Ezra Pound's In a Station of the Metro

In Pound's poem, the two lines can reflect an appreciation for the modern wolrd in a few ways. One specific example is the use of the word apparition. This word, as defined by dictionary.com, means a supernatural appearance of a person or thing. In this case, the supernatural appearance of a crowd in a Paris metro station could be a symbol of success in the business. What could make it supernatural may be a sudden burst in popularity of use as opposed to a slow growth which in essence could be viewed as predictable to an outside viewer. In addition, the author refered the people to being faces, an application of metonymy. The focus is on the faces of the people, the body part that is most known for demonstration of feeling and the identification of the individual. In favor to modernity, this could be symbolizing an new age where the individual is unique in a crowd , not necessarily identified by a rank or status.
The author also chose to devote the second line strictly to metaphor refering to a wet black bough. The bough being a branch could possibly be associated with the growth and diversity of an age of tecnological and social advances. The bough also being wet, possibly with water, may represent the branch being hydrated and nourished as education would nourish the minds of a growing and enlightened society. The bough itself, is something that is living and will grow and continue to branch out as would people who probably would use this subway to reach beyond the boundaries of their home, geographically as well as mentally.
However, the poem may show evidence of a meloncholy feeling regarding modernity. As what was said about the apparition, it is a word meaning supernatural appearances of a person or thing, particularly a ghost. The author may be trying to convey a message of an apparition being a ghost, or many ghosts in the form of a crowd. Ghosts are related to an idea of an nonresting spirit that comes after death. This may represent the peoples' free will and spirituality dying in the flurry of expansion and industrialization. More emphasis on the life as a crowd, or manifestation, and not on traditional views of a more domestic and otherwise slow moving existence.
In addition, the author describes this bough's petals as black and wet. Black, usually is associated with death and blindness. Petals on the bough could be the people, as a part of the bough which could be seen as living or dead itself. A visual of wet black petals appears as the petals are heavy and limp, not living and strong. Pound may be trying to indicate that the era of technology is blinding the people who were meant to grow in the world. Are the discription of wet indicates, the people are being wieghed down with more pressures and loosing strength of human nature in the process.