In his poem “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins employs various metaphors, such as dark rooms, oceans, hives, color slides, and mouse mazes, to not only depict his own work but also offer a method for analyzing poetry in general. During their formative years, students receive guidance from teachers on how to approach poetry analysis. Collins, the speaker in “Introduction to Poetry,” endeavors to instruct readers on a distinctive and suitable approach to interpreting poetry. Through his use of personification and vivid imagery, Collins presents a fresh perspective that enables readers to uncover the meaning and importance of poetry.
In this poem, the speaker doesn’t want readers to listen to their previous teachers and forcibly extract a confession from the poem. Instead, they should find enjoyment and connection in their own personal experiences and relate them to the poem’s message. Collins emphasizes the importance of treating poetry with care, as failing to do so will diminish its beauty. The speaker in the poem goes through different tones, reflecting the author’s frustrations with how readers interpret poetry.
Throughout the poem, the reader can perceive a shift in the author’s tone. This shift is evident in the speaker’s dialogue, which initially starts off friendly with requests (“I Ask”), then gradually transitions into a more pleading tone (“But all they want to do”). After introducing the concept of asking the readers politely, Collins swiftly switches to a firm tone in the next stanza (“I Say”). This firmness suddenly transforms into a bargaining mode, as the speaker presents various options for the reader (“Or”). Eventually, the speaker’s bargaining turns into pleading (“I Want”).
Finally, in the final stanza, the speaker surrenders as they fail to persuade the readers to look at poetry in a new light. The speaker asks the readers to take a poem and hold it up to the light, like a color slide (Collins 1-2). When first reading “Introduction to Poetry,” the reader feels compelled to analyze each word in order to grasp the deep meaning of each stanza. Collin’s speaker takes on the role of a teacher, trying to persuade the students to interpret poetry in a different way. The speaker hopes that the readers, acting as students of the poem, can visualize poetry as a color slide.
In this passage, the speaker emphasizes the importance of holding a slide into light in order to see its full detail. Metaphorically, the speaker encourages the reader to similarly examine poetry and appreciate its beauty and individual meaning. While many readers rely on taught interpretation methods, the speaker urges readers to use their own minds to illuminate the poems’ meanings, much like deciphering visual imagery with their own eyes. This motif of the senses is carried into the next verse, transitioning from visual to auditory perception.
The speaker employs a metaphorical shift as they ask readers to view a poem like looking through a slide, and to listen to the buzzing bees by pressing their ears against a beehive. In doing so, the speaker encourages readers to appreciate the depth of poetry, which often goes unnoticed like white noise. By listening more attentively, readers can discover the true intricacies of poetry, including its sweetness akin to honey and vivid imagery comparable to looking through a slide.
The speaker in the third verse paragraph encourages the reader to imagine a mouse being placed in a maze, as if they are entering a poem filled with words. The speaker desires the reader to interpret the poem on their own, posing thought-provoking questions and seeking its meaning independently. “I say drop a mouse into a poem, and watch him probe his way out,” (Collins 5-6). Nowadays, scientists utilize mice for experiments, allowing them to navigate mazes to determine if they can find an escape route.
This metaphor highlights the reader’s connection to poetry, where they are immersed in a labyrinth of words. Similar to a maze, the reader navigates through poetry in search of significance. Both the reader and mice endeavor to find their way out; however, the reader achieves this by interpreting and analyzing the poem. Both mice and readers encounter a process of trial and error in order to genuinely comprehend a piece of poetry. Collins implores the reader to exercise patience with poetry and avoid hastening to uncover its meaning.
In the fourth verse paragraph, the speaker introduces another metaphor that also necessitates trial and error for interpretation. The speaker urges readers to enter the depths of poetry and grope in the darkness to find a way to understand it. The reader fumbles in the outer limits of the poem, searching for its significance. Collins states, “Walk inside the poem’s room, and feel the walls for a light switch” (7-8). Many readers struggle to uncover this “light” and frequently become disheartened in the process.
Collins urges the reader to exercise patience and persevere in their search for meaning. Rather than surrendering, Collins encourages the reader to persist in seeking their own understanding of the poem. Collins characterizes this process as a pleasurable experience: “To waterski across the surface of a poem, waving at the author’s name on the shore” (Collins 9-11). In the fifth verse paragraph, Collins employs a metaphor, likening reading poetry to an enjoyable activity. He invites readers to take pleasure in unraveling the significance of a poem.
The author, Collins, wants readers to recognize the person who wrote the piece they are reading, but not have that person interfere with their search for the meaning of the piece. Collins advises readers to approach poetry with joy and understanding, rather than forcefully extracting meaning from it. In the last two verses, the speaker’s tone shifts, as if they have given up on convincing the reader to view poetry differently. Instead, they depict how readers try to forcefully extract meaning from poetry when they read it. “They begin beating it with a hose, to find out what it really means.” (Collins 14-15) This act of torture that readers subject poetry to devalues its artistic worth, as readers do not treat poetry with the respect and enjoyment that Collins believes it deserves. The reader believes that the only way to understand poetry is by “beating” it and forcing a complicated interpretation to fit their own needs. As a result of this abusive treatment of poetry, readers lose the ability to form their own insightful interpretations. In today’s society, readers misinterpret poetry and fail to appreciate its true meaning and beauty.
Collins urges readers to approach poetry in a new light, deviating from their usual quest for its underlying meaning. Instead, he encourages them to revel in poetry and interpret it individually, valuing the process and avoiding regarding it as a chore. Collins contends that poetry, like any art form, deserves to be treated with reverence.
Work Cited
The citation from the text is taken from “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins in the book “Literature: Reading to Write” edited by Elizabeth Howells, published in 2010 by Pearson. This citation can be found on page 106 in physical print form.
