The poet Stephen Dunn once said about Collins’ poems, "We seem to always know where we are in a Billy Collins poem, but not necessarily where he is going. I love to arrive with him at his arrivals. He doesn't hide things from us, as I think lesser poets do. He allows us to overhear, clearly, what he himself has discovered."
I think that Billy Collins is different from other poets. What sets him apart is that he lets us know things that other poets would not have and this makes the reader feel more involved in the poem. His poems are very unique because they make you think something is going to happen, but in the end it does not. For example, in Flames (see below), a reader might wonder who Smokey is; is he or it human or animal? What is he or it doing? In my opinion, I think that Smokey is a bear who is tired of chasing away people who intrude his territory. He decides to give the humans a taste of their own medicine by choosing to start a fire so that they will stay away from him.
Billy Collins was born in New York City in 1941. He is the author of several books of poetry, including Ballistics (2008), She Was Just Seventeen (2006), The Trouble with Poetry (2005); Nine Horses (2002); Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001); Picnic, Lightning (1998); The Art of Drowning (1995), which was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Questions About Angels (1991), which was selected by Edward Hirsch for the National Poetry Series; The Apple That Astonished Paris (1988); Video Poems (1980); and Pokerface (1977).
Three poems:
The Art of Drowning
I wonder how it all got started, this business
about seeing your life flash before your eyes
while you drown, as if panic, or the act of submergence,
could startle time into such compression, crushing
decades in the vice of your desperate, final seconds.
After falling off a steamship or being swept away
in a rush of floodwaters, wouldn't you hope
for a more leisurely review, an invisible hand
turning the pages of an album of photographs-
you up on a pony or blowing out candles in a conic hat.
How about a short animated film, a slide presentation?
Your life expressed in an essay, or in one model photograph?
Wouldn't any form be better than this sudden flash?
Your whole existence going off in your face
in an eyebrow-singeing explosion of biography-
nothing like the three large volumes you envisioned.
Survivors would have us believe in a brilliance
here, some bolt of truth forking across the water,
an ultimate Light before all the lights go out,
dawning on you with all its megalithic tonnage.
But if something does flash before your eyes
as you go under, it will probably be a fish,
a quick blur of curved silver darting away,
having nothing to do with your life or your death.
The tide will take you, or the lake will accept it all
as you sink toward the weedy disarray of the bottom,
leaving behind what you have already forgotten,
the surface, now overrun with the high travel
of clouds.
Another Reason why I don’t Keep a Gun in the House
The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.
The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,
and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.
When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton
while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.
Flames
Smokey the Bear heads
into the autumn woods
with a red can of gasoline
and a box of wooden matches.
His ranger's hat is cocked
at a disturbing angle.
His brown fur gleams
under the high sun
as his paws, the size
of catcher's mitts,
crackle into the distance.
He is sick of dispensing
warnings to the careless,
the half-wit camper,
the dumbbell hiker.
He is going to show them
how a professional does it.
Acknowledgements:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/278
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-art-of-drowning/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/another-reason-why-i-don-t-keep-a-gun-in-the-hou/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/flames/
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Billy-Collins/797/comments
Lyrics to All Fall Down by One Republic:
Step out the door and it feels like rain
That's the sound (that's the sound) on your windowpane
Take to the streets but you can't ignore
That's the sound (that's the sound) you're waiting for
If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's where you'll find me. (Yeah)
God love your soul and your aching bones
Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below
Everyone's the same, our fingers to our toes
We just can't get a right, but we're on the road
If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's where you'll find me. (Yeah)
Lost 'til you're found
Swim 'til you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love 'til you hate
Strong 'til you break
Know that we all fall down
If ever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
Whenever your world starts crashing down
That's where you'll find (find) me
Lost 'til you're found
Swim 'til you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love 'til you hate
Strong 'til you break
Know that we all fall down
All fall down (x6)
Lost 'til you're found
Swim 'til you drown
Know that we all fall down
Love 'til you hate
Strong 'til you break
Know that we all fall down
1. There are several uses of figurative language in this song. For hyperbole, there is the phrase ‘all fall down’ which is repeated many times in the song especially the second last stanza (or bridge [or whatever it’s called]). It exaggerates the singer’s emotion that he is very sad that all people must eventually ‘fall down’.
There is personification in the song. This comes when the singer sings ‘… and your aching bones’. Bones are inanimate objects but humans can feel achy, so that means he is using personification.
As for metaphors, there is this part of the song:
“Lost 'til you're foundSwim 'til you drownKnow that we all fall down
Love 'til you hateStrong 'til you breakKnow that we all fall down”
This is linking falling down, which is not directly related to drowning or breaking or hating or being found, and linking it to these terms. From there, we can infer that falling down, is like failing to do something as there is always an end to things.
Next, there is simile. Unfortunately, I am not able to find any similes in this song so I am very sorry.
Lastly, there is the symbol. A symbol used in this song is the world crashing down. This symbolizes the singer’s sadness that people’s lives will all eventually fall apart.
