In Billy Collins poem “Schoolsville”, a man is reminiscing in his memories of being a teacher. He creates an alternate world in his mind, where as he describes a town full of all his past students. The town itself shares characteristics of an actual school feel environment. At the end of the poem, Collins informs us that the speaker imagines himself to be the mayor of his town, and also that his students still “ appear in the windowpane to watch me lecture the wallpaper, quizzing the chandelier, and reprimanding the air” (Collins). Billy Collins used allusion in his poem to give the reader an ironic feel through aspects of its setting and also though its stereotypical comments addressed to his past students.
Allusion first helped describe the ironic aspects of the poem by focusing on the odd setting of the poem. Collins description of the speaker’s town shares many traits of a regular town, but also incorporates traits from a school environment. The following lines will help explain the setting and how it relates to a school environment. The first example of this is shown in lines four through six; “I can see it nestled in a paper landscape, chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard” (Collins). In these lines Collins describes the physical setting outside. Paper landscape is being compared to actual grass landscape outside. Chalk dust is white and powdery, as is fresh snow falling from the sky. And black boards are dark and cold, as are dark nights when the sun goes down. Chalk, paper, and black boards are all found in a school environment, and each one of these aspects help bring the setting to life in the readers mind. The reader can relate to what they are picturing as they continue reading the poem. Th...
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...ety. Thus, this irony helped strengthen the allusion of a town created around the idea of a school environment.
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.
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.
The speaker is posing herself as a Cree student in school who is being silently ostracized. The student hates the education system, as she thinks it is dull and tedious, and the teachers have no faith in her intellect. However, she does not stop at her frustration, as, in the poem we see a certain turn-around: she is sick of playing dead, and as a result, she makes a firm decision to push for change. In the poem “Communications Class,” Connie Fife shows through form and school imagery, the frustrating experience of ostracization in school, but also the resilience a student can exhibit against it.
“The first school I attended was a small building that went from first to sixth grade. There was one teacher for all of the students. There could be anywhere from 50 to 60 students of all different ages. From 5 or 6 years old to in their teens. We went to school five months out of the year. The rest of the time young people would be available to work on the farm. The parents had to buy whatever the student used. Often, if your family couldn't afford it, you had no access to books, pencils, whatever. However, often the children would share” (Interview with Parks).
From analyzing the text it’s obvious to the reader that the narrator is dissatisfied with where he’s at in life. The first stanza is an insight into the atmosphere of his high school, and the word choice and imagery play a role in depicting his disgruntled
The fluency of the first three groups of lines in a poem being an 'AABA' rhyming big plan/layout/dishonest plan and winter setting guesses (based on what's known) the hypnotic state of the speaker that has been caused by the woods. Frost shows a good example of the speakers want to escape responsibilities through the unbroken curve of rhythm in the second line as it shows/represents the flirty nature of the "farmhouse near" in the woods. It is through frost (existing as a perfect living example of something/creating a living representation of something) the horse through "my little horse must think it queer" which overshadows the unusual behaviour of the speaker as the speaker thinks things over carefully whether to enter the attractive woods- this is just like in Big World where winton uses the mother's (way of seeing things / sensible view of what is and is not important) to give/discuss something the reality of the (person telling the story)'s friendship with Biggie. The horse is also (existing as a perfect living example of something/created a living representation of something) as a symbol of warning to the speaker of the need to stay on task (even though there is the existence of) tempting other choices. However, the scary language such as 'darkest evening' brings across that the speaker is being
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.
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
A poem is usually developed by a certain method or a style that the poet uses to help the reader to understand the meaning of the poem. The poem Graded Paper written by the poet Mark Halliday, is about a teacher who is grading a student’s paper and giving feedback on it. In the poem the poet uses different techniques to support and develop the poem. In the poem, the teacher who is grading the paper uses special tone while grading the paper. The teacher is the poem uses a tone of caring and helpful to the student. Although, throughout the poem, the teacher gives negative comments to the student, at the end the teacher gives the student an A-. This is the irony that the poet uses in the poem. Another technique the author uses
These poems represent the idea of allusion by symbolizing the need for poetry. For example in sentence 9 of Introduction to Poetry he uses allusion to demonstrate there is a dream or accomplishment he wants to do with "his students". In sentences 16-19 of Trouble with poetry, he also uses allusion because it looks like he has an idea in mind and has plans set ahead.
In the first two lines of the poem the speaker established his or her tone, and justifies why poet 's write in such gloomy manner. The first two lines of the poem asks, "Isn 't the moon dark too, most of the time?" (line 1-2). This question prepares the readers to expect an argument to come from
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.
One of them is the dualism of night/day and dark/ light. Boyle uses the setting of the lake as a mean to express those two sides by the nighttime that symbolize the dark side of the boys and their mischievous behavior or those laconic adjectives “dark, rank, and mysterious” to express their state of mind then (50). However, he did the opposite by using a whole paragraph to describe the sunrise after the fatidic event. Mother Nature takes life for the first time in the story. "When the eastern half of the sky went from black to cobalt and the trees began to separate themselves from the shadows…” (54). This quote introduces a transition, a turning point in the life of our mischief narrator.
The setting of the poem is a day at the ocean with the family that goes terribly awry. This could be considered an example of irony, in that one would normally view a day at the beach as a happy and carefree time. In “Feared Drowned,” Olds paints a very different scenario, using dark imagery to create the setting: “…suit black as seaweed / Rocks sticks out near shore like heads.” The poem illuminates moments of intense fear, anxiety and the element of a foreseen sense of doom. Written as a direct, free-style verse using the first-person narrative, the poem opens with the narrator suspecting that her husband may have drowned. When Olds writes in her opening line: “Suddenly nobody knows where you are,” this signals to the reader that we are with the narrator as she makes this fearful discovery.
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.
Firstly, the title “The School “followed by a light beginning where the author mentions the planting of trees, being responsible and considerate gives readers an