Nostalgia Billy Collins Analysis
Born in 1941 in New York, Billy Collins has grown to become an excellent writer. He currently appointed as the Poet Laureate of the United States. Billy Collins poems discuss human experiences with in life to relate to the reader. The experiences discussed or remembrance, questioning, and love. A common theme of life that can be seen "Nostalgia" is remembrance. Throughout this poem Collins talks about these characters who remember a time period, "These views assume that nostalgia depends, in some way, on comparing a present situation with a past one" (Howard). The first character begins with, "Where has the summer of 1572 gone? Brocade and sonnet marathons were the rage" (6-7). The first character is remembering a time when a certain activity …show more content…
Collins opens up with this to show how important his lover is to him, by doing this he sets the tone of the poem. People tend to do this as well, often people tell each other how important or valuable they are to them to create a sense of love. Collins refers to Shakespeare when he compares a woman to his favorite season (1). As humans, love is a natural thing, and Collins makes that very prominent in the way he flatters his lover so easily. This is relatable because when people love each other they often say sweet complements. Then Collins explains how to flatter, "…the convention of flattering the beloved by comparing her to various aspects of nature" (1140). In the second stanza the poem takes a turn when he begins to insult the woman (Collins 1140). With every relationship comes the bitter part as well. He begins to say this woman does not smell good or look good (10-15). Collins does an excellent job by truly capturing the whole picture of love, even the bitter parts. Love is a definite characteristic of life that can be seen in Collins poems. Billy Collins is an excellent writer that is easy to read, yet is relatable. Billy Collins poems have an insightful look on life is a reoccurring theme. Characteristics of life that are seen are remembrance, questioning, and
Analysis Of Jacqueline Woodson's When A Southern Town Broke A Heart
433 Words | 2 PagesIn the story, When a Southern Town Broke a Heart, Jacqueline Woodson uses a variety of symbolism and metaphor to show that when you get wiser, your perception of things change. One example of Woodson conveying this theme is when she writes, “When the deep green beauty revealed my place and time in history and laid claim to that moment all children know, when the tendrils of adulthood move toward us, showing themselves long before we are ready to see.” This quote describes when she realized the nostalgia of her home was masking the bitter and unfortunate side that “adulthood” is showing her. This directly relates to the theme because as she becomes wiser and more experienced, (the tendrils of adulthood) her perception changes. (showing themselves long before we are ready to see.)
Compare And Contrast Billy Collins And E. B White
778 Words | 4 PagesThis also proves the theme of man’s inner struggle as White is shown to be facing an identity crisis. Similarly, in “Forgetfulness”, Collins develops the story by describing how he is lost and has nowhere to go because everything he once remembered is “slipping away” (Collin 4). By this, Collins is alluding to death. This meaning that the act of him forgetting his memories foreshadows the fact that his death is near. To demonstrate this point, Collins uses diction that resembles his emotional state of distress as he uses words such as “floated”, “oblivion” and “forgotten”
Rhetorical Modes
1389 Words | 6 PagesWhile he looks fondly on memories of the past the looming presence of the present and future are very prominent throughout his essay. Their expert use of narration assists the telling of their stories and how they view their past experiences.
Phillis Wheatley's 'On Virtue'
921 Words | 4 PagesThroughout the poem, she uses pathos to convey her thinking and reasoning to the reader, but with doing so she also conjures up feeling with her use of syntax. She uses words such as strive, wonder, despair, bliss, sacred, and joys which makes the reader feel joyous for her journey to deeper understanding of God and the way to understanding love which in the end is all she wants. The concept that virtue means love is never implied but with abstract thinking and knowledge of the era, words such as Chastity and promised bliss appeals to the idea she is speaking of her virginity which is what the person who is courting her would want to seek and receive. Wheatley believes virtue to be “goodness” and even though it’s difficult for her to understand she still wants it, and in the end, she is granted what she “strived” for. With her apostrophe approach to the poem, she granted an endless possibly to what she truly meant and by doing so she created a work that can change after every
Changes In Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine
877 Words | 4 PagesThe Ever-Changing Summer Summer. One of the greatest times of the year. There’s no school, no homework, no bedtime, warm weather, friends, and fun for the boys of Green Town. In the novel, Dandelion Wine written by Ray Bradbury, is about this season. In the book, the reader follows the story of Douglas Spaulding a young boy from a small neighborhood located in Green Town, Illinois.
Theme Of The Afterlife And The History Teacher By Billy Collins
1038 Words | 5 PagesCollins uses humor such as “Others are standing naked before a forbidding judge who sits/with a golden ladder on one side, a coal chute on the other” (12-13). Humor often attracts the reader; Collins uses his comical personality in hyperboles of religious beliefs. Throughout the poem, he discusses the different historical beliefs about what happens after death.
Poem Analysis: Oxygen By Mary Oliver
303 Words | 2 PagesThe author describes the beautiful sound of air; she places value on her partner's life, considers him to be precious. She also mentions
Billy Collins Schoolsville Analysis
742 Words | 3 PagesHe could imagine his deception of this town “nestled in a paper landscape,” (Collins 534). This image of the speaker shows the first sign of his delusional ideas of the people in his town. Collins create a connection between the speaker’s teacher teaching life and retired life in lines five and six of the poem. These connections are “ chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard,” which compares images that the readers can picture.
