Billy Collins’ love poem “Litany” is actually a critique of love poems disguised as one. This free verse poem is made up of metaphor and imagery that help relate to the tone. Collins likes to play with language and is known for his warmth and humour. He likes to experiment with form, themes and literary devices which is how he manages to poke fun at love poems.
Collins draws numerous comparisons between objects, the speaker, and the speaker’s lover. For instance, the speakers lover is being compared to bread, a crystal goblet, dew on the morning grass and a white apron of a baker. “You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine”. From this quote the speaker might be comparing his lover to bread because she is nourishing or
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to the crystal goblet because she is special to the speaker. We can see how the metaphors are used to emphasize attributes of the writer’s subject by making comparisons. The objects used for comparison depict vivid images in the reader’s mind. Collins directly mocks imagery so the poem evokes a litany of images. “…speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world, that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star…”. Collins actually addresses imagery in love poems in general such as the rain on a rooftop, a shooting star, a basket of chestnuts. Therefore he goes on to describe a litany of images which are usually associated with love poems that he deems exaggerated.
The tone of Collins’ poem is very tongue-in-cheek which is revealed through his word choice and exaggerated use of poetic devices (imagery and metaphors). “But don't worry, I am not the bread and the knife. You are still the bread and the knife. You will always be the bread and the knife, not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine”. The exaggerated and unusual comparisons show that he is gently poking fun at love poetry and poetic devices used. This thought is how he chooses to conclude the poem which in turn finalises his theme.
Overall, the poem appears to be about the speaker’s admiration for his lover, but it’s really just a mean for Collins to poke fun at poetic devices used in love poetry. There is parallelism but no rhyme or meter in the poem “Litany”. The term litany is actually used for long lists, usually with a negative meaning like a list of complaints or problems. This being said, Collins is making a list of poetic devices like imagery and metaphor to describe help emphasize the tongue-in-cheek tone of his “love
poem”.
Many modern poets, including Billy Collins write in free verse. Richard Howard was quoted singing Collins’s praises about his verse. Howard said, “He has a remarkably American voice…that one recognizes immediately as being of the moment and yet has real validity besides, reaching very far into what verse can do”(“Billy Collins”). His poems often “reject any regular meter or rhyme, though it still incorporates rhythmical and sound effects that help convey a poem’s meaning” (Prinsky). Because the poem flows quickly, it is very easy to understand and interpret. If it were written with a certain rhyme scheme, the ideas that Collins portrayed would sound choppy and hard to infer. All of the points proved before work together to shape the overall meaning of the work. The author wrote this poem not only to provide readers with a relatable experience presented in an unorthodox way, but he also wrote it to show that even though one part of life is in the past, revisiting moments can bring happiness and be very beneficial. Towards the end of the poem when speaking about the present and how students still stop by to visit him and “turn in late papers”, he says that they”....[ask] a question about Yeats or double spacing” (Line 34). This line stands out because it shows that no matter the time frame, revisiting the past can help and not always harm. This meaning can relate to many things,
Things like imagery, metaphor, and diction allow poetry to have the effect on the reader that the poet desires. Without these complex and abstract methods, poetry would not be the art form that it is. In Alan Dugan’s poem “Love Song: I and Thou”, he uses extended metaphor and line breaks to create tone and meaning in this chaotic piece.
the surface structure of these poems appears simplistic, but subtle changes in tone or gesture move the reader from the mundane to the sublime. In an attempt to sleep, the speaker in "Insomnia" moves from counting sheep to envisioning Noah's arc to picturing "all the fish in creation/ leaping a fence in a field of water,/ one colorful species after another." Collins will tackle any topic: his subject matter varies from snow days to Aristotle to forgetfulness. Collins relies heavily on imagery, which becomes the cornerstone of the entire volume, and his range of diction brings such a polish to these poems
While on the surface Collins seems to want Emily Dickinson, with a close reading it becomes clear that he is actually obsessed with his mother. His displacement shows how he at least tries to hide is incestuous desires, while his anal retentiveness shows his wish to be in control. The indications that run throughout the poem reveal Collins’ true feelings, and his inability to hide them.
In Conclusion, Billy Collins use of irony in both the setting and the description of the stereotypical students helped strengthen the allusion of the poem. The students in the poem are in an eternal school lifestyle as opposed to being in a normal town environment. Aspects of the setting, such as the landscape being made out of paper and the night sky being compared to a blackboard painted a descriptive picture in the mind of the reader, making the allusion more believable and relatable. Also, the use of stereotypes in this poem added on to the allusion of the school environment, giving life to the society in the town created by Collins. At first, the poem may seem like only an allusion, but with a closer look, you can see the reality behind it all.
