Two Poem Comparison- rough draft

Whether in the structure of a formal Italian sonnet or in the most basic form of poetry, a couplet, drastically different poems can actually convey similar messages. This is the case for Ezra Pound’s two-line poem “In a Station of the Metro” and Gerard Manley Hopkins’ sonnet “God’s Grandeur.” Both poems examine aspects of temporality as well as the contrasts between industrialization and nature. While Hopkins’ distaste towards the industrialization of the world is evident, Pound’s poem paints a rather different attitude towards the same topic.
Although only a mere two lines long, Ezra Pound uses a select choice of words to convey appropriate imagery in his poem. In the first line, he uses the word “apparition” to describe the people in a crowd. One common synonym for an apparition is a ghostly figure or phantom. When thinking of the meaning in this light, the tone of the poem takes on a sort of eeriness and a feeling of the supernatural. This word can also simply mean appearing, although usually occurring in a rather quick, startling manner. Images of a busy metro station, with people rushing by amidst the hustle and bustle, come to the surface. Not one person is there for a very long period of time, they are rushing about; it is as if their faces are there one moment and gone the next. When choosing the wording of his poem, Pound could have easily used either of these words in place of “apparition,” however the dual nature of this single word is quite critical to the imagistic poem and how he connects it to the latter half of the couplet.
Similarly, the first octave of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem creates images of the industrialization of society, specifically in the last four lines. He begins by comparing the grandeur of God to a great form of energy and richness using the imagery of shook foil, and oozing oil. The greatness of nature can be found everywhere in the world, and exudes and energy that nothing else can compare to. This, however, contrasts to the negative impact that man has made upon the earth, as is described in the second quatrain of the poem. The use of the rhyming and repetition emphasizes the passage of time and how man has beat down upon the earth and been industrializing it for many years. Hopkins’ expels his distaste at the industrialized state of the world, hinting that man has somehow disconnected himself from nature.
Despite the somewhat negative images within the first part of Hopkins’ poem, the volta serves as a turning point towards the positive. After describing the industrialization of society, he changes tone and says “And for all this, nature is never spent,” implying that no matter what, nature will prevail. The single line in this poem greatly parallels the second line in Pound’s poem, and both encompass the passing of time and the lasting characteristics of nature. Right now the petals on the bough may be spent, and can be interpreted as symbols of death, remnants of flowers that have fallen from the tree. However within this sentence there is also life, the wet bough signifying the coming of spring when the flowers can bloom once again.