The poem “Introduction to Poetry” was, all in all, talking about the unnecessary constraints “poets” put on themselves. In the first stanza, Collins wrote about analyzing ones own poem, and trying to see through it; practically hearing it out loud. Next, he explains how a person puts an idea into a poem and then moves it around or takes it out, wondering if it is insightful enough. I then interpreted the next stanza as someone trying to read or write a poem, analyze it, and try to understand the true meaning. Then Collins moves on to compare writing a poem with waterskiing, and how a poem is simply supposed to glide out of the author’s mind and still retain his or her personal flair. However, what most poets will do is simply feign this effect, and instead force a poem to include all of these aspects. The second poem seems to be stating the same beliefs of the author; however, the approach is much different. In this poem, he is getting into the mind of a poet, and what they are thinking as they write. This generic poet starts out by admiring the title and first few stanzas. He then continues on to doubt the voice coming through in the poem, is it too casual or too businesslike? After that he analyzes the middle stanzas and the way they intrigue him and create a clear picture. Lastly, he analyzes the final lines, and wonders about the true meaning of the poem. In the end he decides that was just the way he read it. This poem ultimately reveals what goes on in the mind of a poet as they read a poem, and the conflicting thoughts of their true opinion and the “right opinion.” Consequently, these two poems have different approaches to the same idea; that a true poem is one that comes from the poet alone. A real poet writes what they believe, not what society thinks is “the right way” to write poetry.
I think the poem “Introduction to Poetry” is more focused on finding out what a poem actually means, from the authors choice of wording and the feelings he puts into his poems. I love how it explains how your supposed to read a poem, and how it’s important to read it carefully because a poem is a very thoughtful piece of writing and you need to listen to each word and phrase to understand it correctly. The poem “Workshop”, however, was very long and is describing how hard it is to make a poem and what the authors think about their work. In both of Billy Collin’s poems he referred to a mouse, which was really interesting and I could tell her was trying to prove a point. Also in “Workshop” Collin’s choice of words and the way he describes each stanza is really interesting. The way he structures his sentences, and makes a vivid scene from the words he chooses is really fascinating.
The two poems by Billy Collins that we read were very interesting. They were different from any other poem I have ever read. “Introduction to poetry”, was confusing, but I think Billy is trying to get readers to feel, see hear, and smell the poem rather than try to find a meaning strait from the words. The other poem, “workshop”, is told from a readers perspective. It shows what goes through the reader’s head as he/she reads certain words or stanzas. Overall I enjoyed reading the two poems because they were very different and unusual.
After reading both works of art Introduction of Poetry, and Workshop, by Billy Collins, my opinion was better in the direction of Introduction of Poetry. This work of art compared to the later was in a sense overall much more poetic. Collins incorporated multiple visions of ways to embrace poetry and view it differently. In addition to this, it gives a spectrum of possibilities to the reader on what else one could do with poetry. On the other hand, I believe that workshop, in its entirety, was both different and less poetic. In certain ways, this piece was meant for a different type of audience. In addition to the laughter in the background of the recording, it was not as much of a dream/hope piece, but more of a stand up, comedian point of view. Another way that this could be viewed as less poetic would be how there were fewer analogies. In the second piece, Collins, without adding these, does not urge the reader to think, contemplate and explore this poem, making it both less interesting and poetic. Overall, I enjoyed Collins work in introduction to poetry, much more that Workshop, but found them both interesting, and enjoyed reading them.
In the two poems by Billy Collins he tells the reader to pay close attention to every word of a poem. He tells the reader when reading a poem to take in every single detail. He also describes the different senses used in a poem, such as taste, smell, etc. A lot of people just skim through a poem and don’t pay attention to enough detail. He’s saying that the only way to understand the poem fully is to pay attention to very single word.
The two poems, Introduction to Poetry and Workshop, both express different ways about how people feel when they read a poem. Billy Collins, the writer of both shows the reader that understanding a poem is one of the main keys to unlock the poem so that it will make sense. In the first poem, Introduction to Poetry, the author encourages the reader to dig deep down into the poem to find its true meaning, instead of searching the qualities of the verse on Google, or asking a friend. These erroneous solutions are what most people generally do to complete the assignment. In Billy Collins other poem, Workshop, he writes the poem from a point of view where the person is very excited and interested in the similes of the poem. The author also writes about what the reader gets out of the poem, which is very different compared to what the writer comprehends in Introduction to Poetry. In Introduction to Poetry the reader doesn’t understand at all what is going on in the poem, while in Workshop the reader is open-minded about the poem and looking at it from a different point of view. Overall I think that theses tow poems showed that people look at everything differently, not just poems, and sometimes that is ok.