In this poem Larkin uses a nonchalant tone to talk about his disappointing love life. Firstly the way he describes the women shows he only focuses on approaches rather than the person themselves- “a bosomy English rose/and her friend in specs I could talk to”. The fact that the persona used a separate line after the latter line to describe “her friend in specs” shows that the persona sees the friend in specs as inferior based on her appearance. This is because the noun “specs” has connotations of someone less attractive, especially when compared to a “bosomy English rose”. However this nonchalant tone changes later on in the poem. The persona shows emotion in the fact that he “gave a ten Guinea ring” to the “friend in specs”who left him. The fact that the persona only focuses on the material aspects of love shows how love has disappointed him. This also shows that his love life has been an annoyance to him, in the fact that he had to give something up (in this case a “ten Guinea ring”) to get something in return that he was displeased with. Consequently, the persona has actually revealed his feeling towards a disappointing love life, even though the persona did not really want to unveil the idea that love has affected him in any
Collins uses metaphors to teach the audience that with patience, poetry can be understanded easily. For instance, he tells the audience to “walk inside the poem’s
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.
Poets often times share their opinions through their poems. It is not always easily understood. Poets use metaphors, similes, and play with their words to show how they feel about a certain situation. In “Sex without Love” by Sharon Olds, a lot of this comes into play.
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.
In “A Decade,'; a poem by Amy Lowell, the reader is shown how a lover’s attitude can go from infatuation at first to just predictability and love. In this poem Lowell uses imagery and similes to elaborate on the feelings of the speaker towards his/her lover. In the beginning of the relationship the speaker is infatuated with the lover, and Lowell expresses this infatuation through the use of a simile in line one when comparing the lover to “red wine and honey';. As the relationship goes on deeper into the decade a comparison between the lover and “morning bread'; is made in line three, showing the reader that instead of being like “red wine and honey'; in the beginning, which burnt the speaker’s mouth with sweetness, now the lover is perceived as being “smooth and pleasant';.
These poems often ramble on about the girl that the speaker is seemingly always in love with. His poems on love can either be very lighthearted. For example, in the poem “Static Electricity”, Hilborn talks about his feelings for a girl through saying that his mind wants him to tell her silly things just by being with her. He goes on the talk about what kissing her is like and just how much he enjoys it. The pure silliness of his comparisons are the main point of the poem. He describes her kisses as being shot in the chest by hummingbirds coming out of a gun made out of hummingbirds; that when their lips meet the “cartoon devil and angel on my shoulders’/climb into my ears/and lick all my neurons”( lines 27-30). These comparisons create a light heartedness that might come with new love. In his poems where he has lost of is losing love, however,the tone that he takes is much different. In those, it is more often than not that the girl leaves the speaker, leaving him heartbroken and lonely. In his poem, “Future Tense”, Hilborn takes just this attitude when right at the very beginning he comes out with ,”And when your fourth love leaves you/You will want to kill yourself, but you won't/Because you no longer think of suicide/As a house you will build on day./Your fourth love, who is your first real love,/Who brought you peace when your whole body was a gun./When she leaves you, ask your roommate to hide the
A poem is a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both speech and song that is nearly always rhythmical, and usually metaphorical. More often than not poems are written about love. Authors talk deeply about love gone wrong, advice when in love, and the over powering feeling and emotions of being in love. Love is magical, when to people bond physically, mentally, and emotionally, giving all that you are to someone for them to appreciate and love all your flaws and imperfections, that’s beautiful. The poem A Valediciton: Forbidding Mourning written by John Donne is another mind blowing love poem. Linden stated, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning is a metaphysical poem by John Donne. Written for his wife Anne before he left on a trip
The initial conventional tone of the poem describing the certainty in the star’s life mimics the generalized societal standard for an accomplished woman that Darcy is expected to marry; however, the tone promptly becomes contemplative as an understanding that the general ideal may be faulty arises. Furthermore, Pride and Prejudice and Bright Star both take on a disapproving tone when reflecting on the dreariness of life if one solely follows logic. Notably, both literary works end in a self-consciousness about how logic must always surrender to love as the admiring tone of both men express the power passion has over one’s mind. Although both pieces of literature are works of fiction, they undoubtedly highlight a real rivalry between the decisions to follow their heart or what they have been taught all their lives. These seemingly fictional stories are perspectives on reality that emulate the hardships when opposing traditionally concrete ideologies.
In this poem Suckling uses a formal type of diction, it isn’t a formal written poem, it is casual and somewhat conversational. As mentioned before, suckling is making this a teasing poem, mocking the idea of love, and carpe diem. Although it is conversational, Suckling doesn’t out use to any “flowery” words, the poem is mostly plain text, although humorous, for example “Out upon it, I have lov’d Three whole days together” there is no seemingly emotional words, but there is some irony put into this one sentence, he is mocking this man who has only been “in love” for three whole days. The text used by suckling, is not really concise and to the point, the reader must analyze and read into depth of what suckling is saying in order to realize what is going on, but for the most