Name: Đoàn Thanh Nam

Student ID: 43.01.751.159

Poetry analysis
Ezra Pound: In a station of the Metro

“The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.”

The sense of this poem was: “In the station, look at those faces in the crowd made me feel sorrowful
and gloomy, those faces looked like the petals “on the wet, black bough”. The atmosphere was so
gloomy, which is hard to be described in any words. That also was the feeling of the poet, sorrow
and gloomy for the atmosphere in the station. He imagined the faces of the passengers nearly like
the petals on a rainy day - “on a wet, black bough”. The tone of the poem makes the listeners feel
sad and gloomy because the description of the poet - “The apparition” is the word describe the
reality of the rush hour, the crowd was rushing to earn their livings. The intention is to make the
listeners understand the feeling and the loneliness of the poet, sometimes the atmosphere can
make people become sad and sorrow with no specific reasons.

William Carlos Williams: This is just to say

“I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.”
The sense of the poem was: “I felt regretful and guilty for eating your plums which were in the
icebox. I don’t know that you were saving those plums for breakfast, and please forgive me because
they were so delicious”. And the feeling is that the poet felt extremely guilty, embarrassing and shy
because of his act. The tone of the poem stressed in line 9 - “forgive me”, which shows the regret of
the poet and he was asking for the forgiveness of the plums’ owner. Also, he used such familiar
pronouns like “you”,”me”; so that the listeners can feel the friendliness inside the poem. The
intention of this poem was to advise you and everyone that if you want to have or borrow something
from the others, please ask them whether you can have it or not, don’t take it without the permission
of the owners.

Reverse poem: The Precious Thing

What is the most precious thing actually ?

People have their own opinions, maybe I should listen to them…

Some suppose that “Money”,

and some say: “Class”

But all people agree with “Fame”

So hard to define, I think they are all important.

But to me, I refuse all those things

Health and Knowledge are the essential factors,

Without Health, you have nothing

Without Knowledge, you always live in poverty

Now, I have to consider again,

What is the most precious thing ?