Cameron Davidson
Professor Brenda Barner
Intro to Contemporary Literature
15 Oct. 2015
Poem Analysis Most poems are about a certain theme. From love poems to pieces relating to times of the past, poetry can vary differently from other forms of literature. Poems are usually shorter and don't always give us as the readers a chance to grasp what is coming at us. How one evaluates poetry can differ greatly between others, as does one's understanding of a poetic piece. We as humans may have different views on the way a poem is presented, the poem's theme, or the characters of the story. For me, Billy Collins strikes a nerve, and by that, I am interested in his poetry. It isn't just interest that made me choose him to discuss, but his poems have …show more content…
The first thought that came into my head while reading this poem was the description of the time by Collins. He writes “On hot afternoons they sweat the final in the park and when it's cold they shiver around stoves reading disorganized essays out loud.”(Collins 7). For some odd reason, this made me think of schools back in the early 1920s and how they were designed and built, and that is why this poem interested me, is because of that thought. I feel like I took a step back when reading “Schoolsville” because of the way Collins describes the scenery. Next, what does this poem mean to me? Consider the quote “The population ages but never graduates.” When I look at this quote, it occurs to me that either these people in class are unteachable or they go on to bigger and better things and struggle with those ideas. For me, it would be that the class seems unteachable, in my opinion, since none of them graduate, but they age. Another point in this poem that I like is the way Collins describes the pupils in this class of creative writing. He writes “But the boy who always had his hand up is an alderman and owns the haberdashery. The girl who signed her papers with lipstick leans against the drugstore, smoking, brushing her hair like a machine.”(Collins 7).
This quote to me means one thing, at least in my mind. It means that if you ask questions and understand material being thrown at you. The boy goes far and is
Professor Brenda Barner
Intro to Contemporary Literature
15 Oct. 2015
Poem Analysis Most poems are about a certain theme. From love poems to pieces relating to times of the past, poetry can vary differently from other forms of literature. Poems are usually shorter and don't always give us as the readers a chance to grasp what is coming at us. How one evaluates poetry can differ greatly between others, as does one's understanding of a poetic piece. We as humans may have different views on the way a poem is presented, the poem's theme, or the characters of the story. For me, Billy Collins strikes a nerve, and by that, I am interested in his poetry. It isn't just interest that made me choose him to discuss, but his poems have …show more content…
The first thought that came into my head while reading this poem was the description of the time by Collins. He writes “On hot afternoons they sweat the final in the park and when it's cold they shiver around stoves reading disorganized essays out loud.”(Collins 7). For some odd reason, this made me think of schools back in the early 1920s and how they were designed and built, and that is why this poem interested me, is because of that thought. I feel like I took a step back when reading “Schoolsville” because of the way Collins describes the scenery. Next, what does this poem mean to me? Consider the quote “The population ages but never graduates.” When I look at this quote, it occurs to me that either these people in class are unteachable or they go on to bigger and better things and struggle with those ideas. For me, it would be that the class seems unteachable, in my opinion, since none of them graduate, but they age. Another point in this poem that I like is the way Collins describes the pupils in this class of creative writing. He writes “But the boy who always had his hand up is an alderman and owns the haberdashery. The girl who signed her papers with lipstick leans against the drugstore, smoking, brushing her hair like a machine.”(Collins 7).
This quote to me means one thing, at least in my mind. It means that if you ask questions and understand material being thrown at you. The boy goes far and is