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Billy Collins Introduction To Poetry Essay

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The Fundamental Issues in Modern Formal Education
Formal education is a structured process that involves learning in a formal setting in a school or university. The purpose of formal education is to share knowledge, skills, and essential values from the teacher to the students. Additionally, it is aimed at preparing students for life beyond the classroom and into the workforce. However, formal education is a subject of debate, due to inconsistencies and common errors displayed in the classroom. Some believe it is an effective means of learning, while others question its effectiveness. In multiple poems written by Walt Whitman, Billy Collins, and Mark Halliday, they question the effectiveness of formal education through their genius and concise …show more content…

In the poem “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins, the speaker encourages readers to approach poetry with an open mind, using a mouse as an analogy for exploration. The title itself most likely refers to a college-level introductory course to poetry, which is contextually important to understand what the poem is speaking of thematically about the school system. The speaker states, “I say drop a mouse into a poem / and watch him probe his way out, / or walk inside the poem’s room / and feel the walls for a light switch.” (5-8). This metaphorically describes how one should approach analyzing a poem: to be curious, and to look for hidden meanings on their own. However, the speaker also acknowledges the tendency for students to approach poetry in a rigid, formulaic manner, “But all they want to do / is tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it” (13-15). This can be a result of students being overworked throughout high school, and simply completing a paper to receive the credit. By doing this, the school system risks drawing out the enjoyment and curiosity posed by reading. This poem highlights the need for formal education to allow for creative exploration and critical thinking, rather than imposing rigid rules and

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He could imagine his deception of this town “nestled in a paper landscape,” (Collins 534). This image of the speaker shows the first sign of his delusional ideas of the people in his town. Collins create a connection between the speaker’s teacher teaching life and retired life in lines five and six of the poem. These connections are “ chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard,” which compares images that the readers can picture.

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431 Words | 2 Pages

Billy Collins’s poetry is marked by - and loved for - its accessibility. His work is not too complex, and it is easier to understand than some others. The title of the poem, “Introduction to Poetry,” introduces us the theme of the poem. Throughout the poem Collins uses copious metaphors that when coalesced show the readers how to rightly read a poem and how not to.

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860 Words | 4 Pages

The poet Ted Kooser illustrates the agonies which every 3 to 25-year-old must come toe to toe with. In this nine-lined poem he narrates the tormented journey of a young boy who 's faced with the overwhelming weight of liabilities that he must carry to his library. The uniqueness of this poem is derived from comparing a student to a turtle, which I will elaborate further on. The purpose of the poem is to use the melancholy of many students in order to reveal their hardships . Every apt pupil understands being immersed in stress and strain of academia in order to persevere into a brighter future.

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This proves that Jack is confident about poetry because he is being inspired by other poetics and he is now starting to write his own poems. Throughout the book, Jack’s thoughts about poetry have grow from timid, then he changed to reluctant and enthusiastic, and now he is confident about poetry because he is now starting to enjoy poetry more and write his own

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998 Words | 4 Pages

However, it becomes clear fairly early on that while Collins and Wilbur may be using the same literary devices to present their takes on the subject, they are used in very different ways. From the first stanza and onward, the author uses a variety of short lines and sentences made up of rather simple diction, jumbled or grouped together into several small stanzas as an odd sort of organizational pattern that feels like it is mimicking the sporadic thoughts of a child, helping to still establish the child-like perspective that Wilbur’s poem had also had, and only adding further to the central idea of childhood innocence. Additionally, the lack of rhyme scheme and broken up presentation of the thoughts throughout the poem contribute to a more serious, straight-forward feeling than the first poem, which was expected when the first line of the first stanza directly stated that the teacher was “trying to protect his students’ innocence.”

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487 Words | 2 Pages

This poem conveys the importance of literacy to the oppressed (slaves)and its power. “Learning to Read” gives us an up close and personal look into the lengths slaves would go to learn how to read. In the poem, Chloe, a former slave, is expressing her account of how slaves were educated before and after slavery. She speaks in detail about the cleaver ways slaves would hide pages of books and ease drop, in the name of what we call “Education”. Back then, something as simple as reading, was a level of freedom and self-empowerment for slaves.

