Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins: My Own Personal Identification and Enjoyment of His Poem

The poem Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins is something that I can identify with on a personal level. Teachers often ask me to analyze poetry (especially in this class), and I don’t usually feel like I’m doing it the way that they want me too. I also really enjoyed this poem because of the vivid imagery and personification throughout. It kept the pace of the poem fast and made it really entertaining to read.

In the poem, the author describes how he would look at a poem to find its true meaning, and how he wants “them” to look at the poem he has presented to “them”. His description of his actions is very gentle and reminds me how one should treat a small child. He describes being physically gentle, but also being open-minded and learning from the poem. Then he talks about how “they” try to figure out the poem. In his description, it sounds like “they” are torturing the poem. I can identify more with the “they” in this poem than the author. I am not a huge fan of poetry and I often feel like there is a deeper meaning that I am missing. Even when someone explains a deeper meaning in a poem, I often still don’t truly understand and think that it would be much easier is we just wrote what we meant and left it at that. I think that the “they” in the poem was students of the author, which would explain even more so why I identify with them so strongly. (Also I’m sorry Mr. Bingham, you probably feel the same way that the author feels).

The imagery and personification in this poem were the main literary devices, but they were more than sufficient. Even though, as I stated above, I identify more with “them” and I think I treat poems more like “they” do, I still felt bad for the poem that was being abused and could see how the author’s method of analyzing and reading the poem was nicer and would yield a much deeper and more meaningful understanding of the poem. I really liked how the author talked about the poem like it was a person because I made it much easier to feel sorry for and care about the poem. The imagery really helped with this poem because the ideas were good, but the execution was what really made the poem memorable and interesting to read. If there had been very little imagery this poem would have been very bland and boring to read.

Overall, I liked this poem. I am not a huge fan of poetry and I often feel like it goes over my head so I identified strongly with the “they” who abused the poem. By using personification, the author was able to make the poem sympathetic. The imagery used played a large part in the poem being entertaining and not drab, as well as keeping the pace and really bringing the ideas behind the poem to life. I really liked this poem and I immediately identified with it.