Poetry Closed Reading Assignment For this assignment, I have decided to write about a famous poem of Billy Collins which is titled as ‘Introduction to Poetry’ written in 1996. 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. Overall, it expresses the love and affection of Collin about this poem. This poem is basically looked at, or listened to, and the rodent tested. Such imagery used in poem supports the central ideas of Collin in poem, that the reading poetry must be, just like a good exploration, a discovery act. The poem has a very conversational effect and scholastic feel in it. First stanza directly linked to the second stanza while the third and fourth stanza of this poem has distinct thoughts in them. Similarly, the six stanzas come in a follow-up way but the mood actually changed in the last two stanzas of the poem. In short, Collin has written this poem in a very special and artistic way which really changes other’s minds about how to better understand a poem by knowing its actual meaning. “Billy Collins' “Introduction to Poetry” isn’t an ars poetica poem about writing poetry, but about reading poetry. The speaker is a teacher who tells his students that they should experience a poem, rather than dissect it. The f... ... middle of paper ... ... him due to our own biases. Instead, we should contribute more time and effort to observe carefully before judging someone. Moreover, it also applies to the secondary school’s education system that students only learn through repeatedly memorizing by heart, without thorough understanding. In fact, this poem sheds some light on how we see things; thus, interpret things, introducing the importance of experience.” (Yau) In other words, the words used by the poet are very powerful to give a vivid imagery of the poem to the readers which persuade them for the deep interpretation of this poem. References: Genius Media Group Inc. "Billy Collins – Introduction to Poetry." 2014. . Shmoop University, Inc. "Introduction to Poetry Setting." 2014. . Yau, Mei Lei. "Poetry Analysis on Introduction to Poetry." 24 February 2010.
The name of this piece of literature itself is able to help its reader gain insight into the meaning behind this work without the reader having to begin digging into the work. This helps to draw the reader into the work with anticipation. Dana Gioia alludes to the point that although the amount of poetry enthusiasts has greatly increased over time, the art of poetry has slowly been lost within the midst of the average citizen. Gioia urges poets to pursue a more passionate advertisement towards the rewarding benefits in regards to poetry. The passion that Gioia conveys towards this topic also helps draw the reader into his piece due to the fact that the reader can easily conclude how influential poetry can be within ones’ life.
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
The speakers and audience in poem are crucial elements of the poem and is also the case in these poems. In the poem Untitled, it can be argued that the poem is being written by Peter based on what his father might say to him...
The elements in the poem work very well together to help set the theme of this poem. The tone set the overall mood of the poem, so show that it was rushed but not in a chaotic way. The imagery helps to show us little details of the setting, which are very helpful. And finally, the figures of speech, help the reader to compare the scene to things they have experienced in their lifetime to fully understand the poem.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
Poetry is a way we express our emotions in a unique way today. Galway Kinnell was a great American poet. His writings are unique because they seem to shift to different subjects throughout the lines. The poems “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps” and “Blackberry Eating” are good examples of this. There are many devices used in both poems that help the reader analyze this writer’s message and what his intentions with the poems were. Galway Kinnell’s two poems, “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps” and “Blackberry Eating” can be compared through the devices theme, and tone.
New Criticism attracts many readers to its methodologies by enticing them with clearly laid out steps to follow in order to criticize any work of literature. It dismisses the use of all outside sources, asserting that the only way to truly analyze a poem efficiently is to focus purely on the words in the poem. For this interpretation I followed all the steps necessary in order to properly analyze the poem. I came to a consensus on both the tension, and the resolving of it.
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.
“I look to poetry, with its built-in capacity for compressed and multivalent language, as a place where many senses can be made of the world. If this is true, and I’ve built a life around the notion that it is, poetry can get us closer to reality in all its fluidity and complexity.”
Poetry by William King, Martyn Lowery, Andrew Marvell, Liz Lochhead, John Cooper Clarke and Elizabeth Jennings
Both forms of these poems, history and storytelling have a certain degree of fluidity to help determine the meaning from the speaker to the reader. The compositions of these poems show that the poets, Owen and Brooks, did not write for an audience, but rather for an absent reader, by using more imagery and sound elements. But, thanks to the introduction of electronic media, the seven poetic elements are now easier to be “seen” and heard. This allows for the reader or listener to reach the full potential of the poem. Through listening the speaker’s tone, witnessing the time period, hearing the diction, speech and sound elements, the true meaning of the poem is painted for the audience.
Ellmann, Richard and O'Clair, Robert, ed. The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, Second Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988.
I found that throughout this poem there was much symbolism within it. Identifying that it was written in first person form showed that this poem relates to the author on a personal basis, and that it was probably written to symbolize his life. But when talking about people’s lives, you can conclude that people’s lives are generally and individually very diffe...
Poetry is not facile subject to understand. Poetry is an art form that can be interpreted various ways. The meaning of each text of poetry relies on the readers, and the author 's emotional state of mind. When poetry is being read, it is not being read for fluency. These reading are to be analyzed and interpreted through an individual’s sight, intellection and sound. According to Louis Zokofsky, “ The test of poetry is the range of pleasure it affords at sight, sound, and intellectual. This is its purpose as art”. These three elements that are being presented by Zokofsky tailor the emotional feelings of pleasure. This settles the understanding of poetic art form.
Poetry is a true literary art form that uncovers the hidden beauty of the world through its word’s. Poems are strong pieces of literature that unveil a deeper meaning using various literary devices throughout. Therefore, all humans need poetry as it is a living image that endlessly inspires the importance of change in society. Moreover, in silence, poetry is able to connect with people on any subject for it contains all the wisdom of the world. Furthermore, poetry pours out raw emotion and truth though the use of metaphors, allusions and many more devices, which shed light on the value of life. In “Constantly Risking Absurdity” a poem written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the speaker explains the devotion that a poet