Billy Collins, the speaker of Introduction to Poetry, attempts teach the readers by guiding on how to appropriate and analyze poetry. Collins use of personification and imagery, gives the readers a different perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it,” (Collins 13-14) but the reader should relate to their own personal experiences to the poem and what the author is conveying. Collins believes poetry should be studied in the right way else they lose their beauty.
The reader senses a change in the authors tone through the speaker’s dialogue as the poem progresses. The speaker begins
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with a friendly tone by requesting (I Ask) then gradually develops into a pleading inflection (But all they want to do). After Collins begins in a polite manner his tone quickly changes in the next stanza to firm tone (I Say). The speaker’s tone then turns to pleading with “I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem” (Collins 9-10). By first reading Introduction to Poetry, the reader feels the need to understand the deep meaning behind each stanza.
The speaker of Collin’s poem plays a roll of a teacher, ‘“I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide.” (Collins 1-2), attempting to persuade the students to interpret poetry in a new light. The speaker wants the readers to envision poetry as a color slide and to understand that he cannot see the full detail of the slide if it is not held into light. When thinking of this in a metaphorical way, the speaker is asking the reader to look at poetry and see all of its beauty and meaning. Also the speaker wants the readers to use their own mind to get the poems …show more content…
meaning. The sense motif continues into the next verse switching from visualization to hearing.
The speaker is asking the readers to press their ears against a hive, as if to hear the bee’s making honey. In the third verse paragraph, the speaker is telling the reader to visualize a mouse being placed into a maze, as if through placing themselves into a poem full of words. The speaker wants the reader to have their own interpretation of the poem, “I say drop a mouse into a poem, and watch him probe his way out,” (Collins 5-6). Like a maze the reader searches their way through poetry to find a meaning. Like a lab mouse, both mice and readers must undergo a trial and error process to truly find an understanding behind a piece of poetry. With this metaphor, Collins is pleading with the reader to have patience with poetry and not rush through it to find a meaning.
The fourth verse presents another idea for interpretation that requires trial and error. The speaker asks readers to walk inside poetry’s room and feel around in the darkness for a light switch. “Walk inside the poem's room, and feel the walls for a light switch.” (Collins 7-8). Most readers cannot or have difficulty finding this “light,” and are often discouraged by this. What Collins once again asks of the reader is patience, to search for the meaning. Collins encourages the reader not to give up but to continue their search for their own interpretation of the
poem. Collins goes on to describe this process as being an enjoyable experience. The fifth verse paragraph presents a metaphor in which Collins compares reading poetry to a fun activity. “To waterski across the surface of a poem, waving at the author’s name on the shore.” (Collins 9-11). He asks for readers to enjoy themselves while they uncover the meaning behind a piece of poetry. Collins advises readers to joyfully understand poetry, instead of torturing the meaning out of it cruelly. In the last two verses the speaker paints an image of how readers try to force a meaning out of poetry when they read it. “They begin beating it with a hose, to find out what it really means.” (Collins 15-16) Collins believe readers are disrespectful to poets’ efforts because readers do not treat poetry with the respect and enjoyment Collins believes it deserves. The reader feels the only solution to understanding poetry is “beating” and forcing an interpretation to fit the speaker’s needs. In result of beating and torturing poetry, readers lose the ability to think of their own insightful interpretations.
In both poems, Collins uses comparative imagery to create a visual representation of readers’ inability to comprehend the essence of literature. In “Marginalia,” Collins compares the readers and their annotations to “fans who cheer from the empty bleachers” (Lines 23-24), illustrating the fans are cheering because they are in the bleachers, not because there is anything to cheer for. Likewise, the “fans who cheer” represent the readers and their enthusiastic annotations towards what they are reading however, “the
Because many people who read this poem were once in a student’s role, they start to relate more and more as the poem continues. The speaker talks of “sweating the final” and “reading disorganized essays” (Lines 9 and 11). Much like any school-goer, the scenes depicted in this section of the work are humorous because almost everyone can relate to them. The speaker mentions “the boy who always had his hand up” (Line 14). Everyone has had the geeky poindexter know-it-all kid that sits in the front of the classroom, eager to answer all of the teacher’s questions. “While he seldom makes actual puns, his wit is of the punning kind: he makes idioms ridiculous through inflation, hyperbole, and repetition” (Kirsch). Kirsch also says that , “...part of Collins's talent is knowing when to stop”(Kirsch). Collins does not overdo his puns and witty remarks ,which could become quite cheesy to some readers, but he knows how to make them work. Through the use of humor, Collins brings a lightheartedness to the work that appeals to readers.“The poem also alternates between humor (jokes about teachers and students) and pathos (sad aspects of some students’ later lives or some teachers’ later lives)” (Prinsky). He even goes on to make a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. By using this analogy, Collins touches on the social crowd platform. He says, “The A’s stroll along with other A’s” and “The D’s honk
Allusion first helped describe the ironic aspects of the poem by focusing on the odd setting of the poem. Collins description of the speaker’s town shares many traits of a regular town, but also incorporates traits from a school environment. The following lines will help explain the setting and how it relates to a school environment. The first example of this is shown in lines four through six; “I can see it nestled in a paper landscape, chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard” (Collins). In these lines Collins describes the physical setting outside. Paper landscape is being compared to actual grass landscape outside. Chalk dust is white and powdery, as is fresh snow falling from the sky. And black boards are dark and cold, as are dark nights when the sun goes down. Chalk, paper, and black boards are all found in a school environment, and each one of these aspects help bring the setting to life in the readers mind. The reader can relate to what they are picturing as they continue reading the poem. Th...
