Summary Of Another Poem By Billy Collins

The overall message in this poem is a drill sergeant educating young soldiers and preparing them for the harsh reality of war. He is not playing ‘Mr. nice guy’, he is being tough and strict to give the soldiers no easy way out.

In this free-verse war poem, the idea of 'journey' extends itself to cover both the physical and emotional aspects of the subject matter of the poem. Repetition and word

The memories and feelings that the memorial brings forth from the veteran are the driving force to the tone of the poem. The poems is heavy and heartbreaking. It clearly shows that the visit to the memorial has an enormous impact on the author. The author describes several different visions he has while at the memorial. The visions that he has are as real to him as if they were physically present. The author makes it easy to see and feel things through his eyes. The words used to describe his thoughts and feeling evoke emotions of sadness and at times, even despair.

By creating these nurturing, peaceful images of a beautiful countryside, Brooke evokes pride from his primary audience, which in turn creates a sense of nationalism. Furthermore, references to the themes of heaven and the afterlife create comforting images in the reader’s mind. Brooke describes a ‘pulse in the eternal mind’ for the ‘hearts at peace under an English heaven’, suggesting that those who die fighting for their country will find themselves in a heaven as idyllic as England. The paradisiacal images created by Brooke are a stark contrast to the gruesome images featured in Owen’s poem. Dulce et Decorum est is rich in similes that graphically illustrate the goriest details of war. The soldiers in the poem are described as ‘old beggars’ who are ‘coughing like hags’, which illustrates a loss of dignity, health and the innocence associated with youth. As the poem progresses, a soldier is the victim of a gas attack and is described vividly, with ‘white eyes, writhing in his face’ as ‘blood comes gargling from his froth-corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer’. Owen’s dark subject matter is further explored through his juxtaposition of ‘children ardent for desperate glory’ and soldiers marching like ‘beggars under sacks’. The use of these similes and images shocks the reader and conveys the ruthless reality of war.

Billy Collins, born and raised in Manhattan, New York, is one of America’s most successful poets. Known for very famous poems such as “The Art of Drowning” and “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins has succeeded in the department of English Literature for much of his life. With a bachelors degree from the College of Holy Cross and a Masters and PHD from the University of California, Riverside, Billy Collins went on to become a college English professor at Lehman College in the Bronx. He is and for a long time has been a strong advocate for encouraging young people to get into poetry and even created the program “Poetry 180” where he made a collection of 180 poems for schools to read one poem every school day. Setting him apart from the average poet, Collins received the utmost honor from the Library of Congress when he was declared the U.S. poet Laureate in 2001, serving for two years. Following the September 11th terror attacks, Collins wrote and read a poem entitled “The Names” that was dedicated to the victims. Unlike many poets who write extremely emotional poems, drawing from their traumatic backgrounds, Collins keeps it simple and rights about relatable, average, middle class lifestyle topics; both of his poems Introduction to Poetry and Embrace are emblematic of that.

This is shown by the way the soldiers were “coughing like hags”. He would have seen many people die in distress and, having experienced one of the most destructive wars in history, he has a very unfavourable view of war. He was involved in the First World War, so he knows the realities of warfare. I can see that his poem is aimed at poets who wrote about glory, honour and patriotism (such as Tennyson) by the use of the word “you” in the poem. He wants to clearly show the realities of conflict behind the heroism and splendour, and this is shown by the vivid language and imagery used.

In 2001 a new poet laureate was crowned and a new voice; the voice of

The destruction and violence of war are permanent scars in our lives. It’s narrated in memoir style as the narrator recounts some of his experiences as well as alluding to both the physical and emotional trauma of the experience. The poem evokes intense emotion in the reader positioning them to identify with the young soldier at war. Metaphors are cleverly used to highlight the situation the young man is enduring, in the lines, ‘it was a war within yourself’. The repetition of the title ‘I was only nineteen’ deliberately reminds the audience about how young this boy was and that he was naïve. Illustrating to the audience that the soldier’s experience was unusual and worthy of note. This poem is addressing the concept of loss of youth. It is acting as a social comment and reflecting on how the lives of the youth were lost as a result of the wars. It was written as a protest song to convey the writer’s social commentary which is distinctly anti-war and reminds us of the dangers that the war has caused. To share the experience of those who went to war and what they went through. ‘Can you tell me what it means?’ here this rhetorical question creates sympathy from the reader as well as express the idea of that only the leaders really know what was going on in the war while the young men did not have a clue of what and why they

