"In the Metro" Sample Response

In the Metro
(subway)

I know: I'll never meet again
the girl I met the other day,
the girl with shining legs in the metro.
I know: she goes her way
And I go mine...and yet
I'm sad, though I don't know why.
The escalator carried her away
just as river — a flower to the sea,
while I, crucified to family duties,
stood, transfixed,

on the platform
with a shopping bag dangling from my hand...

--Mikhail Kvlividze

Read the following poem and write a composition in which you (1) explain the generalization or comment the poem makes about love, marriage, or relationships and (2) explain, through effective use of evidence from the poem, the reasons for your interpretation of the poem's meaning.

Through its use of diction, imagery, and word choice the poem comments on love and relationships by saying that love can just pass you by, leaving you with little other than sadness.

The girl in the poem is a symbol for love and relationships. The way in which the author speaks of the girl helps show that he considers love to be beautiful. He comments on her legs, “shining,” and the escalator “carries her away.” This gives her almost an angelic quality, as she is gently taken away “just as a river.” Also, the comparison to the “flower to the sea” portrays the girl and love, as something beautiful, but forever lost.

The repetition throughout the poem also conveys some of the meaning. Repeating “I know” shows that he is rational and realizes the situation, but this is contrasted by his emotional side when he says he does not know why he is sad. Also, the repetition of “the girl” places emphasis on the girl as a symbol for love.

The last four lines show the effect that this lost love has on the speaker of the poem. The use of the word “crucified” invokes a horrible picture in the reader’s head showing how painfully he is held back, never achieving his love. Also, the word “transfixed” shows how he was frozen by this image. The structure of the poem also shows a break where the line is separated, the poem almost goes back to reality for the speaker. He realizes that all he is is just a man, alone on the platform with nothing more than a dangling shopping bag. He has seen love, in all its beauty, but almost as soon as it arrived, it is gone, never to return.

Comments on High Score: The above essay received a grade of a 9. The organization and analysis is completely on key because the writer excellently explains the generalization the poem makes and how it does so. Despite the briefness of the essay, it more than adequately discusses the issues of love and relationships and how the poem addresses these through the elements of diction, repetition, and word choice.

The man has an infatuation for this girl he has never met. Everything about her is perfect from the outside. Nothing could ever be wrong with her. She is a flower in the sea as she sails away from him. He will never see this young Goddess again.

He stands there in amazement, transfixed on her beauty. Her legs shine, and she is perfect. He doesn’t know this woman deep down inside what she feels, likes, or acts. He doesn’t care though, he just stands there transfixed with a bag dangling from his hand, as he watches this infatuation slowly leave and disappear from his life.

I feel that this poem generalizes what most people think about someone they meet. Most people meet someone and then never think they’ll ever meet again. A lot of people will always wonder what might have been, and that’s what makes them sad.

The proof is in every line. When the author says “I know: I’ll never meet again…,” it says he’ll never meet that girl again. The author later states, “and yet I’m sad, and don’t know why.” It points out that he’s upset that he’s never going to meet her again.