In a Station of the Metro by Erza Pound

When I first read this poem, I was so confused by its length! I could have sworn that the page that contained the rest of the poem had fallen out of my book, but this is only a two-line poem. After reading the back-story of the poem, it made so much sense to me. Pound is talking about a time he was at a train station and all the beautiful people mesmerized him. He uses the word “apparition” I think, to describe how he gets a quick image of all the people busily passing by him and how it’s not a very clear image. I can see why he used the word “apparition” because it really makes the reader feel that kind of hustle-and-bustle of a busy train station. He then describes the people as “Petals on a wet, black bough” because of how the people bring colorfulness to the train station.