Introduction to Poetry

I feel guilty writing this blog post after having read "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins. The central theme of the poem is that poetry should be felt and experienced, not criticized and analyzed. To convey this message, he compares poetry to different experiences. The poem is full of metaphors in these different experiences. The author says, "Drop a mouse into a poem/ And watch him probe his way out" to show that, like many science experiments and research, poetry is confusing. The image that comes to mind when I read this is a mouse running through one of those little mazes, sometimes never finding its way out or making it out in record time. The author uses this to show that poetry might not always make sense, and like a mouse can get different results running through a maze, readers can get different results reading poetry. He also compares reading a poem to "feel[ing] the walls for a light switch." Looking for a light switch is almost a scary experience. Dark is something everyone is a little bit afraid of, and when you look for a light switch its really all you want- safety and comfort. Looking for something you know is there is kind of what poetry is like. Every reader seems to know there is a meaning somewhere in there and they hunt for it because they want to know what the poem is about. I really liked the author's line about water-skiing, because it is something I really enjoy doing. When you water ski, you have so much and so little control at the same time. On one side, you can try and control which side you stay on more and how much tension you want between you and the rope. On the other though, one little wave can throw you off really easily and surprise you. I think this is kind of the beauty of poetry. There are many ups and downs and its almost all something you cannot control. His last lines are the most powerful where he ridicules people for doing exactly what I am doing now- digging into poems.