Poem Analysis: Introduction To Poetry By Billy Collins

What I believe Billy Collins in his poem “Introduction to Poetry” is how he believes poetry should be read. It teaches the reader how to go into a poem, in the form of a poem. What really stood out to me is how there is a lot of excellent use of literary devices to help create imagery for the reader to help grasp Collins’ message. On line 3, Collins uses a simile: “like a color slide” saying that the reader must look through the color slide (the poem) in order to focus in and search for the picture (the message). After this, Collins provides three metaphors to illustrate his message. In one of these three metaphors, he says “I want them to waterski across the surface of the poem waving at the author’s name on the shore.” Like the other two

Every now and then readers come across a poem, of course there’s certain things to help make that poem a good one. Some may say that Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry” is a fantastic poem, while some may not like it at all. So, let’s find out why some think it’s a fantastic poem. While Collins brings meaning to the poem “introduction to Poetry” through the use of form, tone, rhythm, and irony.

The fact that enjambment is used throughout the poem such as in the lines, “like a colour slide or press an ear against its hive” portrays a lack of structure and therefore emphasizes the initial enjoyment one feels when reading a poem before the chore of analyzing it begins. This is also emphasized through the fact that the poem is a free verse poem.

The speaker wants the readers, who take up the roll of students of the poem, to envision poetry as a color slide. The speaker wishes the reader to understand that he cannot see the full detail of the slide if it is not held into light. When thinking of this in a metaphorical way, the speaker is asking the reader to examine poetry and see all of its beauty and self-interpreted meaning. Most readers tend to base their interpretation on methods they have been taught, but what the speaker wants the reader to do is to use their own mind to illuminate the poems meaning, much how you use you’re to eyes to decipher visual imagery. The sense motif continues into the next verse switching from visualization to hearing.

This poem takes a simple subject and adds a very interesting perspective to the way we look at it. Even the name is unusual “Introduction to Poetry” it sounds like a chapter in one of our literary books. We get this classroom feeling from the title all the way to the last stanza it sounds like a teacher speaking to another teacher, telling them how their poetry lesson went. This poem takes into account how linear people can be when it comes to poetry usually they don’t care for the detail they just want the meaning of the poem and be done with it. But poetry is meant to be experienced and along the way we may find a meaning to the poet’s words.

The poem Introduction to Poetry is one of Collins most famous works of literature. The poem begins with Collins using similes such as “I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a

The poetry of Billy Collins is almost always prose poetry. This most certainly is a factor in his popularity, as it is more accessible than more formal and/or esoteric forms of poetry. Unlike traditionally utilized forms of poetic speech, Collin’s use of prose allows the meaning of what he’s saying to be very direct and clear, and the stories themselves to be the main focus of the poems. The stories Collins tells are usually filled with humor and warmth that create an immediate familiarity between the author and reader. His poetry shows his experience of the world in a way that paints even the most mundane of subjects extraordinary. Domesticity and routine are bathed in a warm glow of playfulness and gratitude. Even poems expressing irritation or anger conclude with a humorous denouement. This ability to defamiliarize commonplace subjects is the crux of Collin’s talent. The defamiliarization of ordinary life, written in prose poetic form, is what makes his poetry both accessible and exceptional.

Repetition is an important element of both “Introduction to Poetry” and “The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently”, because it deepens the reader’s understanding of the poems’ messages. In the poem “Introduction to Poetry”, Collins repeats the first-person declarative phrase “I ask…”, “I say...”, and “I want...” (Collins 1, 5, 9) three times, establishing a norm throughout the poem so that the reader can focus on the juxtaposition of how Collins wants his readers to interact with poetry and how these readers instead want to squeeze every drop of meaning from the poem. For example, the first instance Collins writes “I ask them to...” (Collins 1), he is setting a foundation that will be built upon throughout the rest of the poem. Collins establishes

It reads “or press an ear against its hive” Collins is telling the reader to see what all the buzz is about in poetry and read it. Like a bees hive there is a lot going on in poems. Bees work like the reader does to understand every part at hand. Collins wants readers to just listen to poetry and not over analyze. Stanza three represents touch and a scientist point of view.

"Introduction to poetry" and "The Trouble with poetry " In both "introduction to poetry" and "the trouble to poetry" Collins expresses the joy and chances we take in poetry. In "introduction to poetry" Billy Collins expresses while reading poems to never over analyze. The writer uses literary devices like imagery for the reader to clearly see what Collins is writing " to water ski across the poem" implying Collins wants us (the reader) to understand and find joy out of the poem .

The poems, "Introduction to Poetry" and "The Trouble with Poetry" by Billy Collins, both share the concept of experiencing the depth of what poetry honestly is through the usage of metaphors and imagery. However, both poems vary due to "Introduction to Poetry" gives a simpler way to convey a poem and "The Trouble with Poetry" gives a more into depth poem to show how poems are original from one another but, hidden meanings within a poem are still essential which is the speakers overall key point. Most often students will go through a poem and feel as if they discovered the depth of the poem after only reading it once. For most cases it's true, students do assume they found the underlying of a poem after one trial read but, in all reality it's not all crystal clear.

Which means that his students should not read a poem in the darkness, or he/she will not be able to understand. According to Collins, a student must hold a poem up to the light to see its true colors. Once you have found its true colors, you have found the intentions of the poem and its meaning. Therefore, “Introduction to Poetry” is written to define a struggle many English instructors face when it comes to instructing poetry, because he states how he asks them to read a poem. “Introduction to Poetry,” Collins defines a struggle many English instructors experience with their students, by describing how he wants his students to read poetry.

“Introduction to Poetry” People must open their eyes and ears to understand the meaning of this poem. Keep an open mind when trying to understand the significance of this piece of writing. This is what the poem is about; the writer is trying to tell the reader that reading a poem one time isn’t going to be enough to understand it. The reader has to read it a couple of times and pause in some spots to understand what he has just read and evaluate it.

The poem “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins, is about a teacher explaining to her students how to read and analyze poetry. Collins employs an abundance of figurative language, especially metaphors and images, to express the progressive steps taken to understand a poem for all that it encompasses. When beginning to read a poem, first we must look at the bigger picture, like we are working from the outside of the poem to the inside. Once we begin to understand the storyline, we must dive further into the poem, and analyze the types of words being used.. We further investigate by putting ourselves in the poem. Then, after having looked at the poem from the inside, we must reread it to realign with the big picture. By using metaphors, imagery, and syntax, Collins demonstrates how to analyze a poem. In an “Introduction to Poetry,” the teacher instructs the students to interpret the poem through close reading, showing them how to draw conclusions about the main idea. However, the poem is too complex and too difficult for the students to comprehend reading.

The poem “Introduction To Poetry,” by Billy Collins the speaker tells the audience how they should read and analyze a poem to really understand it. He tells the audience to look more carefully and not just look into the surface of the poem. Sometimes the reader over analyzes the poem and gets the wrong idea and meaning of the poem. They should have fun with what they read and not over think on what the poem can be really about. The idea of a poem is to give the reader a better visualization on what it's trying to convey.