Analytical Essay On 9/11, By Billy Collins

September 11, 2001, is arguably one of the most horrible and unbelievable events to ever occur in the United States’ history. The event of this day triggered numerous emotions in all Americans and likely affected every person in the world in some kind of way. The way United States citizens lived and their very own freedom came under attack in a series of deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in the airplanes driven by the terrorist hijackers or in the World Trade Center offices and Pentagon building as secretaries, businessmen, and women. Federal workers, military, and law enforcement officers who assisted after the airplanes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon building were among the victims, as well. The whole country was in shock while watching the news that fearful day, especially the victims’ families. Thousands of lives were suddenly

In the first stanza he says, “Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night. A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze” (5). When Billy Collins used the word” night” I feel like he is letting his readers know that his feelings of this time are gloomy and dark, yet when he uses the word “breeze” it lets the audience know it would be better to move on and go with the wind or as normal. He used the words “gloomy” and “dark” to really set the mood of the poem because it makes readers know that this poem should be taken seriously. Collins uses allegory in his poem by using the letters of the alphabet to represent each victim that was lost in the attacks. He finds a letter for the people unaccounted for. Many people went unaccounted for. Collins uses the letter X to describe them: “Let X stands, if it can, for the ones unfound” (40). When Billy Collins used this allegory I felt that he is emphasing the fact that there were so many people lost that it would be almost impossible to recall all the names of the people who were