Summary Of Billy Collins's 'Picnic Lightning'

Among other essays I have read in this book, the essay El Camino Doloroso written by David Searcy seems to have won my heart over the other ones. This story is short; in fact, it only has three pages, but the message Mr. Searcy conveys surpass these simple pages. To be honest, I have to read this essay three times to understand what is going on with the character and what is happening in this story. At last, I come up with this: In this essay, David Searcy wants those who believe dreams are flaws and useless to think that dreams and love are those that motivateki people to live.

I agree with Karl Shapiro’s statement: “The poet really does see the world differently, and everything in it. He does no deliberately go into training to sharpen his senses; he is a poet because his senses are naturally open and vitally sensitive. But what the poet sees with his always new vision is not what is " imaginary"; he sees what others have forgotten how to see."

The multifaceted nature of the human condition encompasses all aspects of human life at both an individual and collective level and delves into the notion of humanity and the values it comprises. Gwen Harwood’s poems’ “Father and Child” and “Mother who gave me life,” and Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery” (1998), explore the dynamic and often contradictory nature of the human condition. Harwood portrays the transience of time and inescapable truth of mortality, illustrating the ever changing complexion of the human experience. Whereas, Jackson examines the capability of all humans to be violent and cruel while questioning whether such tendencies can be masked by a constrictive society’s heartless ideals.

Billy Collins appropriately created the title “Schoolsville” for this poem. The title is broken down and is imagined by readers of a little town occupied by former students who still act as they did in high school. From the beginning line, it is clear to the reader that the speaker is reminiscing his past by “glancing over my shoulder at the past,” (Collins 534). By stating, “I realize the number of students he has taught is enough to populate a small town,” also adds to the image created by the title (Collins 534). The speaker has taught so many years that his former students could populate a town.

The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is a narrative poem which tells a story of a young man, wallowing in melancholy, as he grieves for the death of his lover named Lenore. With the death of a great love as its theme and key image, the poem was able to satisfy some key points from the two great literary critics, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which will be discussed in detail throughout this paper, respectively.

The poem, “Eating Together” by Kim Addonizio is about a woman observing a friend at a restaurant. Not only is her friend eating, but she is also slowly dying. There is a hidden message behind the poem to convey a certain message. Kim Addonizio uses tone, personification, word choice, and description to get the message across to the readers. While there are a plethora of tools, restrictions, and conventions for making a poem, a variety of genres can incorporate a similar message.

“I have a rendezvous with Death”. This poem is written by Alan Seeger. It talks about situation of speaker in war on theme of death. He starts his title “I have a rendezvous with Death” with paradoxical words. The word "rendezvous" is a positive term where people arrange to meet each other with willing. For the word "Death" also known as in negative term means losses that no one wants to meet with him. He also uses ironic diction. There are three stanzas; six, eight, and ten lines. Including to rhyme scheme throughout each stanza.

The poem, “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe dramatizes the theme of everlasting love. The use of contrasting diction effectively conveys this message. For example, the speaker states, “That the wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee” (26-26). Poe uses the wind to represent a disease, such as tuberculosis. In addition, the choice of the words, “chilling” and “killing” and the use of cacophony emphasize Annabel Lee’s death and the effect it had on the speaker. Later, the speaker declares that neither angels nor demons “Can ever dissever my soul from the soul / Of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (32-33). Euphony occurs throughout the entirety of this quote, in phrases such as “my soul from the soul” and “the beautiful

“Death is a distant rumor to the young” (Rooney). The idea of death is often an afterthought to individuals. One does not simply wake up every day of their life and contemplate their own passing or that of another. “The Road Out of Eden”, a short story written by Randall Grace, is about a group of children that face torment from a bully. The children make a rational decision to end their suffering by murdering the bully, their first encounter with death. The story can be contrasted to “The School”, written by Donald Barthelme, which is about elementary students that encounter death on a regular basis. The common occurrence of deaths range anywhere from simple trees to intricate humans. “The School” and “The Road Out of Eden” showcase how the concept of death reflects fear and uncertainty on individuals evidently through the themes of innocence, grief, and acceptance.

Therefore Collins expressed various examples throughout the poem. “When I peer into the woods, I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden. As in a puzzle concocted for children.” The narrator compares letters that are hidden in a puzzle that was made are children. In a similar fashion Collins writes “Names lifted from a hat Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.” Which in other words mean how spontaneous death is. “So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.” (line 30) In this line a crowded room and an overflowing heart is being compared to each

The affect change has on its surroundings and anything involved could be very detrimental depending on the situation. The poems “Mid-Term Break” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” are similar, for they are both poems that talk about change. Throughout these poems, it is displayed that change has a negative effect on its surroundings because what comes first, which is the youth that is considered precious, comes to an end and what follows is second best. The first stage of life is precious and when it changes, or ages, a period of grief comes as a result.

The two poems “Out, Out” and “Disabled” share similar points of view but have completely different structures. The poem “Disabled” was written in 1917 by a young man called Wilfred Owen. It expresses the bitter thoughts of a teenaged veteran who lost his legs in World War I. It describes the horrible effects of the brutal war and the hardships of disability. On the other hand, the poem “Out, Out” was written in 1916 by Robert Frost. The poem is about a child living in the hills of vermont doing wood working when he suddenly chops one of his hand off. At the end he dies a brutal death. These two poems both have an abundance of tragedy.

Turning twenty-one years old puts a person in a position to be universally regarded as an adult. Both Samuel Johnson in his poem, To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age, and A.E Housman’s, When I was One and Twenty, recollect memories when they once dealt with this adamant yet subtle time in their lives briskly unaware of the troublesome times that lied ahead. The writers’ use of provoking details, vivid imagery and a hint of irony, create a visually appealing description regarding the stubborn new adults, while both speakers recall and account their own experiences.

The speaker has endured tragic loss and after realizing the importance to carry on, she finds solace and assurance with the realization that her parents who are now dead do not care about her current actions, and she can carry on with her life knowing that the sorrow she faces will not prevail for much longer after she passes away. The speaker questions what the dead are thinking by rhetorically asking, “And what of the dead? / They lie without shoes / in their stone boats” (13-15). The metaphor about graves being stone boats shows the inability to avoid death because boats made out of stone will always sink, forever unable to rise to the surface. Just like she is swallowed up by her grief, her dead parents are the stones that were swallowed up by the waves, symbolizing death’s certitude. In the end of the poem she finally answers her rhetorical question about what the dead feel and comes to the conclusion that even blessing them is useless, for they cannot hear when she says, “They refuse / to be blessed, throat eye, and knucklebone” (16). They have no voice so they cannot speak, they have no sight so they cannot see, and they have no touch so they cannot feel. Following the

The theme of death is apparent in all of the poems. Some are natural deaths, other deaths of planned or caused. The natural deaths are unavoidable whereas the other deaths are intentional. This creates a dissimilarity between some of the poems and how death is presented.