Introduction To Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
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.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
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The author of this poem is expressing that he believes that poems are meant to be explored, not studied and interrogated. When one strips a poem down bit by bit and tries to make it say something outright, one loses the beauty and depth of what the author is trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stefani. The author is trying to convey the fact that every poem ever published is amalyzed to death and critiqued in the same general manner. One shouldn't do this, for all poetry is individualized just like the author. Poetry should be appriciated and accepted in the light of its own beauty.
ReplyDeleteToo many times a poem is read and understood in its most shallow meanings and it truly should be picked apart. I believe that Collins believes that poems can only be truly understood after you ponder the meanings of bits and pieces of the poem, line by line, stanza by stanza, and then as a whole.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to what Stefani has stated (because, frankly, her comment is spot-on), I also get the feeling that Collins says poems try to encompass all of the senses, in the same way a well-written piece of prose will, and that by "torturing a confession" out of the poem for an almost clinical 'analysis', it compresses the poems dimentions which both allows huge parts of its essence to escape as well as leaving the reader/interrogator behind with a blurred and flat image, something completely different from what the author conveys.
ReplyDeleteWhat Collins says in the last couple lines sounds like what people are incorged to do when analyzeing poems, which is disecting every little piece of it until there is no way or direction in which they don't understand it. But poetry often should be just be read and felt. When you take it apart so much, it loses the deeper meaning that you're trying to find in the first place. Somtimes the deep meaning of a poem just has to be felt in your subconcious or like a soft note in the back of your head; thats what makes it special.
ReplyDeleteThis poem really does say a lot about the human mind.It expresses our unwillingness to learn from those that have come before. If we could learn anything from this poem, it should be to never underestimate the truth in literature.
ReplyDeleteI think Collins is saying that one should try to better understand a poem by searching their own experiences and feelings and trying to relate with what is being said. They may learn something from the poem to make that experience have more meaning than before. One should have fun while analyzing a poem and let the mind flow free.
ReplyDelete-Philip Wolfe
I think Collins is also saying that people like to attach just one meaning to a poem, when in reality, a poem can have infinitely many meanings, a different one for each person who reads it. People try to beat a single confession out of a poem, when there is no single meaning.
ReplyDeletethis poem is saying that you don't need to think to hard about a poem and the meaning will come to you.
ReplyDelete- joey hanson
I believe that the author is saying that poems should not be analyzed in an scientific, academic manner. He is saying that poetry should be read for pure enjoyment and analyzed by deep thought, not by breaking it down bit by bit and looking at every single piece.
ReplyDelete-Zhijian Xing
The concept of a poem as a whole is to convey a hidden or deeper meaning. Sometimes meanings of poems appear to be an obvious, but ultimately contain vast worlds of thought and ideas that covered with a shell that must be broken by the reader. Collins is proving this point by saying that being over-analytical keeps the reader from breaking the shell to explore the depth of a poem.
ReplyDeleteI love the scientific imagery associated with the beginning of this poem (the mouse dropped into a maze, for instance) juxtaposed with the tying imagery at the end. I think Collins does sort of want us to approach poetry in a scientific manner in that he wants us to explore for the sake of exploring, learn for the sake of learning, be curious about the world around us. He doesn't want us to beat the poem to death just because some teacher wants us to. There should be a deeper reason for analyzing and enjoying the poem than "I had to explicate this poem for an assignment." Good thoughts on this one, guys. Collins is one of my favorite contemporary poets!
ReplyDeleteSounds like this poem i trying to show different ways of trying to understand a poem. I like the way he uses different senses and things that people use to explore a poem. I like the last part that they beat the poem with a hose.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Naatz
I really enjoy what he's saying here. Often in school, I feel like we're "forced" into dissecting poems, but sometimes only because we don't know how to do it for ourselves. If we truly knew how to read poetry, it wouldn't be torture.
ReplyDeleteCarley
I agree with Ms. Smith actually. Collins uses examples of scientific experimentation in its basic forms to show what he wants us to do to his poems. It makes me think of solving a poem as a mystery of nature, not as a being purposely hiding information from its reader. Looking for the mysteries in a poem, like listening to the inner workings of a beehive or searching for a light switch in the the dark, is a natural and beautiful experience, and out of it comes the joy of solving a puzzle, not the grim satisfaction of wrestling information out of an unhelpful prisoner.
ReplyDeleteIn response:
ReplyDelete"You'll never take me!" the poem cried
As we tried to beat the meaning out
"You'll never take me," the poem gently sighed
"For I would rather die
Than share my meaning
With brutal you
You, who cannot search, will never find
The truth inside my words."
But still we keep on beating
As the poem softly cries
And the meaning still eludes us
Our approach and attitude is crucial to whether or not we can find a deeper meaning, or it will change what meaning we take from it.
ReplyDeleteThis poem makes me think of what some students feel poetry is: mearly an analysis of lines and stanzas- trying to squeeze out some deep meaning from only a damp towel. Sometimes, the words need to be left alone to simmer, and not every stanza be disected
ReplyDeleteI think Collins is saying it's not about what the poem means; it's the experience the poem gives you when you read it. Poems are adventures, not science projects.
ReplyDeleteCollins is saying to explore a poem like a scientist by being as curious as possible, but to just observe it and not disect every little part to find the true meaning. The true meaning is what you, personally, get from it, not what you are expected to find.
ReplyDeleteMary Eisenhower
I think this poem symbolizes that when poems are made it should be creative, and the poems should not require people looking in dictionary's, etc..
ReplyDeleteTake a poem, and analyze it, analyze it, and find its meaning.
ReplyDelete(Joke Response: Do some pretty odd stuff with a piece of paper because you don't like it.)
everyone gets something different out of a poem. And what one poem means to one person may have the total opposite effect on another person. So I believe that you should just read the poem and decide what it means to you and not try to analyze the poem word by word.
ReplyDelete