And how the absence of this connection-people to people-leads to tough conditions for human thriving. Healthy connection seems as important as oxygen in our lives. I’ve been reading Love 2.0 by Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D—.A fascinating, scientific discussion of love and positive emotions. How important all these experiences with others are for our health, our fulfillment as people.
Thank you so much, Laura, for your heartfelt appreciation and comments. Your analogy between the vital role of oxygen and connection is spot-on. What bewilders and saddens me is how so many of us are blind to what is perfectly obvious and moreover, how today’s zeitgeist continues to trample our need to belong and feel loved. I feel that we will only see the light when we stop worshipping money and put an end to self-orbiting and embrace the intangibles that make life truly worth living.
As usual, Noemi, your gorgeous lyrics propel us to think. The simplicity of Ezra Pound’s poem derives a beautiful surprise from you with your lovely interpretation. Yes, you are correct as was Pound long ago. Our society, for many, continues on a disturbing path of meaninglessness and hopelessness. For those of us who promote the opposite, we need to remain vocal in whatever form we choose. Your amazing prose is one way. Thank you for this!?
Thank you so much, Darlene, for your heartfelt appreciation and resonance. As you rightly say we need to remain vocal about sound family and communal values. I would add that our actions too, need to speak even louder.