In the poem “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins, the speaker of the poem is in a sort of teaching role as he/she speaks to what is assumed to be a class. The speaker gives instructions using imagery on how to enjoy and correctly examine a poem, but the class only wants to determine the meaning. The multiple uses of imagery describe how those being spoken to in the poem (and those reading the poem) are to explore, understand, and enjoy all poetry. Without the imagery that Collins applies in the poem, there would be no gateway for the meaning or the instructions that the speaker gives his/her class. The meaning that Collins intended the reader to take away from the poem is explained in the different uses of imagery that he applied.
The …show more content…
The speaker tells the class to “...walk inside the poem’s room/ and feel the walls for a light switch.” (7-8). The instructions are continuing and telling the students to go into the poem blindly and with an open mind in order to thoroughly examine and understand what the poem is trying to say. Lines nine, ten, and eleven advance with more visual imagery, along with some kinesthetic when the speaker asks the class to wave “...at the author’s name on the shore” as they “...waterski/ across the surface of a poem” (9-11). The speaker is telling the students to have fun and enjoy the poem while also “meeting” the author and learning about them. The meaning of the poem is almost entirely clear to the reader through the images that are used by the poet at this point in the poem. From the beginning to line eleven, the instructions for reading and scrutinizing poetry are explained using the different images that Collins inputs, and this is the exact meaning that Collins intended for readers to understand. The visual and small bit of kinesthetic imagery in these lines continue to inform the reader on how Collins wishes people would read
The …show more content…
The speaker tells the class to “...walk inside the poem’s room/ and feel the walls for a light switch.” (7-8). The instructions are continuing and telling the students to go into the poem blindly and with an open mind in order to thoroughly examine and understand what the poem is trying to say. Lines nine, ten, and eleven advance with more visual imagery, along with some kinesthetic when the speaker asks the class to wave “...at the author’s name on the shore” as they “...waterski/ across the surface of a poem” (9-11). The speaker is telling the students to have fun and enjoy the poem while also “meeting” the author and learning about them. The meaning of the poem is almost entirely clear to the reader through the images that are used by the poet at this point in the poem. From the beginning to line eleven, the instructions for reading and scrutinizing poetry are explained using the different images that Collins inputs, and this is the exact meaning that Collins intended for readers to understand. The visual and small bit of kinesthetic imagery in these lines continue to inform the reader on how Collins wishes people would read