In a Station of the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Petals on a wet, black bough.
1913 Ezra Pound
____Have you ever heard anything about the political involvement of a comma? Did you know that a simple punctuation mark in a poem could be interested in politics ? In this paper, I will try to prove that such a thing is possible, focusing on one particular element of Pound’s poem. Line two is pivotal for the understanding of the poem, and in particular the fateful comma splitting the noun phrase “wet, black bough”. In such a short poem, every little element (punctuation or unusual syntax) takes an uncommon importance and can change the whole sense of the text. In this very case, the comma is like a small wet, a primary element which gives birth to different interpretations, to different meanings. The goal will be here to show that the presence of this comma can confer a political meaning to Pound’s poem: In a Station of the Metro.
____To give more strength to our analysis, we have first to be sure that this comma is not here by coincidence, otherwise it would be of no interest to study this particular point. Ezra Pound wrote several versions of this poem. This final version is the result of a compression of a fourteen-line initial poem. The goal for the poet is to create the richest imagery concentrated in only two lines. One can easily assume that these two lines are the result of an intense stylistic work : every letter has its own utility.
____What is more, in this sixteen-words poem, punctuation marks are disposed in a constant decreasing manner : after the eight first word, then after four words and finally after two words. The size of the punctuation marks stresses even more this visual decrescendo [; , .] : the semi-column is visually the biggest punctuation mark with two elements, the comma is then smaller than a semi-column but bigger than the final point. It strengthens the impression of “apparition”. The poem itself is like a striking “apparition” in its format : only two lines with numerous decrescendos. Quickness is stressed : an apparition is in essence brief and intense. Everything in the exterior shape of the poem seems to be created to emphasize this promptness. The comma on the second line is consequently a deliberate message of the author.
____On a grammatical point of view, the comma (line 2) entails two different readings of the word “wet” : a noun or an adjective. Considering the fact that the comma separates the noun phrase “petals on a wet” from the rest of the text leads us to interpret “wet” as a noun. Wet, synonymous with moisture[1], is a necessary element to the emergence of life, to the “apparition” of life. Moisture (that is to say water and warmth combined) is pivotal to enable life, to enable the development of living beings : it is one of the characteristics of an environment where life can appear. Wet as vector of a new life, of fertility. But wet seems in the same time uncomfortable, even disgusting (it engenders decomposition). Keeping in mind these two faces of the “wet”, how does it affect the meaning of the poem ?
____The phrase “petals on a wet” echoes the very similar formulation on the first line : “faces in the crowd”. A Parallel can be easily drawn between both phrases : the faces are like petals, the crowd is the wet. If wet is understood as an element of heaviness, inertia and decomposition, then the crowd is a large melting pot where the “faces” lose their identity, their independence. The crowd is synonymous with the decomposition of the individual, of the subject, in a bigger and undetermined body : a moisture, a smell of human sweat, that swallows up the symbol of beauty and softness, the petals. In other words, the crowd is overwhelming, it absorbs and digests the individual.
____However the wet considered as a vector of fertility brings a new freshness to the crowd. The crowd can also be the place from which the individual emerges and takes his independence. Faces appear in the infinite ocean of the crowd, the crowd is no more an anonymous body. One can read a more political meaning, the typical sociological and political issue of the beginning of the 20th century: the strength and the dangers of the crowd.
From the dampness appears life, and as a consequence the art. The artist transcends the repelling organic face of life to create a work of art (this poem is itself a kind of small mould : small and simple organism emerging from a wet environment but vector of a more complex meaning and beauty). And at the same time, from masses, from the crowd can emerge something more aesthetics, graceful. Faces are compared with petals, the crowd becoming a pointillist work of art, composed with individuals who, all together, design a new body, a common sense of beauty. This interpretation is, besides, in line with Pound’s political ideas[2] : his attraction for fascism and Mussolini’s political regime -- fascism being obsessed by the control of the crowd and the power it confers.
____On the other hand, “wet” can be considered as an adjective. But the ambiguity in the different meanings stays intact. As a matter of fact, the analogy between the “crowd” and the “bough” is very clear, stressed by the rhyme in [au]. But the interpretation of the image of the branch is not as obvious.
____“black bough”, the sounds are dull, the balance is perfect : two monosyllabic words finishing the sentence with an impression of austerity, of military strictness : the branch is black, color of death, and the contrast with the softness and the spring colors of the “petals” is strong. “Petals” is the first word of the line, “bough” is the last : both words are physically opposed inside the poem. The petals are opposed to the black branch as the faces are opposed to the crowd : the image of the crowd asphyxiating the individual subject.
____Yet this contrast is also a ferment for hope and beauty. The softness of the petals can only appear in opposition to the harshness of the bough. The work of art needs contrasts. The branch is not only “black”, the branch is also “wet”. And from a symbol of death, the branch is changed in a symbol of life : it is the support of life. The wetness stands for the water, pivotal element for the apparition of life. The branch is a severe but necessary element for the creation of life and beauty, an essential support ; as the crowd is necessary for the individual to be able to impose his own identity. The crowd is an indispensable background enabling the individual to be a real individual. It is also a frame symbol of order : the final strictness of the rhythm and sounds (in the two last words) suggests the idea of a guideline, a new order. The crowd uncontrollable and frightful can be structured and transfigured.
____Through this poem lies a constant ambiguity, an uncertainty. It seems that this poem deals with the recurring topic of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century : the crowd, masses. With the growing of a strong working classes, masses seem at this period the greatest danger but also the most wonderful vector of power. This poem manages to stress this fundamental ambiguity. The individuals are either jeopardized by this threatening crowd, or protected by this vehicle for life. The imagery chosen to express this ambiguity is rich and confusing enough not to give a clear answer to this problem. The wet is either putrefaction or ferment of life ; the bough is either harshness, or a support for vitality and beauty. This uncertainty might explain the attraction of the author for the fascist ideal : a way to channel the strength of masses, avoiding its inherent inclination for destruction, and enabling the reign of the beauty of the order, to create new individuals inside the frame of the ideology ; like “petals on a wet, black bough”.
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