Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
The Paris metro station where Pound had his vision was called "La Concorde." Above ground is the Place de la Concorde, whose most famous feature is the massive obelisk in the middle of the road. It dates to the 13th century BC and formerly stood in the Luxor Temple in southern Egypt. (Source)
"In a Station of the Metro" is often associated with the artistic movement called "Vorticism," which came and went around the time of World War I. (Source)
A haiku in English typically has seventeen syllables because it is modeled after the Japanese version. However, because the Japanese language is so different from English, seventeen syllables in Japanese allows for less words and, thus, an even shorter poem! (Source
A traditional haiku contains a word called a kigo that hints at the season of the year. The kigo of "In a Station of the Metro" is "petals" – it must be spring, because flowers are in bloom. (Source