"Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins

Author bio:
American poet William James Collins was born and raised in New York City. He received his M.A. and Ph.D in Romantic Poetry in California, and is currently a teacher in the Master of Fine Arts program at Stony Brook Southampton.



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.

Response:
  

      Billy Collins’ “Introduction to Poetry” is a poem that advises readers not to strictly analyze, but to enjoy poetry. Throughout his work, he personifies “a poem” by making it seem like a concrete object. In the first stanza, he compares it to a color slide that should be appreciated for its beauty. He follows this simile by describing a poem as having a hive; something we should “press and ear against” to enjoy the way it sounds. Collins describes a poem as both a maze and a dark room because we should enjoy the challenge of reading and understanding poetry even if we are struggling. By comparing a poem to a lake, he expresses that he wants readers to have fun reading the poem while commending its author for the genius work. Finally Collins ends “Introduction to Poetry” by stating the unfortunate reality that many people analyze and criticize poems without admiring them.

         

       I liked this poem because I completely agree with everything Billy Collins writes. I believe that poetry should be analyzed, but only to a certain extent. The point of analyzing poetry is so that readers gain a better understanding of it and can appreciate it more. However, if a poem is over analyzed, the reader will quickly get sick of the subject and despise the entire poem. It is important that all readers enjoy how poems sound, accept the challenge of understanding the meaning behind it, and most importantly, have fun while reading it!