Billy Collins uses a distinctive type of poetry to send his message. In the Poem Workshop, he assesses his own poetry in a quite humorous way. He sort of talks his way through the reading of the poem. In the Poem Introduction to Poetry, Collins criticizes the way readers absorb poems. His take on the average human is that they are so desperate to find the meaning of a poem, that they cannot enjoy the art of the poetry in front of them. He describes it as “they tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture the confession out of it.” In the Workshop, he informs the reader on how to look at a poem and take in its material. He writes this poem from a reader’s perspective. He believes in the reader being completely immersed into the words, and thinking deeply into the meaning of them. This poetry that Billy Collins writes, is not found everyday. He tries to connect with the reader and succeeds. He writes what the reader is most likely to be thinking. A connection with the reader is crucial in good poetry, and Billy Collins does this successfully in a unique way.
Both of the poems, Introduction to Poetry and Workshop express the difficulty and frustration many people find when having to figure out the meaning of a poem. Introduction to Poetry is through the eyes of someone who wants others to find out the meaning of a poem through multiple points of view and analyzing metaphors that the author gives. Instead, the “them” in the poem is reluctant and stubborn and is only looking for an obvious signal or line that will give them the meaning of the poem. The last stanza of the poem is about how people look at the piece of poetry with impatience and frustration, and continuously reading the poem over and over as if the meaning will somehow will appear by doing so. Workshop is through the perspective of someone reading a poem and becoming confused, but then later realizing the meaning of the poem. I found the last line of the poem to be very true- that there is no one-sided meaning to poetry, or a right way to interpret poetry or a wrong way. This is true in Introduction to Poetry as well. People feel that there is only one true meaning and they will figuratively “beat the poetry with the hose” because they don’t understand that there can be various and multiple meanings to the poetry.
I think that in the poem “Introduction to Poetry” Billy Collins is trying to explain that poetry is not something that you can just get a definition out of. Poems are pieces of writing that can be interpreted in many different ways. Billy Collins wrote both of these poems in a humorous and witty way. The second poem, “Workshop” he is writing exactly about what he said not to do in the first poem by analyzing the entire poem. I’ve also never read a poem about writing a poem before, so at first it was confusing but I found it interesting.
Both of Billy Collins’s poems seem to be about the confusion and expectations of interpreting poetry. In the first one, An Introduction to Poetry, the author explains that he wants the reader to struggle to find a meaning rather than try to decipher every phrase. I thought this poem was interesting and I agree with Billy Collins. Most people take poems too literally and expect straightforward pieces, but poetry is supposed to make the reader think deeply. The second poem, Workshop, takes a different approach. Workshop explains the different ways people interpret poems. “But what I’m not sure about is the voice, which sounds in places very casual, very blue jeans, but other times seems standoffish, professorial in the worst sense of the word like the poem is blowing pipe smoke in my face. But maybe that’s just what it wants to do.” This quote realistically points out that the reader may dislike some parts of the poem, or may just be confused. On the other hand, he acknowledges that others may understand and enjoy the poem. I find that there are some poems I enjoy reading, but others I find tedious or unclear. I thought both these poems showed an interesting perspective of the way people interpret poetry.
When I read the two Billy Collins poems, my first reaction was what is this guy talking about. After a confusing re-read and a re-re- read I began to understand, these confusing, yet oddly simple poems.
In “Introduction to poetry” He describes the pain of people trying to figure out poetry, in my interpretation he is in essence saying you can’t learn (or understand) poetry by reading it off a page but, you must experience it, and it must for the reader, jump off the page and you yourself interpret the feelings and meanings. In this poem he explains everyone doesn’t always understand poetry (think “They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.”) The thing he wants us to understand is, there is no definitive answer to what poetry means, only what it does. And for me, poetry is passion, emotion, love, and the sensation of the human condition.
In Billy Collins second poem, “Workshop” He explains his favorite parts of poems, specifically the first, middle and last stanzas. He compares the feeling of writing certain stanzas to different feelings like in the first stanza comparing the importance of the fluidity of the starting point to the ending point, by using the snake eating itself reference he is meaning poems should end where they start, being prominent and setting the tone for the rest of the poem. He says the second stanza should be for setting the voice for the poem. And the middle is for explaining detail floating across the page. Towards the end of the middle, he explains dullness an almost lost for words sense using words like “indoor cemetery” and “a certain feeling about death around.” He explains the last stanza is for reflection, but further details to wrap the story up, usually adding supporting information, like where the character lives comparing it to a Tom and Jerry cartoon explaining his favorite part is when the mouse returns to his home. Then providing Collins with the image of all the items the mouse has collected over the years. His last statement is also an indication of his emphasis on independent thought (also stated in the previous poem) “Maybe that was just me. Maybe that’s just the way I read it.”
