Read+Again

Read the poem a second time. This time more slowly and carefully, taking note of any figurative language (e.g., simile, metaphor, hyperbole) you encounter. What do they think Collins is saying about the study of poetry? According to Collins, what is the real goal of reading poetry? (Please post your comments on the Discussion Page.)


 * || =Introduction to Poetry=

Billy Collins
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 waving at the author's name on the shore. 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.

from //The Apple that Astonished Paris//, 1996 University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ark. [|//Permissions information//]. Copyright 1988 by Billy Collins. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. ||