True Feelings in Billy Collins' Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes

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True Feelings in Billy Collins' Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes

Upon first look, Billy Collins “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” seems to be a wild fantasy for Emily Dickinson that he is entertaining. Upon closer examination, however, the poem reveals his subconscious desire to have sex with his mother and his frustration about his inability to do so, resulting in the displacement of his sexual desires onto Dickinson.

From the beginning, Collins is very detailed with his description. In fact he is quite anal retentive in explaining everything about the encounter. He starts from her outside clothing, “first, her tippet made of tulle” (1) and on through her mass of clothing until finally reaching her “corset” (41). Collins proclaims that the tippet is “easily lifted off her shoulders” (2), which lets people know that he is doing the work. Dickinson is simply standing there allowing him to touch and undress her. Perhaps this reflects that Collins is not often in control and never in control when it concerns his mother. He is probably constantly being told what to do, so it is very important that the reader realizes that he is in control of this situation. This may be why he projects Dickinson as immobile; he is simply projecting his inability to be in control onto Dickson.

Collins then turns towards her “bonnet, the bow undone with a light forward pull” (4-5). The way he pulls the bonnet with a “light” (5) pulls shows how he feels it necessary to go about this situation very carefully and gently. He is using Dickinson to hide his feelings for his mother, and if he does not tread lightly, he may be found out. It can be easily inferred who he does not want to know, namely his father becau...

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...laims that “Hope has feathers/ that reason is a plank/ that life is a loaded gun” (44-46). In essence he seems to be saying that while maybe how he feels is not right, that there is hope, and reason is such a narrow thing, and that life can blow up at anytime, so why bother with pretences. He seems to conclude that the definition between wrong and right can constitute a gray area, and in doing so redeems himself from the idea that lusting after his mother is immoral.

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.

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