Modernism of “In a Station of the Metro” and “The Red Wheelbarrow”

王玢詩

Abstract： By analyzing the verse form， theme， content and the techniques of writing in “In a Station of the Metro” and “The Red Wheelbarrow”， the thesis aims to give a glimpse of features of modernism in American poems in the 20th century and of the changes of these modernism features in these two poems.

Key words： “In a Station of the Metro”， “The Red Wheelbarrow”， modernism

Modernism is the avant-garde trend in the American literature of the 20th century. The essence of modernism lies in a break with the past. Under this new trend， 1913， Ezra Pound wrote “In a Station of the Metro” and Williams Carlos Williams wrote “The Red Wheelbarrow” in 1923. Both poems are featured with modernism. The verse form， theme， content and the techniques of writing change a lot compared with poems in the 19th centurys. Besides， these two modern poems witness changes of modernism.

Both poems break with the past. The first feature of modernism in these two poems is that the free verse replaces the blank verse. It means that these poems are free from metrical restriction. The free verse lines may be long or very short. The punctuations are not important. The rhythm of the poems relies on the meaning not on dictions and punctuations. Each of these two poems just has one sentence. In “The Red Wheelbarrow”， even one word forms a line like “upon”， “barrow”， “water” and “chickens”.

The second feature of modernism in these two poems is to record the mental experience in a twinkling and to pursue a kind of self-fulfillment. Although there is only one sentence in each of these two poems， the meaning of the two poems is complete. “In a Station of the Metro” just records the poets immediate feeling of seeing the face there. Also Williams recorded the first sense when he saw the red wheelbarrow after rain. These two poems convey private emotions.

The third feature of modernism is that the content concerns more with the daily life. The poetry should write about what the poet sees， as Pounds writes in a letter to Williams in October， 1908 （Dong Hongchuan， 35）. Williams holds that a poet should reflect his ideas from objects （Zhou Yiyi， 94）. What Pound and Williams describe is very common like “crowd”， “bough” and “chickens”. The poet may narrow his distance with the reader， as a result.

The fourth feature of modernism is imagism. Simple narration and direct statement are avoided in these two modern poems. Images makes space for the reader to imagine. In “In a Station of the Metro”， “petals” makes the reader imagine widely about its color and its symbolic implication. In “The Red wheelbarrow”， after reading “so much depends upon a red wheel”， the reader may imagine whether the “much” stands for fruits， vegetables or anything else. Besides， both the poems have a strong color contrast in order to make the images more vivid and impressive. In “In a Station of the Metro”， the bright color of “petals” is a strong contrast with the “black bough”. In “The Red Wheelbarrow”， the wheels red contrasting with the chickens white makes the red image shinning. The visual impact caused by contrasted colors endows the reader with aesthetic delight （Zhang Xiaoge， 78）.

In addition， the ten years gap witnesses some changes of modernism in these two poems. “In a Station of the Metro” was finished before the WWI and “The Red wheelbarrow” was written after the WWI. “The Red Wheelbarrow” has some changes in the content. Williams focuses on more individual experience in his poem. He was once a doctor who delivered more than two thousand babies. The main color “red” in his poem functions the symbol of a new life， because when babies are born， their bodies are red because of blood. This may also intrigue the reader to think about the theme of the poem. Pounds “In a Station of the Metro” describes the sudden beauty he saw at the station. The world must appear more beautiful before the war. In 1923， the WWI had finished， everything recovered gradually. Williams expresses his hope for the future through the image of “red wheel barrow”. The color “red” symbolizes hope； it brings the image of a new life. Compared with Pounds “In a Station of the Metro”， the praise of humans beauty has shifted to the praise of the common things beauty. In “In a Station of Metro”， Pound describes a persons beauty semi-directly by using a metaphor， while in “The Red Wheelbarrow”， any description about man loses its trace， although the center of the poem is still man. The style of expression also changes. Williams indirect description of working peoples life is another new feature of modernism after ten years. Also In “In a Station of the Metro”， the “petals” and “a wet， black bough” are tinted with more romance but “barrow” and “chickens” are anti-romantic images in “The Red Wheelbarrow”.

Based on the above analysis and understanding， the free verse， individual mental experience and imagism of the 20th century modernism contribute greatly to the development of the American poetry. Poems in the 20th century are more concerned with man. At the same time， it stimulates peoples imagination and realization of their life. As the history developed and the poets experiences differed， modernism itself also presents differently s in different periods within the 20th century.

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