Sound and Sense Chapter 4 and 5 Blog

Sound and Sense Chapter 4 and 5 Blog

In Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry,” the speaker uses a series of similes, metaphors, and personification to describe how a poem should be read and how it is actually read. The speaker first compares a poem to a color slide that must held up to the light. The meaning of this simile is that one must carefully examine a poem, especially its words, to be able to understand and enjoy the poem at all. He continues with a similar, implied metaphor about bees, stating that the poem’s “hive” must be heard. In addition to carefully reading a poem, one must also hear the poem to better understand poetic concepts, such as the poem’s rhythm and meter or any alliteration, onomatopoeia, and stress that may be in the poem. The next two stanzas compare a poem to a maze and a room, respectively. The speaker suggests putting a mouse inside the poem because, like a maze, a poem can be complicated but worthwhile in the end. The speaker then suggests searching for a light switch in a room that represents the poem, demonstrating how a poem must be explored before any sort of conclusions can be made. The speaker goes on to compare  a poem to water skiing in the fifth stanza. He claims that reading poetry is a fun and enjoyable activity, like water skiing, and it can give some insight, but only some, about the author, similar to how a water skier can catch a glimpse of someone on shore. A shift in tone occurs at the sixth stanza, and the rest of the poem is dedicated to a personification of a poem as a tortured person. The author creates this personification to showcase how intense analysis of a poem to find its meaning is a painful and cruel thing to do to a poem, which should be read and pondered about for enjoyment. Billy Collins’s poem “Introduction to Poetry” uses similes, metaphors, and personification to highlight the differences between how a poem should be read and how it is actually read.