




               In Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins uses the repetition of metaphors to exaggerate his ideas about how poetry should be read. Collins explains that a poem is a living thing and should be read as such. He repeats the same idea in each stanza of the poem, changing the presentation but keeping the same meaning in each one. Overall this poem gives physical properties to the phrases to make a poem come alive and be something the reader can experience and be a part of, instead of just simply reading.

               Each phrase is more or less the same idea. A poem shouldn’t be read as words on a paper. A poem is something that a reader can be a part of. Readers should feel like they are living in the words and actually feeling the impact of them. Collins insist that poetry is fun and alive. When he says “I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the authors name on the shore” (Collins LL 9), he suggests that reading a poem can be just as fun as waterskiing. When reading a poem, you should think of it as something that is exciting and thrilling. In this phrase he also wants readers to know that there doesn’t have to be a deeper meaning behind everything. You should ride the surface of a poem taking it for what it is, and take from it what it gives. When reading sometimes the author wants readers to just read it for fun and let the meaning of it come to the reader. Poems will not mean the same to every reader. The meaning of a poem should come naturally and not be forced to be found. He expresses this with his last phrase “But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it” (LL 12). Its killing the life and purpose of the poem when you make it out to be something its not. It takes the joy from the poem when you examine it under the microscope and mechanically beat it to mean something. 

               The use of repetition of these phrases really drives in the point that Collins is trying make. Each phrase has a similar meaning behind it. What connects them all is that each phrase is given physical properties. In the first stanza he uses a separation in the text to show that the ideas were separate however they still tie in together. A separate metaphor with the same intention in both of them. In each phrase the poem becomes more and more alive. With each new personification the poem seems more lifelike as if you can actually waterski across it or you can actually “walk in the poems room and feel around for a light switch” (LL 7). He repeats the phrase’s ideas to make sure the reader understands that poetry doesn’t have to be boring. Poetry can be enjoyable. Just as living people mean differently to people, poetry is the same. The meaning of a poem is up to the reader and how they interpret it. 

              The message of the poem is to not force a meaning out of something that isn’t there. A writer can write something with an intended meaning behind it, but once they release it to the public to read it is no longer in their hands. It now becomes the reader’s responsibility to make a meaning of it for themselves. You cannot force something to have meaning. A reader brings background information and personal history with them and no two people share exactly the same life, so its only natural that a poem will not mean the same to different people. You take what you read and apply it to your personal experiences. If the poem doesn’t have a meaning that comes to you, a meaning shouldn’t just be given. You cant take something from a poem that simply isn’t there. Its better to leave with no meaning rather to give it one and it not make sense or have textual evidence. That’s why in each phrase of the poem the meaning is the same behind them all. It gives more opportunities for the reader to make a connection. The more things to connect to the more likely more people will draw a meaning from the poem. 

            Collins suggests that poems are living things or something that you can physically explore. He repeats this suggestion in each phrase to make readers understand that poetry isn’t something to be forced but something that should fun and meaningful. Poems shouldn’t be read and examined to find a meaning behind it. The meaning of a poem should just come to the reader. Poetry should be experienced and not just read. 