Collins’ Message to Readers in “Introduction to Poetry”
Many poems can be measured as an adventure. When explored, it requires extreme caution and fineness. In the poem “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins, is about him encouraging everyone (the readers) to analyze the poem and hopefully enjoy it. The poem begins with Collins asking his students to hold the poem towards the light, letting the poem imprint itself to their mind. Throughout the poem, Collins uses multiple literary elements to hopefully get the reader to discover the hidden meanings in poetry. I connected to “Introduction to Poetry” because it made me understand how hard poetry can be when taught.
Billy Collins uses numerous metaphors in this poem. Collins stated, “Or walk inside the poem’s room / And feel the walls for a light switch”. To me, this gave me creeps because the poem started out with bright/colors to dark and evil. It makes me think about how fun poetry can be if the hidden meanings are unlocked in the poem. This poem made me realize that poetry is never easy, and the feeling of teaching poem can be stressing, especially to the audience that have no interests in poetry. To illustrate, “is tie the poem to a chair with rope / And torture a confession out of it”. It is this type of emotion that I usually get from reading poems. I have always hated reading them and trying to find the hidden meanings behind poetry is very stressful for me. Reading poems will now remind me of “Introduction to Poetry” and the horror behind it.
The poet’s message in this poem is very important because we all see poetry differently. Collins stated, “Or press an ear against its hive”. The poet is comparing poetry to the buzzing insects, asking his students to just listen. This part made me really surprised because the idea of comparing poetry to a hive of insects is interesting. I think Collins want people to analyze the poem as a whole than to pull it apart and look at the individual words. I will remember this message because everyone struggles with poetry, but we can get rid of that fear by thinking of the big picture. The title “Introduction to Poetry” is very important because throughout the poem, Collins explained how we should analyze poetry and have fun while do so. However, near the end, the poet feels downhearted about his student’s attitude. Collins tried his best to teach poetry to his students but failed to.
In the end, my connection to this poem left me with the feeling of awe. The feeling of wonder in poetry. Collins’ poem has taught me a lot about poetry. Collins’ poem shows us that we should appreciate poetry and read it as a personal experience. The poem made me think about how I should approach poetry and how poetry is not that bad. Overall, this poem was written by Billy Collins in hoping to motivate readers to listen and react a poem in a creative way.
