Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins
Introduction to Poetry
by 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.
Independent Work
1. Read the poem first to enjoy it. Read it straight on through, preferably
aloud. Then read it again (and again), looking for any of the following
literary devices or features:
Language: tone, style, diction (word choice)
Conventions: punctuation, grammar, poetic forms
Devices: structure, organization of content (e.g., stanzas, past to present)
Connections: How might this relate to the other works we are reading,
conversations we are having in class lately?
Purpose: Is the poet trying to explain? Define? Persuade? What, why, and
how do they do this?
2. Mark up the poem. You must show evidence of close reading—for
example, underlined words, questions, connections, suspected patterns.
2. Answer the questions on your worksheet in complete sentences.
Group Analysis
What is the significance of the poem’s title?
Introduction to Poetry
Group Analysis (line by line)
I ask them to take a poem
• Who is the “I”?
• Who is the “them”?
• How do you know?
Group Analysis (line by line)
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
Notice they aren’t being asked to read the poem.
They’re being asked to examine the words in a nontraditional way.
Group Analysis (line by line)
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
Why did the speaker use this
metaphor?
Color slides hold information, but the
information can be difficult to see
without light. How might that relate to
understanding poetry?
Group Analysis (line by line)
or press an ear against its hive.
• What words do you associate with a hive?
• What might you hear if you put your ear against one?
The speaker wants them to listen
for the sounds in a poem.
The S’s and V’s even give an
approximate buzzing sound when read
out loud.
or preSS an ear againSt itS hiVe
Group Analysis (line by line)
I say drop a mouse into a poem
• Notice the preposition choice. The speaker wants them to drop a
mouse into a poem.
• A poem is something you can get into, and the speaker wants them
to examine the space (form) of the poem.
• The speaker wants readers to consider why the poet shaped the
poem the way he or she did.
Group Analysis (line by line)
I say drop a mouse into a poem
• Poets like E. E.
Cummings use
deliberate
syntax and
word
placement to
create images
within his
poems.
“The Sky Was” by E. E. Cummings
Group Analysis (line by line)
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
• What associations do you make with mice trying to
get out of something?
• What is the speaker saying about readers of poetry?
Group Analysis (line by line)
or walk inside the poem’s room
• Now it's time for Collins to take the idea of a poem having
physical space even further.
• Instead of a mouse in a maze, now we, the readers, are
"walk[ing] inside the poem's room.”
• The word “room” is important here. Poems are broken up into
stanzas. The word stanza is an Italian word that means room.
• The units, or stanzas, of a poem are like joined rooms in a house.
It could be a 500-room mansion or a one-room shack. Either
way, Collins wants us to take the grand tour and get a good feel
for the place.
Group Analysis (line by line)
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
• What might the light switch be a metaphor for?
• How might this metaphor relate to the poem’s earlier
instruction to “hold [the poem] up to the light like a
color slide”?
Group Analysis (line by line)
I want them to waterski
• What words/feelings
do you associate with
waterskiing?
• What might the author
be telling us to look for
in poetry?
Group Analysis (line by line)
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
• What does it mean to complete a surface reading?
• What is the speaker suggesting poetry readers should do
at times?
Group Analysis (line by line)
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
• What might the author mean by “waving at the author’s
name”?
• Does he want us to spend a lot of time thinking about the
author? Does he want us to ignore the author
completely?
Group Analysis (line by line)
But all they want to do
• Poems commonly contain a shift in topic or tone. A shift
is a common tool that poets use to create meaning in their
work.
• Can you explain the shift that takes place just before this
line?
Before this line: “I ask them”, “I say drop”, “I want them to”
Group Analysis (line by line)
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
• How do these lines make you feel?
• What associations do they bring up?
• In what way has Collins’s imagery changed and how
does that affect the poem’s overall tone?
Group Analysis (line by line)
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
• How does Collins feel about “all they want to do”?
• How do you know?
• What would he prefer they do?
Independent Reflection (1/2 page minimum)
• How did our group analysis differ from your
independent analysis?
• Billy Collins is a teacher. Based on this
poem, would you like to take a class from
him? Why or why not?