INTRODUCTION TO POETRY BY BILLY COLLINS Wendy Hwang

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY BY BILLY COLLINS Wendy Hwang & Kaitlin Walashek

Imagery and Figurative Language ◦ Simile: “I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide. ” Comparing poem to a colour slide. ◦ Metaphor: “walk inside the poem’s room and feel the walls for a light switch. ” Comparing the poem to a dark room. ◦ Metaphor: “I want them to water-ski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore. ” Comparing poem to an ocean by saying ”on the shore” and “water-ski”. ◦ Metaphor: “or press an ear against its hive. ” Comparing poem to a beehive. ◦ Personification: “But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. ” A poem can’t confess like a human. ◦ The overall effect of this poem is bitter, disappointed and discouraged, The author is unimpressed with how people treat poetry.

Tone and Attitude ◦ He chose “Probe” “hive” “shore” to show the deep meanings of poems and describing the poem as an ocean. “beating” “torture” to show people only look for the meaning of words and people are indifferent about the deeper meanings and the authors intension. ◦ In the first 5 stanzas, the tone is hopeful and courageous, in the last 2 stanzas, the tone is angry and frustrated. The overall poem is serious and bitter. ◦ The poet uses these tones to make the reader feel regretful and let the reader be thoughtful with poems. ◦ Connotation- Wry, disappointed, hurt and depressed. ◦ Denotation- wry means unimpressed, Depressed means sad and unhappy.

Style ◦ It is a poem on poems ◦ Free Verse, Lyric , ◦ 7 stanzas ◦ No rhymes or rhyme schemes ◦ Line grouping is 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2. ◦ Internal rhyme in “light” “slide” “hive”. ◦ Also in “rope” and “hose”. ◦ They are concrete words with abstract meanings.

Interpretation ◦ The author is trying to say when reading poems, look for the deeper meanings behind it and understand the feelings and emotions that the poet is expressing. ◦ The poem is for the readers of poetry who only cares about finding the meaning when there are so much more to it. ◦ The narrator is the author of the poem, Billy Collins. ◦ Some people think they understood the poem because they found out what the words meant, but they don’t actually know what the poet is trying to say and the deeper message behind it. ◦ We can also relate to this poem because in the poem itself, we found the meaning as well as the other messages. And the word choices express something deeper than the definition. ◦ The message is to inform readers to look closer into the poem, and understand the emotions. ◦ The author succeeded in expressing his feelings in words.