Billy Collins’ “Introduction to Poetry” is about trying to help people understand poetry. Most people use poetry to relate to a certain life situation and just see the poem at face value. Very rarely do people actually dissect a poem, or see a poem for what it actually is. In the first stanza, “poem” is associated with “a color slide”, it creates a solid imagery that readers have to squint their eyes in order to look at the slide clearly under the light or by using the projector. In the second stanza, “poem” is compared to “a hive”, it might be difficult to fully understand a poem, but one can prosper despite the complications, similar to risking one’s safety to have physical contact with bee hives. In the third and fourth stanza, Collins compares “poem” to “a maze” and “a room in a house”, this reveals the feelings of hurt, defeat and doubt. Sylvia Plath’s “Metaphors” is about a woman who feels unimportant during her pregnancy. Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” emphasizes the pressures that young women face to conform to stereotypical ideals of feminine beauty. The girl described in the first four lines of the poem seems to be a “normal” American girl in most respects. She has a typical birth and is given the kinds of toys that encourage girls to think of themselves as …show more content…
Two of the poems in this book are “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess”. In “Porphyria’s Lover”, Browning presents an understanding to the irrational mind of a selfish man, while “My Last Duchess” tells a story about the Duke of Ferrara telling a guest that his wife was murdered and what the motive was. The two speakers share similar qualities, both being greedy and unashamed. The difference between the narrators is how they show their love for the women. Using dramatic monologue, the author lets the reader explore the strange thinking of the