Just feel it

——Thoughts on Pound’s In a Station of the Metro

I always think Chinese is the most beautiful language in the world, because it can deliver an image just through a few words.  Until I read the poem In a Station of the Metro, I realize that any language has its magic, we combine them and they will produce an unexpected effect.

When I first read the poem, what come to my eyes are independent words, not sentences ---- face, crowd, petal and bough.  The four words create two images ---- one is, maybe, hundreds of rushed passengers get off the metro and hurry to their destinations like frightened birds flying to all directions, but the author see one or two beautiful faces among them, they are peaceful and not hasty, take on a pure temperament you can’t resist; the other is, in a dark and humid corner, flowers are in bloom on wet and black boughs, but colorful and splendid. 

Here are the two images.  They seem different, but they do have relations between them.  It is the imagism.  What the imagist wants to deliver is not how magnificently he uses words, not how deep the thoughts will be, not how smart the structure is, but what kind of image he will describe to us.  It is the most important thing. 

Like this poem, the image is simple, but it talks a lot, that’s the importance to deliver an image.  It should give us space to think, to discuss.  For the two images, one is in the realistic world; the other is in the imaginary world.  It is Pound’s intuition that combines them together.  It doesn’t simply mean one plus one is two, it’s, indeed, one plus one is still “one”.  They have melted each other.  It is an outburst of thoughts and emotions, which gives us a fresh and breezy feeling. 

That also reminds me of Haiku and Chinese ancient poetry.  They have the same features.  A few words, a gorgeous image.  And also, Monnai, represented the Impressionist School, his work Sunrise, also stress on image.

Many reviewers say it has a connotative meaning of this poem.  Some say in the capitalist world, evils has dominated the society, but still there are good things left, we should make a change of that situation.  Some say it tells us that we should have hope in our heart.  I don’t agree any of them, I think it has nothing meaning except the image.  I hold the opinion that image for image’s sake, art for art’s sake.  That is poetry, that is pure poetry, we shouldn’t add any personal or social thinking into them.  That will only make poem serious and heavy, and lose their charm.  Leave the poems what they are, don’t try to interpret them.  You may have your own ideas about poems, leave it in your hearts, once you say it, you lose it.