In a Station of the Metro

In a Station of the Metro - context Summary

Composed in Paris, 1913

Published in 1913 in the Ripostes collection, Pound's two-line poem grew from a single observational moment in the Paris Métro. It exemplifies Imagism: extreme compression, visual clarity, and precise language. By likening fleeting urban faces to flower petals on a wet, dark bough, the poem collapses a city scene into a concentrated image that registers an instant of perception rather than narrative or argument.