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1228 Words | 5 Pages

Some poems are lengthy, and some poems can be very short, however when analyzed, they all express a deeper message. For example, when examining the poem, "The Changeling," by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the reader can easily spot the important message which the author is trying to reveal to the reader through the use of poetic devices. When closely reading this poem, the language and the terminology applied by Cofer enhances the readers ability to make connections between the theme of this poem and how it can be applied to real world scenarios. The poetic devices incorporated into the poem, "The Changeling," reflect on how young children interpret gender roles in their own way.

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Free verse poems can, in a way, symbolize freedom because it allows you to ‘write freely’. It gives poets the chance to illustrate and communicate meaning through images, linges, and more. The use of free verse illustrates the freedom that the narrator felt by giving her unrestricted access to writing her poem however she wanted. Elhillo’s use of a free verse structure provides comfort and relaxation.

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Julia Alvarez, in her poem “’Poetry Makes Nothing Happen’?”, writes that poems do play a role in people’s lives. She supports her idea by using relateable examples of how poems might change someone’s life. Her first example is simple, poetry can entertain someone on long drives. This does not only aply to long dirves however, Alvarez uses this to show that poetry does not have to have a big influence on someone’s life, instead it can affect a person in the smallest of ways, such as entertainment. The second example describes poetry comforting someone after the loss of a loved one.

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Writer’s Statement I decided to write about year 12, as it is currently a very imposing part of my life which will decide the future I take. I decided a poem would allow me to best express my views to the reader on such a personally important topic with the use of imagery and language techniques. The pressure of school work combined with social and sport commitments lead to a very stressful experience. I decided to write a poem which reflected some of the beliefs, attitudes and feelings expressed by a year 12 throughout the year.

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In “The Trouble with Poetry” the speaker touches on the same idea of how poetry is so forced, and how it has lost its meaning as an expression and has become more of an addiction among

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Life can often be shaped based on the truths and extended truths that people are taught throughout their life. Billy Collins’ “The History Teacher” discusses the distorted truths that a history teacher gives to his students in an attempt to shield them from the harshness that history has revealed. The allusions throughout the poem stand to depict what the main character should be teaching, while the understatements point out the untruths the students are actually learning. The untruth the students are taught truly becomes revealed through the understatements throughout the poem as the teacher attempts to shield his students, ignorant of their cruel actions, which inevitably demonstrates the speaker’s criticism.

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630 Words | 3 Pages

Lisa needs that support as she goes forward in her life. We all need that safety net as we struggle forward; this message of the safety in the middle of the uncertain change is true and descriptive of our early college years today as well. IV. Conclusion: Reflections on Reading Poetry A. Reading poetry is often not as specific as prose, and it leaves more to the imagination; different words hold different meanings for different readers. B. In changing and moving into our own adult lives; our parents and grandparents often already know of the struggle we are going through.

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574 Words | 3 Pages

In the poem “For Poets”, by Al Young, the theme is the challenge of stepping out of your comfort zone and seizing moments in life. Young expands and argues his theme through the literary devices used in the poem. These literary devices include symbolism, hyperbole, and metaphor. Al Young portrays life’s obstacles, our society’s attitude towards self expression, and experiencing nature. In conclusion, life is a big obstacle and in order to live it, you must go out of your comfort zone and try your best to give it all you’ve

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811 Words | 4 Pages

The three year old boy was a genius at creating poems within three minutes. However, his father refused to provide him opportunities to improve his skills. Instead, he frequently took the boy to banquets held by the rich and would teach how to make a poem, in order to make some money. As time passed, the genius boy had grown mature, but he had lost his talent to make poems because of lack of education. The story teaches us that no matter how great your gifted talent is, you will still lose it if you don’t practice it.

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