Literary Analysis Of Good Times By Lucille Clifton
1381 Words | 6 PagesBy nature, shorter poems are more densely packed with cues and devices because authors cannot express their intended message over the sweeping length of a poem but rather they must be more concise and creative. A poet may write a shorter poem to juxtapose a simple surface message to a more meaningful deeper message. Thus, complexity and artistic value are unrelated to length, but rather, they are developed through masterful writing. “Good Times” by Lucille Clifton embodies the double-edged sword of complex storytelling within a short poem, as she identifies the speaker 's occasional good memories to develop an image of the speaker’s typical abject life. The short poem is crafted with patterns of repetition, for there are so few lines to fit meaningful insight into.
Funeral Blues And Remember Analysis
1774 Words | 8 PagesThe term “remember” runs, like a refrain throughout the sonnet. However, its power seems to decrease through the poem, rather as if the voice and memory of the speaker is fading from life. The word “remember” is repeated six times within the poem, which expresses the desire of a speaker whose hope is that her lover, will keep her memory alive beyond death. The repeated use of “remember” and “remember me” indicate the strength of the speaker’s desire to not be forgotten, although this forceful plea is relaxed at the end of the poem when the speaker acknowledges that the happiness of her beloved is ultimately the most important thing. This is the general message of the poem, the happiness of others are ultimately more important than keeping the memory of a loved one alive as it will inevitably pain you too much to do.
Difference Between Serenity And Nostalgia-Proneness
1493 Words | 6 PagesNostalgia and Nostalgia-Proneness Nostalgia translates from Greek as the burning wish to return (Sedikides, Wildschut & Baden, 2004) and was originally defined as a medical condition by Hofer (1688/1934) to describe extreme homesickness. While originally viewed as a negative phenomena, modern conceptualization describes nostalgia an evocation of mixed emotional states where one feels mostly positive emotions towards one’s past with a hint of negative affect towards missing the one’s past (Abeyta, Routledge, & Juhl, 2015; Wildscut et. al., 2006). Holak and Havlena (1998) associated nostalgia with tenderness, exhilaration, loss, serenity and pleasure. Research has suggested that nostalgia can be triggered by negative emotions in order to counteract
How Did Yeats Become A Transcendentalism
1162 Words | 5 PagesThe speaker, talking to his lover, gives her detailed instructions to open the book in which this poem can be found and to read it. While reading, she should recall all the people that loved her for both true and false reasons, largely because of her beauty. The Yeats goes on to tell the lover that there was one man, more than likely the speaker, who loved her unconditionally. In the last stanza, the speaker tells his former lover that she should never forget that this love did not last, and she should be filled with regret because of it ("When You Are
Analysis: The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Yuppie
334 Words | 2 PagesThe poem also presents a nostalgic feeling given the fact that there are images suggesting what his surroundings look like before—as
William Butler Yeats Research Paper
1273 Words | 6 PagesThe face of poetry as a whole in Ireland and in the rest of the world has been changed forever because of one man, William Butler Yeats, who was “the greatest poet of the 20th century”. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 and was the leader of the Irish Literary Renaissance. As a Nobel Prize winner, a poet, and a play writer, he was able to write very detailed poems that caught the attention of the reader by utilizing themes and emotions no one else has ever used before in poetry. Yeats uses his experiences in life to allow him to be able to write higher quality poems that draw out thoughts and emotions from the reader. William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865 in Sandymount, Ireland; 20 years after the great Irish potato
The Old Prison
875 Words | 4 PagesThe poet is emphasising how if an environment is lacking love, an individuals emotional happiness is diminished. Wright's use of rhyme in "They did not breed nor love each in his cell alone cried as the wind now cries through this flute of stone. " emphasises the lack of intimate relationships experienced by
More about Nostalgia Billy Collins Analysis
Analysis Of Jacqueline Woodson's When A Southern Town Broke A Heart
433 Words | 2 PagesCompare And Contrast Billy Collins And E. B White
778 Words | 4 PagesRhetorical Modes
1389 Words | 6 PagesPhillis Wheatley's 'On Virtue'
921 Words | 4 PagesChanges In Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine
877 Words | 4 PagesTheme Of The Afterlife And The History Teacher By Billy Collins
1038 Words | 5 PagesPoem Analysis: Oxygen By Mary Oliver
303 Words | 2 PagesBilly Collins Schoolsville Analysis
742 Words | 3 PagesLiterary Analysis Of Good Times By Lucille Clifton
1381 Words | 6 PagesFuneral Blues And Remember Analysis
1774 Words | 8 PagesDifference Between Serenity And Nostalgia-Proneness
1493 Words | 6 PagesHow Did Yeats Become A Transcendentalism
1162 Words | 5 PagesAnalysis: The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Yuppie
334 Words | 2 PagesWilliam Butler Yeats Research Paper
1273 Words | 6 PagesThe Old Prison
875 Words | 4 Pages