Ezra Pound was one of the most representative figures of the early modernist movement of poetry. His major contribution is the development of Imagism, a writing style derived from Japanese and Chinese poetry which has to do with the use of clear and precise language to keep the essence of one single image when reading the poem. Pound's style of writing grabbed my attention therefore I took a look at some other poems of the same author and I found this particular piece of writing.
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| Apollo and Daphne's Myth |
A Girl
The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast -
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.
Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world.
"A girl" is based on the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne, but it is simplified. The myth is explained with the fewest words and lines possible in order to keep the idea of precision.
The myth itself is not intrincate thus it can be explained as following:
Apollo, one of the most powerful gods, bothers the god of love Eros because he uses warlike weapons such as the bow and arrow, but he was not the god of war, so the idea of him using this weapons was preposterous. The offended Eros took two arrows, a gold and a lead one. Daphne, the nymph, was shot with the lead arrow, which incitated hatred, whereas Apollo was shot through his heart with the golden one, which incitated love. Then, Apollo fell in love with Daphne, however she hated him and other potential lovers. Finally, Eros helps Apollo to catch Daphne, but she asks her father, Peneus, to change her form into a tree. As long as Apollo could not take her as his wife, he promised to take care of the tree.
Pound, however, restate the myth saying that "she" (Daphne) has become a tree and Apollo will have to accept Daphne's new identity as a tree. Then, he expresses the new beauty of her comparing her with the beauty of the violets when the wind gently plays with them. Finally, Apollo analyses the decision of Daphne.
To sum up, even though the myth is not very complex, Pound restate it in simple words through the use of the Imagism movement.
For you to think...What is your view on the Imagism movement? Do you think this poem could have any other meaning?
what I found interesting about this poem, was the fact that it mentiones a tree, and as we all know In Station in the Metro is also based on a flowering tree. maybe nature is a recursive element in Pound's work.
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