Painting a Picture in so Few Words

I fully agree with Dan's views on Pound's "In a Station of the Metro." I first read this poem last semester in The Roaring 20s course. When I came to the end of the second sentence, I found myself wondering 'Is that all?' However, after taking in all fourteen words and contemplating their meaning, I came to appreciate Pound's work. In just those two lines he painted a detailed picture of a scene at a metro station and at a tree. The reader can envision the ghostly figures waiting in a crowded room for a train. Then, Pound transitions from the station to the branch of a tree and the flower petals that rest upon its bark. Despite the unlikelihood of relevance between the two, he compares these scenes with such force. Something startling or remarkable appears in both the station and on the tree branch, something that doesn't require many words to describe, but an occurrence that links the once contrasting ideas in a manner that is understood in those few words.

William Carlos Williams also conveys a deep meaning through a small number of words in his poem "The Red Wheelbarrow." I read these eight lines in The Roaring 20s as well and formulated a theory based on the sixteen words. First, I took a closer look at the "red" wheelbarrow, the "blue" water, and the "white" chickens. Patriotism shouts from these colors that symbolize our country and confirms his desire to write and speak within some perspective of life in America, specifically pinpointing the lives of immigrants and the poor. Although, another meaning may exist for the publication of this poem. Perhaps Williams wanted to express the tranquility within a scene of a farm, bringing the working class and city-dwellers back to the basics of everyday life. Whatever his reason, and just as Pound, Williams paints a picture in so few words.