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
On the other hand, in the opening of Introduction to Poetry, Collins begins with a sign of hope but instead fades away with a frustrated tone. Behind his words, he is possibly hinting a favor of kindness towards his students, taking time out of his day to lecture them about something he truly cares for. Or he could just be trying to change students' perspective towards poems. He wishes for all students to appreciate and experience the poem as well as hoping for them to seek in deep and find a message, like stated in lines 7-8 "walk inside a poem.. feel the
The popular American Poet, Billy Collins, is playing a significant role in the evolution of poetry. His writing style evokes an array of emotions for the reader. Every stanza in his poetry passes the satirical standard that he generated for himself over his career. Collins swiftly captivates his readers through his diverse use of figurative language. More specifically, his use of vivid imagery paired with humorous personification and extended metaphors create his unique style of satirical poetry. This developed form of writing appeals to a large crowd of people because the generally accessible topics that he discusses are fairly easy to resonate for the common man. However, his poetry offers an interesting perspective on what otherwise would be simplistic ideas. The main themes and concepts that are being presented in each of his writings are revered and coveted by the general population. An appealing aspect of his writing is his ability to directly convey the main idea within the poem. As a result, the reader can understand the meaning of his work with ease. The typical beginning of his work gives the reader a slight taste of what is to come. Billy Collins’ unique writing style and various trademarks directly influenced by his ability to propagate an array of emotions for the reader, his humorous tone, and the accessibility of the topics he describes within his poetry.
Billy Collins has used a specific metaphor, simile, rhyme and personification in his poem ‘Introduction to poetry’ in order to show how one should better understand a poem. This poem focused on what the poem actually mean and how a poem should be clearly understood. Throughout the poem, Billy Collins has presented a clear way of understanding the poem by using a very interesting imagery, symbolism, metaphor and a very sensitive sound. The words used in this poem are so powerful that the readers are convinced to think about the issue presented in the poem.
feel truly, what the poet is trying to make me feel as if I was
Each poem is both a system and a pattern of events in which neither of these aspects is wholly consistent. Many of the lyrics deliberately and often outrageously play with literary conventions or sources and by doing so; reflect an aspiring poet's intellect to an equally sophisticated audience. A concern is that of playful exaggeration and shrinking that exposes a clear pattern of perception of social values. (Hannaford) The need to expand and reduce ideas as well as objects is a mode of poetic activity that can offer a vision of self as limited, excising in opposition to larger, external forces, and social perceptions.
Henley establishes the sense of suffering that the speaker is experiencing through the use of multiple literary devices. By beginning the poem with images of darkness and despair, Henley sets the tone for
Cook uses an array of musical terms in order to establish this connection, like “notes of ink”, “concert of phrases” and “written key signature”. The contrast between the ideas of writing and music is what creates the overall metaphor. The juxtaposition of two very different senses, sight and hearing, are what make the metaphor effective. This is something new to the reader, and causes he or she to consider what it might be like to actually visualize music. This is different, however, from a physical score or printed sheet music. Cook states that “notes of ink resonate through the / lines and curves of script”(Cook 4-5) as though the sound itself can be captured onto paper. The parallelism and cataloguing of musical and literary terms help the reader imagine how deaf people may experience music. This is evident in the listing in the second stanza: “…sharps, flats, and naturals become / nouns, verbs, and adjectives…”(Cook 14-15). Of course, it isn’t very easy to translate the sensation of listening to music onto paper, however in this case poetry is supposed to take the place of music, and should provide a similar sensation to the reader. Writing is something that can easily be shared across all mediums – whether it is read aloud or silently, poetry is something that can be enjoyed
This change in tone echoes the emotions and mental state of the narrator. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator starts somewhat nervous. However, at the end, he is left insane and delusional. When he hears a knocking at the door, he logically pieces that it is most likely a visitor at the door.
Poetry is a way of expressing ones thoughts, morals, feelings and ideas through the use of minimum words. Some peoples only escape is through their poetry and that is where Emily Dickenson poems come into analysis. Many authors like Emily Dickenson use their poetry to express everything from love to hate in which they feel. Emily Dickenson’s wrote three poems How Happy is The Little Stone, I Like a Look of Agony, and I Measure Every Grief I Meet which will be analyze today. Throughout her poetry especially in these three poems Emily Dickenson used many different elements of poetry to express her thoughts. The two elements of poetry that will be mention in this essay are imagery, theme, and symbolism.
... It is clear to poets that the poem is nothing without the readers interpretation and with the perfect combination of words the poem is brought to life.
..., that make it a quality piece of literature include the nature of its mostly free verse, the descriptive and visual imagery, and the slant rhymes found through the poem. With the stanza, “It hurt, putting them down, sill with the ghost of your hands on my skin,” the reader can visualize the love filled caress the speaker longs for, and how empty they feel now that their lover is gone. With the inadvertent description of the color red, “...finding treasure troves of rubies beneath,” the visual imagery is that much stronger, describing the struggles of the speaker offhandedly to the reader; in allowing their own interpretation, the reader can give their own interpretation, and could possibly finding themselves relating in a greater manner to the speaker and the poem. This leads the poem to be considered a quality piece of literature, that fits well in this anthology.