a) I really liked this poem; I thought it was very vivid and memorable. It made me feel angry and sad for the soldiers that died and for the suffering of the other soldiers, their injuries, their trauma and the conditions they had to endure. My daughter also read this poem and it affected her in a similar way; it made her feel sad, angry and ashamed for the things that happened. (71)

A War Within Not every memory is happy. Not every memory beckons to be relived over and over again. Some are too painful and too confining. In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It,” the narrator is faced with just that--a difficult memory, still clinging to his mind. In the poem, when the narrator visits the Vietnam War Memorial, he is faced with a choice either to accept the memories as part of who he is and who he has become and move on, or to simply let the past consume him.

The poet then presents a scene of patriotic relevance as he describes a scene of a regiment marching into battle with their “flag” and “Eagle with crest of red and gold” (17-18). When people think of flags, they think of patriotism and representing their country. Eagles also symbolize freedom but as readers can witness in the work, the poet makes it seem as if these men were created not to enjoy the gift of life for one moment by him saying “These men were born to drill and die” (19). This comes across to the reader as almost inhumane. Then by illustrating an image of a field of thousands of dead corpses makes any reader wonder why people even go to war. The whole fourth stanza paints a picture of living human being going into a battle with most, if not any, making it out alive. Like stated before, the speaker in the poem builds a case for those people that opposed to war even though the title of the poem might

causes the poem to flow, and thus lightens up the dark and serious issue of war. The lines "But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place." are easy to read; however, their meaning is extremely

The first stanza connotes a slight sense structure as the phrase “ and his buddies did too” is repeated after stating each action the soldier does. Moreover, the lines themselves are structured in such a way that suggests a deliberate organized form- especially in comparison to how the rest of the poem is written. Most interesting about the

The second stanza speaks of how it so often slips our mind that war does not only affect the men who are in direct combat. The young women too, suffer greatly in silence. Though so removed from the grime and blood of the battlefield, one cannot imagine the excruciating pain of having to part with their loved ones, with the knowledge that 'the holy glimmers of goodbyes ' might as well be goodbye forever. Every moment of the day, they agonize over the terrifying thought that their loved one has been shot or injured. There is no way of telling - and the guessing game is exhausting. There is no more joy or excitement in life as each 'slow dusk ' drags by, their only reason for existence condensed into a single purpose - receiving news from the battlefield. Often time, their agonizing wait ends in a heartbreaking death. This is signified from the line 'the drawing down of blinds '.

“The Soldier” is a poem about a generic, yet ideal soldier, which is indicated by Rupert Brooke’s use of the word “The” instead of “A” when describing the soldier in the title. The usage of “I” and “me” in the poem suggests a first person point of view, which makes the poem more personal and realistic to the reader. This poem is a sonnet because the first stanza contains eight lines and the second stanza contains six. Throughout “The Soldier,” the repetition of “English” and “England” shows how important his homeland is to the soldier and his high level of patriotism. In line five, England is personified, and although England is not a living thing, the soldier sees his country as his creator and as a sort of mother figure. Brooke’s use of alliteration throughout the poem helps it flow; the use of caesura breaks up the lines. Perfect external rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter are used throughout the poem, which both give the poem flow and rhythm. The “dust” in lines four and five is a metaphor for the soldier’s life; England created him and he will become “dust concealed” when he dies and is buried. The first stanza of “The Soldier” uses various lines of imagery: “some corner of a foreign field… In that rich earth a richer dust concealed… flowers… Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.” These forms of imagery emphasize the soldier’s death and how his death will cleanse him of any wrongdoings he had done in his time on earth. The “rivers” and “suns” are personified as