The poem “Introduction to Poetry” was, all in all, talking about the unnecessary constraints “poets” put on themselves. In the first stanza, Collins wrote about analyzing ones own poem, and trying to see through it; practically hearing it out loud. Next, he explains how a person puts an idea into a poem and then moves it around or takes it out, wondering if it is insightful enough. I then interpreted the next stanza as someone trying to read or write a poem, analyze it, and try to understand the true meaning. Then Collins moves on to compare writing a poem with waterskiing, and how a poem is simply supposed to glide out of the author’s mind and still retain his or her personal flair. However, what most poets will do is simply feign this effect, and instead force a poem to include all of these aspects.
ReplyDeleteThe second poem seems to be stating the same beliefs of the author; however, the approach is much different. In this poem, he is getting into the mind of a poet, and what they are thinking as they write. This generic poet starts out by admiring the title and first few stanzas. He then continues on to doubt the voice coming through in the poem, is it too casual or too businesslike? After that he analyzes the middle stanzas and the way they intrigue him and create a clear picture. Lastly, he analyzes the final lines, and wonders about the true meaning of the poem. In the end he decides that was just the way he read it. This poem ultimately reveals what goes on in the mind of a poet as they read a poem, and the conflicting thoughts of their true opinion and the “right opinion.”
Consequently, these two poems have different approaches to the same idea; that a true poem is one that comes from the poet alone. A real poet writes what they believe, not what society thinks is “the right way” to write poetry.
I think the poem “Introduction to Poetry” is more focused on finding out what a poem actually means, from the authors choice of wording and the feelings he puts into his poems. I love how it explains how your supposed to read a poem, and how it’s important to read it carefully because a poem is a very thoughtful piece of writing and you need to listen to each word and phrase to understand it correctly. The poem “Workshop”, however, was very long and is describing how hard it is to make a poem and what the authors think about their work. In both of Billy Collin’s poems he referred to a mouse, which was really interesting and I could tell her was trying to prove a point. Also in “Workshop” Collin’s choice of words and the way he describes each stanza is really interesting. The way he structures his sentences, and makes a vivid scene from the words he chooses is really fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThe two poems by Billy Collins that we read were very interesting. They were different from any other poem I have ever read. “Introduction to poetry”, was confusing, but I think Billy is trying to get readers to feel, see hear, and smell the poem rather than try to find a meaning strait from the words. The other poem, “workshop”, is told from a readers perspective. It shows what goes through the reader’s head as he/she reads certain words or stanzas. Overall I enjoyed reading the two poems because they were very different and unusual.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading both works of art Introduction of Poetry, and Workshop, by Billy Collins, my opinion was better in the direction of Introduction of Poetry. This work of art compared to the later was in a sense overall much more poetic. Collins incorporated multiple visions of ways to embrace poetry and view it differently. In addition to this, it gives a spectrum of possibilities to the reader on what else one could do with poetry. On the other hand, I believe that workshop, in its entirety, was both different and less poetic. In certain ways, this piece was meant for a different type of audience. In addition to the laughter in the background of the recording, it was not as much of a dream/hope piece, but more of a stand up, comedian point of view. Another way that this could be viewed as less poetic would be how there were fewer analogies. In the second piece, Collins, without adding these, does not urge the reader to think, contemplate and explore this poem, making it both less interesting and poetic. Overall, I enjoyed Collins work in introduction to poetry, much more that Workshop, but found them both interesting, and enjoyed reading them.
ReplyDeleteIn the two poems by Billy Collins he tells the reader to pay close attention to every word of a poem. He tells the reader when reading a poem to take in every single detail. He also describes the different senses used in a poem, such as taste, smell, etc. A lot of people just skim through a poem and don’t pay attention to enough detail. He’s saying that the only way to understand the poem fully is to pay attention to very single word.
ReplyDeleteThe two poems, Introduction to Poetry and Workshop, both express different ways about how people feel when they read a poem. Billy Collins, the writer of both shows the reader that understanding a poem is one of the main keys to unlock the poem so that it will make sense. In the first poem, Introduction to Poetry, the author encourages the reader to dig deep down into the poem to find its true meaning, instead of searching the qualities of the verse on Google, or asking a friend. These erroneous solutions are what most people generally do to complete the assignment. In Billy Collins other poem, Workshop, he writes the poem from a point of view where the person is very excited and interested in the similes of the poem. The author also writes about what the reader gets out of the poem, which is very different compared to what the writer comprehends in Introduction to Poetry. In Introduction to Poetry the reader doesn’t understand at all what is going on in the poem, while in Workshop the reader is open-minded about the poem and looking at it from a different point of view. Overall I think that theses tow poems showed that people look at everything differently, not just poems, and sometimes that is ok.
