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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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
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.
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
Collins’ poems aren’t preachy or meant to teach a lesson; their purpose is to help readers be exposed to different ways of seeing things. Collins seems to go through life with his head slightly tilted; he finds amusement in both the ordinary
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 all poems the theme of Disappointment in love is seen throughout. Duffy focuses on the pain, despair and acrimony that love can bring, whereas Larkin focuses on the dissatisfaction before, during, and after a romantic relationship. Both Duffy and Larkin differ in tone. Duffy takes a more aggressive and dark stance to portray what love can do to a person after a disappointing love life. Duffy also uses this sinister and aggressive stance to try and convey sympathy for the persona from the audience in ‘Never Go Back’ and ‘Havisham’ Whereas Larkin conveys his discontent in love through his nonchalant and dismissive tone, but still concealing the pain that has been brought by love in ‘Wild Oats’ and ‘Talking in bed’.
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.
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.
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';.
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.
On the other side, “Love Poem” is very different from the previous poem. This seven stanza poem is based on a man describing the imperfections of his lover. In this, the speaker uses stylistic devices, such as alliteration and personification to impact more on reader, for example as the speaker shows “your lipstick ginning on our coat,”(17) ...
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
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.
Sir john Suckling’s poem “The Constant lover” was a poem written in order to grab a hold of the attention of the audience. It was written simply as amusement for the audience. In this poem, suckling’s intensions were to in a way, make fun of love. Unlike many people who take love as am extremely serious matter, Suckling seems to thing its funny, and as a joke. Suckling uses a series of diction, tone, and syntax to structure a poem about the funny concept of “love.”
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