CONNECT WITH YOUR GRANDCHILDREN: Lesson #5

CONNECT WITH YOUR GRANDCHILDREN: Lesson #5   William,   We are now going to look at a poem by Billy Collins, one of my favourite poets. Whenever I have to go somewhere and wait, for example when I took our car in to replace the winter tires, I take a book of his poems with me and read them. Poems are meant to be read over and over again, and when you do that, you often discover new meanings or relish certain words or phrases that the poet has used.   I chose this poem because he suggests how to read a poem and how not to. Good advice for anyone who tries to “understand” a poem. He also says that we should read poetry aloud because it depends a lot on sound and rhythm so please always read a new poem aloud.   Poets rely on imagery such as similes and metaphors that pack a solid punch like a proficient boxer in the ring who can knock his opponent out with a single, powerful thrust, one big swipe of his fist. In this poem, notice the images that he uses. They are simple yet powerful, one of the qualities that I like most about Collins.   Dubbed “the most popular poet in America” by Bruce Weber in the New York Times, Billy Collins is famous for conversational, witty poems that welcome readers with humor but often slip into quirky, tender, or profound observation on the everyday, reading and writing, and poetry...   Please Read Aloud -     INTRODUCTION TO POETRY   by Billy Collins   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.

 

Please watch and listen to Introduction to Poetry - Billy Collins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxZWaonSuoo

 let me know when finished.

 

 

So let’s look at his “Introduction to Poetry.”

 

Read the poem again like he suggests - like you are water-skiing over its surface. Just enjoy it. Don’t try to analyze it. Now, read it a second time a little slower. Let me know when finished.

 

Notice that his beginning is a little dated. Nobody looks at slides anymore, but still, it’s a good image because of that. And you can’t hold a slide up to the light and really appreciate the picture on it. You need a projector. What or who do you think is the projector? If you said, “the person reading the poem,” you are right.

 

 

 

In what four ways does he suggest through similes and metaphors that we “read” a poem? And why are these images effective?

 

You could use these images to help you understand any writing, but they are most appropriate with poetry.

 

 

 

Beehive for sound

 

Mouse finding its way in a maze

 

Looking for light switch in dark room

 

He wants readers to water-ski. What does that mean? HAVE FUN!

 

But what do most people do with poems?

 

 

Unfortunately, many students are taught the last way that he says we often treat a poem. Beating some meaning out of it like a confession! Why is that ineffective?

 

 

So - the idea that he suggests - is that we enjoy the poem. Don’t make it a puzzle. Okay?