The Art Of Drowning Billy Collins Summary

Billy Collins’ poem, “The Art of Drowning,” describes to the reader how one’s death is insignificant to the rest of society. Through the sarcastic tone and rhetorical questions, the speaker informs the reader that life will go on after one’s death, and that the act of death flashing before one’s eyes is not a real experience; death is much simpler than that. In stanza one, the speaker presents his or her thoughts on death by saying “I wonder how it all got started, this business about seeing your life flash before your eyes while you drown…” The reader easily recognizes this common phrase about death, and is aware of the speaker’s skepticism of the concept of life flashing before one’s eyes during death. The speaker’s sarcastic tone also helps …show more content…
The speaker begins stanza four with saying, “Survivors would have us believe in a brilliance here.” This quote describes the act of people who had near-death experiences frequently explaining how their lives flashed before their eyes. They cause others to believe in this false idea of what death is like. The speaker goes into the reality of death at the end of stanza four and at the beginning of stanza five by stating, “But if something does flash before your eyes as you go under, it will probably be a fish, a quick blur of curved silver darting away, having nothing to do with your life or your death.” The speaker is informing the reader of a literal representation of what will happen when one drowns, implying that since one will not recall his or her life while drowning, it is therefore insignificant. The insignificance of one’s death is also expanded on in the quote “leaving behind what you have already forgotten, the surface, now overrun with the high travel of clouds.” This image of nature explains to the reader that life continues after