Taylor Purcell
Mrs. Lindquist
AP Literature
4 January 2023
Billy Collins’ love for literature began at a young age when his mother exposed him to the Beat Generation poets, which inspired him to write his first poem at the age of 12 (Green). Alongside his mother’s influence, his dad brought home copies of the journal Poetry which also contributed to his interest in literature (“Collins, Billy”). His style of writing tends to be ironic, by including the use of humor, and his poems usually revolve around the theme of death. His humorous tones can be seen in the poems Forgetfulness and The Art of Drowning, and the theme of death can be seen in the poems The Art of Drowning and The First Night. Although these are the most commonly used forms of writing
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Stylistically, Collins use of humor and irony, along with the common theme of death is what makes his poems stand out to readers by making a serious topic seem more lighthearted. However, his variety of themes is what ultimately makes him a noteworthy poet. In the poem Forgetfulness, Collins establishes his humorous tone through figurative language such as hyperbole, metaphor, and personification. The exaggeration in the poem is what creates Collins’ witty sense of humor. The line “Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye”, is an example of hyperbole because it is not meant to be taken literally (Collins). Collins is speaking to the reader in second person point of view and is explaining how we tend to forget more things that we once knew as we age. The reader didn’t actually kiss the nine muses names goodbye, this just suggests that their names have been forgotten, demonstrating the main theme of the poem, which is that forgetting is a part of life. By comparing a person’s memories to a retiree, Collins portrays how memories are forgotten. The line “the memories you used to