Summary Of The Poem Telephones By Billy Collins

In the poem, “35/10” by Sharon Olds, the speaker uses wistful and jealous tones to convey her feeling about her daughter’s coming of age. The speaker, a thirty-five year old woman, realizes that as the door to womanhood is opening for her ten year old daughter, it is starting to close for her. A wistful tone is used when the speaker calls herself, “the silver-haired servant” (4) behind her daughter, indicating that she wishes she was not the servant, but the served. Referring to herself as her daughter’s servant indicates a sense of self-awareness in the speaker. She senses her power is weakening and her daughter’s power is strengthening. It also shows wistfulness for her diminishing youth, and sadness for her advancing years. This

The little child “she”who is in vague identity runs through this poem. From the poem “but I was talking

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.

You selected a few different poems to interpret this week then my self. You have a marvelous post summarizing each peculiar one. I likewise read Nostalgia by Billy Collins this week. My conception of the author is he practically ridicules the diverse periods of time as they were portrayed. I enjoyed this poem considering the composer certainly drives the point home with this topic. An abundance of humanity complains about past generations although trends were not the greatest it's persistent rebalance of pros and cons about all aspects of life. I couldn't agree more with you that the theme of the poem demonstrates that humanity wishes regression to the way life once

The structure of the poem is free, and what it does is to give us the spirit of the sea. The poem is written in free verse, there is no restrictions of formal rhyme or meter. However, the length of the three stanzas of the poem is very even although it is not exact. It makes the flow of the entire poem became balanced. This form of structure is just like the wave of the sea. The period of the wave is natural and balanced; it is pretty even but it is not exact. Also, there are a lot of commas in the poem. Keeping using commas makes the sentences very long. In fact, the entire poem is constructed by 6 sentences only. It makes the feeling of the poem just like the sea, and lines of the poem are the wave of the sea. Each endings of the waves are

The speaker of the poem is a grown man reminiscing because he is describing things from a different perspective than a twelve year old would. When the speaker asks the girl what she wants at the drugstore, the speaker describes the girl as having “...Light in her eyes, a smile starting at the corners of her mouth.” The speaker now reminisces all the details of the girl’s face. This event had a big impact on him, resulting in him remembering such small details. He now has a mature and observant perspective. The original twelve year old would have just been delighted to see that he has made a girl happy and would not care about the details, as he overjoyed with the girl’s happiness. The speaker is definitely a grown man reminiscing his time as a twelve year old because he states “...I was

“Life is fine!” is not what one typically announces if their life really is fine (Hughes l.27). Often, people hide behind masks of being “fine” to hide their true issues, such as depression and despair. The poem “Life is Fine” by Langston Hughes as well as “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins tackles the topic of depression. While both poems focus on this theme of depression, they greatly differ in their perspectives and outlooks for the future, one with a suicidal adult as narrator, the other a ten year old child.

In stanza 12, she tells us that he has “bit her pretty red heart in two.” Next, she states that he died when she was ten, and when she was twenty years old, she attempted suicide - “…I tried to die, to get back back back to you.” In stanza 13 is where she starts talking about her husband. She says that instead of dying, her friends “stuck her together with glue,” and since she could not die to get back to her father, she would marry someone who was similar.

There are clues throughout the poem that express the man’s past experiences, leading him to have a hostile tone. The speaker represents his past as “parched years” that he has lived through (7-8) and represents his daughter’s potential future as

From controversial events to ordinary life stories, Billy Collins writes about various topics in different perspectives just like a chameleon, changing its colors to fit with its surrounding. Collins talks in a gentle, yet humorous way; he illustrates a profound understanding through a clear observation. His writing style blends humor and solemnity in one entity. 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.

In the poem by Billy Collins "The Lanyard", the speaker thought back to his childhood where he made a lanyard as a gift to his mother trying to appreciate what she had done for him. The poem presentes the center theme that having the thoughts of being grateful to one’s mother is important than the object that one’s give, through the mechanism of repetition and flashback. Repetition is used a lot in this poem to convey the central theme, "and here is your lanyard"(Collins 29). The repetition of this line appeared several times in the later half of the poem. One of its minor effect is to create a comedic effect which readers might get a sense of humor when reading the poem for it is compared with the gifts that his mother have given to him.

Billy Collins uses dark rooms, oceans, hives, color slides and mouse mazes to describe his poem “Introduction to Poetry”, but also a way to analyze poetry in general. Growing up, students are advised by teachers how to analyze poetry. The speaker of Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins, attempts to guide the readers by teaching them a unique and appropriate way to analyze poetry. The use of personification and imagery, by the author, gives the readers a new perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to listen to the teachers of the reader’s past, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a

While reading the poem “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins sends a message to the readers that they should be patient and impartial when it comes to analyzing a poem in order to see the true meaning behind the without being over analytical. There is a revieting situation that takes place because Billy Collins is delivering his message to all readers about the way that one should be able to read a poem. This poems educates the reader on how to be able to read and plunge into a poem, through using many techniques like mood, tone, and literary devices to do so. In the first two lines Collins demands that we tackle a poem with a invigorating eye. There should be an exploration of what the poem means to us. How does this poem apply to our

In the next stanza, the narrator is announced as a fourteen-year-old girl whose “best friend is a white girl named Denise” (8). Throughout the poem, the author never directly mentions the concept of

In the first lines of the poem Yeats describes this woman as “old and grey and full of sleep” (Yeats). The speaker of the poem addresses his beloved saying that when she is aged she should read a particular book which will remind her of her youth. She will remember the