Poetry is not just words formed into a line and a stanza; each poem is an opportunity to “dance” with the poet to his or her significant song. “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins is a reflection on how readers should read poetry. This poem is about how readers should take the time to understand and explore poetry. In addition, Billy Collins, also, states that readers should not torture poems and ignore the significance each stanza represents, but dissect, enjoy, and appreciate the journey they will take while reading poetry. “Introduction to Poetry” is a guide to readers in how to take more time enjoying poetry and learning to understand the experiences poems portray.
Billy Collins makes an observation that readers should not just read poems, but see them from a different angle and hear their meanings. Collins wants the reader to contemplate the meaning of every detail and carefully understand the interpretation as if it were a color slide. For example, Collins states in the first stanza, “I ask them to take a poem / and hold it up to the light / like a color slide” (1-3). This simile claims that the speaker wants his readers to see the poem in a distinct way, such as picturing and enjoying the beauty of the imagery poetry can reveal. However, Collins indicates that he does not want the reader to observe the poem closely, but listen to what the poem says. In the last line of the first stanza, he states, “or press an ear against its hive” (4). This metaphor reveals an auditory imagery because he compares the poem to a beehive. In addition, alliteration is revealed by the repetitive ‘s’ sound in the words ‘press’, ‘against’ and ‘its’ because they carry a buzzing sound when they are pronounced. The beehive is a representati...
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...ing it with a hose / to find out what it really means” (15-16). The stanza reveals how some readers desperately try to make something make sense in poetry, instead of listening and enjoying the distinctive meanings each poem portrays whether it is significant or not. The title, “Introduction to Poetry,” is a representation of a lesson that Billy Collins presented in the poem, attempting to teach his readers how to, not only read poetry, but enjoy it as well. He wants his readers to begin to explore, dissect, and have an adventure with poetry because a poem is meant to be read with enjoyment and to engross his readers into many poetic journeys poetry continues to divulge.
Works Cited
Collins, Billy. "Introduction to Poetry." Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto and William E. Cain. 10th ed. New York: Pearson, 2014. 203-204. Print.
Poetry is something that is to be read delicately and cautiously if one wanted to find meaning through the words. Readers have to be gentle and patiently ponder about what they are reading in order to find any significance in the poem. If someone is not patient with reading, they will not feel impacted by poetry and will not want to read it. In Billy Collins’, “Introduction to Poetry,” he uses figurative language to help readers see that the way to enjoy and understand poetry is by reading between the lines and being patient with how each individual relates to the readings.
The fear of reading literature and not being able to comprehend the ideas presented forces readers to create a deeper meaning through annotations, as expressed through Billy Collins’ use of comparative imagery and aggressive diction in “Marginalia” and “Introduction to Poetry.” Collins’ choice to
...r’.” Poetry for students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 43 Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?>.
“I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive…” (3); so begins a poem titled “Introduction To Poetry” by Billy Collins. “Introduction To Poetry” is, in fact, the introduction to a collection of poetry called Poetry 180, a program started by Collins during his time as poet laureate for the United States. The aim of this program is to get people, especially teenagers, interested in or reconnected with poetry. Collins selected an assortment of poems that are just fun to read and not meant to be discussed; he says in the forward to the collection, “High school is the focus of my program because all too often it is the place where poetry goes to die” (xvii). Collins was honored with the title of poet laureate in 2001 because of his own outstanding poetry. Billy Collins is considered by some to be the greatest American poet since Robert Frost because he connects with his readers, he makes the mysterious ordinary, and he portrays the ordinary as mysterious.
Throughout his poetry, Collins demonstrates, in a witty and satirical voice, his insightfulness towards the objects, using numerous poetic devices, especially allusions and metaphors to effectively convey his messages, most of which revolves around the theme of death. Humor and irony are unique combinations Collins displays in many of his poems, challenging the readers to interpret his work from different perspectives. In “Introduction to Poetry,” Collins offers a witty comparison between the definition of poetry and various other experiments. He asks the reader to “hold [the poem] up to the light/ like a color slide” (1-3), “press an ear against its hive” (4), “drop a mouse into a poem” (5), “walk inside the poem's room” (7), and “waterski across the surface of a poem” (9-10). Rather than stiffly explaining the definition of a poem, he finds creative and humorous approaches to explain his methods of enjoying the poems, and promote the readers’ interest towards discovering the true meaning of poetry.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
Barnet, Sylvan, William Burto, and William E. Cain. Literature for Composition. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print
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
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
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.
Poetry is a creative art form that allows a critical thinking connection between the creator and the audience of each poem. The reader must think critically and in depth about the subject matter and meaning of what each poet is presenting with their body of work. On the other hand, the poet must be able to present their body of work with a unique writing style that encodes a deeper message than what appears on the surface. Most would say that poetry is read for its witty internal messages, but the reader must be able to accurately decipher the message the poet is presenting to fully understand the poet’s allusions. I believe that all poetry is inspired by memorable life events that have been experienced by an individual whether good or bad. If this is true, then much of the subject matter and meaning of poetry can be deciphered by identifying the key elements in each poem such as tones, moods, similes, metaphors, writing styles, and most importantly knowing the facts of the creator’s personal life experiences. In this essay, I will use the identifying techniques listed above to decipher the poem, “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost, to determine if Mr. Frost’s personal experiences with
Mays, Kelly. "Poems for Further Study." Norton Introduction to Literature. Eleventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 2013. 771-772. Print.
Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001. 123-154.
Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001.
This poem is full of visual imagery; one can imagine being the speaker, staring at the fish on the hook. The fish’s brown skin, shapes on his scales, the tiny white sea-lice, the green weed, the blood flowing from his gills, his entrails, and his pink bladder all describing the fish’s body. This allows the reader to imagine as if the fish was in their hands. She not only illustrates the fish as a whole but also ge...