In a Station of the Metro The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
— Ezra Pound
A famous and beautiful poem. A classic « Imagist » work. Nevertheless there are not only images, but also a metaphor. Let’s have a look.
A long-drawn-out metaphor (“métaphore filée” in my mother tongue, French) works like a go-between. Between two fields, it jumps from the first to the second, and again back and forward, and again, like sewing a seam or stiches. As a long-drawn-out metaphor, In a Station of the Metro would have been something like:
The crowd is a wet, black bough; Faces appear in the crowd, like petals.
When we read In a Station of the Metro, there is no long-drawn-out metaphor but something else, I suggest to call it a “parallel metaphor” (everybody is invited to send a better name of course). A “parallel metaphor” explores extensively one field (in this example: the metro) and at the end, jumps for good and explores the second field in a parallel and proportional way (here: the tree).
Where does a “parallel metaphor” comes from? Perhaps we can understand something of the deep influence of the haiku on the Imagist group?