Poetry Precis #1- "Introduction to Poetry"

Billy Collins' resigning yet lighthearted tone in “Introduction to Poetry,” along with his use of vivid imagery, helps convey the message that analyzing poetry must be done by actively reading the poem to slowly uncovering its meaning. In the first stanza the speaker asks their students to hold the poem up to the light “like a colored slide.” Just like a slide must be looked at through rays of light to reveal its true colors, so to a poem must be held up and analyzed to reveal its clarity and meaning. He says that they should “walk inside the poem’s walls” and feel around for the light switch, conveying the sense of groping in the darkness, struggling to find the meaning of the poem. When one actively reads and analyzes a poem and truly immerses themselves in its words, they are able to switch on the light bulb in their heads of what the poem is trying to tell them. The imagery continues as the speaker wants his students to “water ski across the surface of the poem” painting a vivid picture in the minds of the readers. What the speaker wants is for his students is to imagine themselves living inside of their poem, and experiencing every word of it first hand, as if it were happening to them. Then, and only then will they be able to reveal its message and appreciate its true essence. The last two stanza ends with the reality of what us students do to our poems, we tie it to a chair and “torture a confession out of it,” impatiently demanding that the meaning of the poem be simply revealed to us. The speaker wants us to experience the poem for what it is, a literary work of art, rather than trying so hard to figure out what the surface level meaning is. Collins’ use of this technique of vivid imagery that directly appeals to the reader helps convey the idea that analyzing poetry takes time, patience, dedication and active reading to successfully peel away the layers of metaphors and symbols and reveal the poem’s inner meaning.