ReplyDeleteBilly Collins uses a distinctive type of poetry to send his message. In the Poem Workshop, he assesses his own poetry in a quite humorous way. He sort of talks his way through the reading of the poem. In the Poem Introduction to Poetry, Collins criticizes the way readers absorb poems. His take on the average human is that they are so desperate to find the meaning of a poem, that they cannot enjoy the art of the poetry in front of them. He describes it as “they tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture the confession out of it.” In the Workshop, he informs the reader on how to look at a poem and take in its material. He writes this poem from a reader’s perspective. He believes in the reader being completely immersed into the words, and thinking deeply into the meaning of them. This poetry that Billy Collins writes, is not found everyday. He tries to connect with the reader and succeeds. He writes what the reader is most likely to be thinking. A connection with the reader is crucial in good poetry, and Billy Collins does this successfully in a unique way.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the poems, Introduction to Poetry and Workshop express the difficulty and frustration many people find when having to figure out the meaning of a poem. Introduction to Poetry is through the eyes of someone who wants others to find out the meaning of a poem through multiple points of view and analyzing metaphors that the author gives. Instead, the “them” in the poem is reluctant and stubborn and is only looking for an obvious signal or line that will give them the meaning of the poem. The last stanza of the poem is about how people look at the piece of poetry with impatience and frustration, and continuously reading the poem over and over as if the meaning will somehow will appear by doing so. Workshop is through the perspective of someone reading a poem and becoming confused, but then later realizing the meaning of the poem. I found the last line of the poem to be very true- that there is no one-sided meaning to poetry, or a right way to interpret poetry or a wrong way. This is true in Introduction to Poetry as well. People feel that there is only one true meaning and they will figuratively “beat the poetry with the hose” because they don’t understand that there can be various and multiple meanings to the poetry.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the poem “Introduction to Poetry” Billy Collins is trying to explain that poetry is not something that you can just get a definition out of. Poems are pieces of writing that can be interpreted in many different ways. Billy Collins wrote both of these poems in a humorous and witty way. The second poem, “Workshop” he is writing exactly about what he said not to do in the first poem by analyzing the entire poem. I’ve also never read a poem about writing a poem before, so at first it was confusing but I found it interesting.
ReplyDeleteBoth of Billy Collins’s poems seem to be about the confusion and expectations of interpreting poetry. In the first one, An Introduction to Poetry, the author explains that he wants the reader to struggle to find a meaning rather than try to decipher every phrase. I thought this poem was interesting and I agree with Billy Collins. Most people take poems too literally and expect straightforward pieces, but poetry is supposed to make the reader think deeply. The second poem, Workshop, takes a different approach. Workshop explains the different ways people interpret poems. “But what I’m not sure about is the voice, which sounds in places very casual, very blue jeans, but other times seems standoffish, professorial in the worst sense of the word like the poem is blowing pipe smoke in my face. But maybe that’s just what it wants to do.” This quote realistically points out that the reader may dislike some parts of the poem, or may just be confused. On the other hand, he acknowledges that others may understand and enjoy the poem. I find that there are some poems I enjoy reading, but others I find tedious or unclear. I thought both these poems showed an interesting perspective of the way people interpret poetry.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the two Billy Collins poems, my first reaction was what is this guy talking about. After a confusing re-read and a re-re- read I began to understand, these confusing, yet oddly simple poems.
ReplyDeleteIn “Introduction to poetry” He describes the pain of people trying to figure out poetry, in my interpretation he is in essence saying you can’t learn (or understand) poetry by reading it off a page but, you must experience it, and it must for the reader, jump off the page and you yourself interpret the feelings and meanings. In this poem he explains everyone doesn’t always understand poetry (think “They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.”) The thing he wants us to understand is, there is no definitive answer to what poetry means, only what it does. And for me, poetry is passion, emotion, love, and the sensation of the human condition.
In Billy Collins second poem, “Workshop” He explains his favorite parts of poems, specifically the first, middle and last stanzas. He compares the feeling of writing certain stanzas to different feelings like in the first stanza comparing the importance of the fluidity of the starting point to the ending point, by using the snake eating itself reference he is meaning poems should end where they start, being prominent and setting the tone for the rest of the poem. He says the second stanza should be for setting the voice for the poem. And the middle is for explaining detail floating across the page. Towards the end of the middle, he explains dullness an almost lost for words sense using words like “indoor cemetery” and “a certain feeling about death around.” He explains the last stanza is for reflection, but further details to wrap the story up, usually adding supporting information, like where the character lives comparing it to a Tom and Jerry cartoon explaining his favorite part is when the mouse returns to his home. Then providing Collins with the image of all the items the mouse has collected over the years. His last statement is also an indication of his emphasis on independent thought (also stated in the previous poem) “Maybe that was just me. Maybe that’s just the way I read it.”