Billy Collins and Introduction to
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
Poetry
Introduction to Poetry is a poem that is more
than the sum of its metaphorical parts. Billy
Collins wrote it in the hope that it would
encourage readers and students to look, listen
and react to a poem in subtle imaginative
ways, rather than ride roughshod over it.
The title of the poem suggests that this will be
a basic, perhaps formal presentation of
poetry, where the reader gets to know the
poem's fundamentals. May I introduce you to
sonnet - 14 lines, terrific rhyme scheme,
packed with metaphor and anaphora and has
an iambic pentameter to die for.
But, Introduction to Poetry is the poet's way of
saying that a poem is a thing of wonder and
should be treated in a way that does not
cause internal bruising to both poem and
reader. In effect, Billy Collins is declaring his
love for poetry because, to him, it is a living
thing, made of everyday language.
'There's mystery in the ordinary,' according to
Collins. This mystery can be experienced by
the reader (and the student/poet) if they are
willing to approach each poem as if it were a
new day in which they're about to be
entertained. In this case, by a few metaphors
and intriguing imagery.
Reading a poem a day is what Billy Collins
wants everyone to do 'so that the poem will be
a feature of daily life and not something that's
just taught.'
Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Analysis
Introduction to Poetry is a free verse poem of
sixteen lines made up of seven stanzas.
There is no set rhyme scheme. The meter
(metre in UK) is irregular but one or two lines
bring the familiar iambic rhythm into play, for
example:
or press an ear against its hive. (line 4)
or walk inside the poem's room (line 7)
to find out what it really means. (line 16)
This is a reassuring rhythm because it is said
to be the most natural in English, where the
voice lowers then rises as stresses change,
as in most daily conversation.
Metaphor (hive,mousehole,lake/body of water)
and simile (like a color slide) are present, as is
personification (torture a confession out of it).
These all help to bring energy, texture and
imagery into the field of play, which makes for
a more interesting read.
Tone/Atmosphere
This poem has a slightly didactic tone, that is,
the speaker is standing before the reader like
a teacher or lecturer, using the imperative to
get the message across. I ask, I say, I
want...and they're pretty insistent. These
requests are all direct yet contain a
metaphorical package, various images
appearing quite strongly throughout the poem.
So the tone is also one of subtle instruction,
an appeal to the more sensitive, even playful
side of human nature. The speaker introduces
light, a mouse, a fun activity, brightness -
these are all positives and are set against the
more negative images that appear later on in
stanzas six and seven.
Introduction to Poetry - Further
Analysis
First Stanza
Just three short words set the tone of the
whole poem - I ask them - suggesting that this
is a serious poem at heart, despite later
playfulness. It is a poem of disguises and
conceit and metaphor - and simile. They all
play important roles in establishing the ethos
of the poem.
So light is used as the prime medium through
which a poem can be seen in its true color but
first the language has to be held in the hand
so to speak before the imagery can be
understood.
The poem is a like a slide so we have here a
simile,a comparison of poem with a film
transparency.
Second Stanza
A one line iambic tetrameter (four beats),
asking the reader to listen to the poem, to
establish whether or not the hive has
occupants, rhythm, a certain buzz. If the
reader listens carefully enough perhaps the
nature of the poem will become apparent? No
need to look inside to determine if there's
honey or not.
Third Stanza
This is an unrhyming couplet, two lines, again
with a request for the reader, this time
involving a mouse and the reader's
observation. The onus is on the reader to
initiate - the mouse is to be dropped - which
implies that the whiskered rodent is a
newcomer to the poem, has never been in it
before.
The mouse may be lost at first but with good
use of whiskers and nose and the ability to
learn, will soon be able to find the way out,
through what might be a maze of language.
Patience and skill are the tools to use.
Fourth Stanza
A continued second couplet, a parallel action
almost in which the reader is invited to walk,
not run, around the poem's interior. This
inside room may be dark initially but by
feeling, the guest should find the all important
light switch. And once the switch is flicked, like
a bright idea coming into the mind, the room,
and the poem will take on meaning.
So the poem is metaphorically a room, with
form and shape and that crucial light switch.
Poems may be technically constructed of
letters from an alphabet but a poem is much
more than a load of neatly arranged words on
a page - they're all about feeling too. And the
flow of electricity.
More Analysis
Fifth Stanza
A tercet (three unrhyming lines), with the final
request - I want them - urging the reader to
waterski across the surface of the poem whilst
waving at the poet's name on the shore. This
is all about enjoyment, risk and experience.
The speaker is suggesting that poetry is
water, the element of feeling, emotion and
romance, and it is only because of this the
reader is able to ski. Yes, have fun,
acknowledge the author, but know that only
the most confident of readers are able to do
both at the same time.
Sixth Stanza and Seventh Stanza
The last tercet. The poem is seen to turn. That
all important word - But - contrasts sharply
with what has gone before. There is an
accusation, the speaker strongly asserting
that all they (the readers, the teachers, the
lecturers) do is harm poetry by restricting it,
doing nasty things to it in the hope that they
will find answers and meaning.
How the language and imagery changes.
From the light, the hive, the innocent mouse,
to the dangerous world of the torture chamber
and the cruel hose. But meaning can never be
beaten out of poetry, no matter how much you
torture it, it remains loyal to itself.