Metaphors And Imagery In Billy Collins's 'Litany'

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There are few poets who have written such a subtly humorous work as Billy Collins has done in “Litany”. This poem won the achievement of being humorous due to the use of metaphors, imagery, and anaphora. Within Billy Collins “Litany”, metaphors, imagery, and anaphora are used to speak favorably about a female character in a subtly comical way. The strange metaphors and imagery when referring to the female character make every individual interpretation unique because the metaphors are not straight forward. The female character is being compared to strange household items, aspects of nature, and modes of transportation.
While metaphors are meant to be a comparison between two unlike things, Collins takes it to an entirely new level. The first few lines of the poem are “You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine”(Line 1-2). The narrator is saying here that a …show more content…

He successfully uses metaphors, imagery, and anaphora to aid the reader in understanding and interpreting the poem. The unique metaphors Collins uses are able to encourage the reader to question why he may have chosen them, but there is no real way of knowing. The reader is then left to determine what his or her own interpretation of why the female character within the poem is being referred to such objects, ideas, animals, and aspects of nature. Based on the metaphors being used, it can be interpreted that the female character is strongly independent. The imagery backs up these claims because it uses not only interpretation of words, but also interpretation of images. The best metaphor and imagery combination to support the idea that the female character is strongly independent and living actively is “you are not the boots in the corner nor the boat asleep in its boathouse”(Line 16-18). The use of the three literary devices, metaphors, imagery, and anaphora, allows the reader to form a better interpretation of

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