In a Station of the Metro: Key Poetic Devices

Juxtaposition

When used in the context of literary analysis, juxtaposition (JUK-stuh-puh-ZIH-shun) refers to instances where two ideas, concepts, or images are placed next to each other to highlight the contrast between them. Pound uses juxtaposition to powerful effect in “In a Station of the Metro.” The poem consists of two lines, each of which presents an independent image. Pound places these two images side by side, and he does so without including any words that might clarify how we should understand the relationship between them. Aside from the line break, the only thing that separates the poem’s two parts is a punctuation mark known as a colon (:). The colon has several different uses in composition. Most often, it is used to give extra emphasis or to introduce a list of things. In the case of this poem, Pound uses the colon to emphasize the significance of the relationship between line 1 and line 2. Yet that specific nature of that significance goes unexpressed in the poem, remaining implicit in the juxtaposition. It is therefore the reader’s job to evaluate how the apparition-like faces in the crowd in line 1 are linked to the petals mentioned in line 2.

Metaphor

Pound uses metaphor in a unique way in “In a Station of the Metro.” Recall that metaphor works by asserting a comparison between two unlike things, but doing so without using explicitly comparative words such as “like” or “as.” Pound stages a metaphor in the way he juxtaposes the images presented in the first and second lines. Although the speaker doesn’t actually include words that would assert a direct comparison, he infers comparative language through the use of the colon at the end of the first line. In this case, the colon (:) functions much in the same way an equal sign (=) does in mathematics. That is, the colon replaces the need for a verb like “is,” which would make the comparison between the two images explicit. Were we to emend the poem slightly to replace the colon, it might look something like this:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

By setting up an equivalence in this way, the entire poem turns on the metaphorical relationship implied to exist between the image presented in each line.

Assonance and Consonance

Assonance and consonance help bring a poetic flair to the poem’s otherwise concrete language. Assonance and consonance are sibling concepts, in that they both refer to the repetition of certain sounds in adjacent or nearby words. Assonance specifically refers to the repetition of vowel sounds, whereas consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds. Despite the poem’s brevity, Pound makes ample use of both. Let’s start by looking at examples of assonance:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

There are four distinct sound types that appear repeatedly across the poem’s two lines. The A sounds have been marked in unitalicized text, the O/OW sounds appear in bold text, and the E sounds appear in bold-and-unitalicized text. The two I sounds in the first line have been left unmarked. The use of assonance is particularly varied and dense, and it also provides for the slant rhyme that occurs between “crowd” and “bough.” Though less varied, these lines also feature several examples of consonance:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Here, the same method has been used to mark the TH sounds, the P sounds, and the B sounds. Though only fourteen words long, Pound’s use of assonance and consonance gives the poem a rich sonic texture.

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