A little bit about Pound:

Imagery: the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively:

Since Pound pioneered the Imagist movement, its style and themes resonate throughout his poems. He placed significant value on clarity and economy of language. Pound felt that classic poetry, ( Greek and Roman) presents many model examples of Imagism. He also praised the verbal economy of traditional Japanese and Chinese poetry. A notable example of Imagism in Pound's work is "In a Station of the Metro."

The influence of Ezra Pound (1885-1972) on other poets was probably greater
than the poetry he himself wrote.
2. Very early in his life, he was convinced that he must leave America and go to
Europe if he was to develop as a poet. He left in 1908 and settled in London, quickly
becoming involved in its literary life.
3. In 1912, Pound coined the term Imagism and founded the school that bore
that name. Rather than describing something—an object or situation—and then
generalizing about it, imagist poets attempted to present the object directly.
4. Pound fought against literary diction, poetic metrics, and abstract vocabulary:
“Go in fear of abstraction,” Pound cautioned.
5. He was to be helpful to aspiring writers such as T. S. Elliott James Joyce, William Carlos and Earnest Hemingway in their writing careers.
6. He began work on his major book of poetry The Cantos in 1915 and continued
working on it the rest of his life.
7. He settled in Italy in 1925. Because of some radio broadcasts he made
during World War II praising fascism and criticizing America, Pound was indicted for treason
8. Declared insane and thus unfit to be tried, he became a patient and a prisoner
in a mental institution in Washington, D. C., in 1946.
9. Many major poets lobbied for his release; after gaining it in 1958, Pound
returned to Italy where he lived until his death in 1972.
10. He remains one of the most controversial poets of the twentieth century.

The influence of Ezra Pound (1885-1972) on other poets was probably greater
than the poetry he himself wrote.
2. Very early in his life, he was convinced that he must leave America and go to
Europe if he was to develop as a poet. He left in 1908 and settled in London, quickly
becoming involved in its literary life.
3. In 1912, Pound coined the term Imagism and founded the school that bore
that name. Rather than describing something—an object or situation—and then
generalizing about it, imagist poets attempted to present the object directly.
4. Pound fought against literary diction, poetic metrics, and abstract vocabulary:
“Go in fear of abstraction,” Pound cautioned.
5. He was to be helpful to aspiring writers such as T. S. Elliott James Joyce, William Carlos and Earnest Hemingway in their writing careers.
6. He began work on his major book of poetry The Cantos in 1915 and continued
working on it the rest of his life.
7. He settled in Italy in 1925. Because of some radio broadcasts he made
during World War II praising fascism and criticizing America, Pound was indicted for treason
8. Declared insane and thus unfit to be tried, he became a patient and a prisoner
in a mental institution in Washington, D. C., in 1946.
9. Many major poets lobbied for his release; after gaining it in 1958, Pound
returned to Italy where he lived until his death in 1972.
10. He remains one of the most controversial poets of the twentieth century.

Who is Walt Whitman?
Born may 18 1819 and died march 26, 1892. He transitioned between transcendentalism to realism which is not what Pound is about.

Pound wrote an essay called "What I feel about Walt Whitman" in which the ending concluded of "His message is my message. We will see that men hear it." He shows his appreciation for Whitman's writings

This shows that, while Pound saw the importance of Whitman as an American poet, he previously did not like his writing because he thought it was crude.

I believe this is Pound’s referral to his own father who was, perhaps, not so supportive of his poetic works just as Whitman’s father was not of his. In “A Pact,” Pound is pointing out the similarities that he and Whitman share now that Pound is an adult.

By comparing Whitman to a father figure, Pound insinuates that he felt intimidated by Whitman's success. In his 1909 essay “What I Feel About Walt Whitman,” Pound contrasts his distaste for Whitman Pound is saying here that he has grown up and is over any previous dislike he had against Whitman.

By calling Whitman a pig-headed father, Pound hints that he was reluctant to admit Whitman’s influence because he was intimidated by him, as a son can be intimidated by an overbearing father.

In his 1909 essay “What I Feel About Walt Whitman,” Pound contrasts his distaste for Whitman with the idea that Whitman “is America… . He does ‘chant the crucial stage’ and he is the ‘voice triumphant.’” Pound is saying here that he has grown up and is over any previous dislike he had against Whitman.

Pound says that Whitman paved the way simply by finding this new poop wood and offering it to the world (Imagery as a new source of writing poems); now it is Pound's turn to craft the raw material into refined artistic masterpieces.

Thanks to Whitman, Pound is now free from the constraining rules of traditional poetry. He can use the “new wood” of poetic style that Whitman cut a path into—and carve it into something great.

Pound uses natural metaphors in the final lines of the poem like wood, sap, and roots, which are all parts of trees. It may also be representative of Whitman's "crudity," according to Pound; nature is crude, raw, and unpolished in its purest state, which is how Pound saw Whitman's writing. Meanwhile, Pound sees his role as carving/refining the raw wood.

Pound does, however, point out that in spite of Whitman’s respected poetic ability, he (Pound) plans to shape his own poetry to make his work more refined than that of Whitman. He plans to “carve” out a name for himself. He does not wish to lie in Whitman’s poetic shadow, but instead he will take Whitman’s inventive style and fashion it into a work that is all his own and perhaps superior to Whitman’s rustic works.

Pound metaphorically asks for there to be a relationship between he and Walt.

This is Pound's confrontation with Walt Whitman, which allows the poet to come to terms with a debt to his American pioneer, the father of free verse expressionism. Flaunting hatred of a self-limiting poet, Pound depicts himself as the irritable child of an stubborn father, but stops short of a meaningless tantrum. . From this "new wood" that Whitman exposed, Pound intends to carve the future of poetry, thus achieving a "commerce" between himself and his forerunner.

The poem is essentially a set of images that have unexpected likeness and convey a rare emotion that Pound was experiencing at that time. Arguably the heart of the poem is not the first line, nor the second, but the mental process that links the two together.

Setting:
The poem appears to be set in some kind of wooded subway in the springtime where there might be ghosts. The title locates the poem within the metro station, underground. Then, in the first line: an apparition! This is a word that usually hints at the supernatural, especially ghosts. I believe the metro station is supposed to suggest a journey to the Underworld, of the kind that occurs in classical epics like Homer’s The Odyssey.

Speaker:
Our speaker is Pound within himself. His secret is that he reads a lot of Asian spiritual poetry, which has given him an intense love for the rhythms of nature. Where you see a bunch of faces crammed in a station, he sees beautiful petals. He sees the reality behind the reality.

The word "apparition" is considered crucial as it implies both presence and absence – and thus transience as mentioned previously. It gives human life a spiritual, mystical significance, but one that we can never be sure of.

The word "Petals" gives ideas of delicate, feminine beauty which contrasts with the bleakness of the "wet, black bough".

The comparison between the human faces and the flower petals depends on making the second image seem very life-like. So Pound uses some intense natural imagery to describe the "wet, black bough" to which the petals are attached.

This image connects our sense of sight and touch, so the reader feels like they could reach out and pluck the faces out of the scene like a flower from a tree. He also uses some alliteration with "black" and "bough," as if the words on the page and the images in our head were to be hardened.