2. I like this song because of its good use of instruments (the cello and guitar are utilized fully) to create the sombre atmosphere which the singer is in. The guitar and the cello are used to fill in gaps in the song and join the parts cohesively. The lyrics are also very meaningful as it teaches us that everyone has a down point in life but we must struggle to carry on with our lives. This tells us to persevere no matter what happens and to never give up as we will eventually find a way out of any dilemma that we might encounter in our lives.References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygoLat5y_4Q
One Republic’s album Dreaming Out Loud
Book Read: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
A Different Childhood
When I compare my childhood with that of Eragon’s, I feel that my life has been very boring compared to Eragon’s. Eragon’s life (until this book) was full of adventure. When he was still quite young (in the first book), he found a dragon’s egg. This egg hatched into a dragon he named Saphira. Together with Saphira and several other people, Eragon embarks on countless adventures to fight the evil Galbatorix and his minions. He encounters many difficulties and challenges, but every time he never fails to succeed (except one or two times). Even if he fails, he will not give up and will still go on and try to defeat Galbatorix. My life, on the other hand, has been very dull. I follow the same routine almost every day; nothing interesting ever happens to me. The closest I got to adventure is going to a theme park. I wish I could go on many exciting adventures like Eragon and meet more people.
Differences and Similarities Galbatorix and Eragon
Eragon and Galbatorix are both different and similar in several ways. Eragon and Galbatorix are both good at using magic and are also one of the very few dragon riders left. However they use their powers differently. They have far more differences than similarities between them. Galbatorix is a cruel and power-hungry dictator. He killed off all the remaining dragon riders after he realized that they were a threat to his power. He kept the heart of hearts of the dragons whose riders he had slayed to make himself more powerful. He also does not care about the lives of the people who serve him. One example is in Brisingr, when he had several hundred of his soldiers made immune to pain so that they could fight more people before dying. This shows that he was ruthless and only cared about killing his enemies, no matter how many of his own servants die doing this. Eragon, however, is the opposite. He is concerned about the lives of innocent civilians and even tries to refrain from killing his enemies. He feels bad when he is forced to kill people, even if they are trying to kill him. He is also kind. When he had a chance to kill Sloan, a person who had betrayed him, he chose not to, instead sending him to the elves kingdom to spend his life there.
Battling Varaug from Eragon’s Point of View
My thoughts crashed against a mental wall that was Varaug’s mind. His mind was so complicated, so incoherent; I feared I would go mad if I spent too much time battling him.
Suddenly, I felt that I had lost control. Varaug seized the chance, pushing past the barriers in my mind. I felt an excruciating pain surge throughout my body, and I could not do anything about it. I struggled as much as I could, but my efforts were to no avail; I could only stare at Varaug’s physical form, unable to do anything else.
“Yes!” Varaug cried with glee. “You are full of light! You will be able to feed us for a long time!” At that moment, Arya grabbed his wrist and broke it into three. She fell to the ground and rolled away before he could heal himself. I saw her gasp for air as she reached for her sword. The shade growled and pounced on Arya, wrestling for control of her weapon. Arya screamed and struck Varaug’s right temple with the pommel of her sword.
The shade looked as if it had fallen unconscious and Arya made full use of that time by scrambling back to her feet and backing away. I felt him lose control over my mind and I continued my attack on his consciousness, trying to restrain him for a few moments.
Varaug rose to his right knee, face contorted with loathing.
“You can’t kill me!” he said with anger in his voice. “I’m a Shade!” I doubled my efforts to restrain his mind and the Shade faltered for an instant.
“Get him now!” I shouted to Arya. She lunged forward, sword pointing downwards towards Varaug; sweat glistening in her dark hair.
And she stabbed him through the heart.
The Shade extricated himself from Arya’s sword looking shaken and took a few steps backwards. His skin started to fade and I could see the countless mass of evil spirits contained in him.
“NO!” he screamed in rage. “You cannot kill me!” As he said those words, the dark mass of spirits tripled in size and started seeping through his form.
“ARGH!” he screamed once more and he crumpled to the floor before his form exploded in a blinding flash of light. I had to cover my eyes to protect them from the strength of the light. When it was over, I saw what was left of the spirits fly in all directions, passing through the stone walls of the tower as if it were non-existent.
Why this Title is a Good One
I feel that this title is a good one as it contains an important part of the book. It is also very creative as it will attract a reader’s attention because they will not know what it means. This will add some mystery to the story. Brisingr actually means ‘fire’ in the Ancient Language, but people who have not read the book will not know. One part of the storyline is Eragon’s search for a new sword after Murtagh takes his original one after a fight in the previous book. When Eragon finally gets a sword worthy of a dragon rider, he names it ‘Brisingr’ which is the sword’s true name. Every time he says ‘Brisingr’, the blade of the sword will burst into flames, which hints that the sword is responding to its true name. The writer of the story, Christopher Paolini, probably wanted to highlight the importance of the sword in this book, thus he named the book Brisingr, which is quite creative.
