Jumani 1

Fariha Ali Jumani

22 December 2016

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY

BY

BILLY COLLINS

A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

Stylistic Analysis- Introduction

Style is a trademark or distinctive feature of any person. It can help in acquiring a

prominent place for a writer. As literature has long served humanity since ages and much

has been written on every subject but how an old subject has been treated by a writer in a

new way, that remains a big challenge for writers. Hence it is the distinguished style that

earns a prestigious place for a writer in the field of literature particularly. Leech and Short

define style as

‘it refers to the way in which language is used in a given context, by a given person, for a

given purpose, and so on.’ (9)

They further claim that style is a diverse term with a greater scope, at times the term is

used for linguistic habits of a particular writer or sometimes refers to a way a language is

used in a particular genre, or sometimes to different eras and time periods etc. (10)

So with such variations and diversities it comes natural to organize the study of style

under particular category with organized patterns and divisions which makes the study
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easier to carry out, this study is termed as Stylistics, which is defined by Leech and Short

as,

‘the (linguistic) study of style, is rarely undertaken for its own sake, simply as an exercise

in describing what use is made of language.’(11)

And they assert the goal of such study as,

‘literary stylistics has, implicitly or explicitly,the goal of explaining the relation between

language and artistic function.’(11)

Hence artistic endeavour of a writer is considered as one of the important aspects of

judging style. Leech and Short condense the aim of literary stylistics in the following

words,

‘to relate the critic’s concern of aesthetic appreciation with the linguist’s concern of

linguistic description. ‘(11)

For the sake organized study and categorization of stylistic methods, Literary Stylistics is

organized into certain levels.

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Levels of Stylistic Analysis

Phonetic Level: It involves analysis of sound. It helps to analyze functions of sound in a

given work and how words are structured to produce certain sounds and what function

that sound is serving.

Phonological Level: Basically this level deals with the study of sound patterns of a given

language, rules of pronunciation, the rhyming scheme and utterance of the word in the

sentence.

Lexical Level: Lexical level involves the study of individual words and idioms in varied

context of linguistics. It also includes study of word formation, morphology and

semantics.

Grammatical Level: The main point of this level is to analyze the words, the

internal structure of sentences and to study how they are formed. To trace out

foregrounding and the

deviation,phrases, clauses,, words, nouns and verbs and other parts of speech are to be

distinguished.

Semantic Level: Semantic level helps to find out meaning in a language or piece of work.

Meaning are analyzed through study of individual and social points of view, context,

structure,word formation and discourse analysis.

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Theme of the poem

The main theme which is most dominating in the poem is that of misconceptions about

poetry in the minds of students, where students traditionally treat analysis of poetry as an

exhausting task which sometimes take the form of an obsessive act which results in

frustration and repulsiveness, as projected in the poem as’ They begin beating it with a

hose’ . Narrator who is a teacher tries to confront this traditional concept regarding poetry

by giving many hints to students which can be helpful for them in their analysis-task like,

‘I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide’

Here teacher guide students by teaching them first technique that is treating poetry as a

colour slide, where light might mean the light of their own common understanding. As

light is the sole component to look through color slide so can be the personal

understanding and imagination which according to narrator is as luminous as light.

Further this metaphor suggests the use of eyes as one of the senses to infer the meaning

out of a poem.

Then secondly the narrator says that ,

‘or press an ear against its hive. ‘

Which is the second tip he gives to interpret poetry, here the narrator compares a poem

with a hive, and he asks his students to hear the happenings within a hive, this proposes

the use of ears or hearing sense to decipher the meaning of a poem.

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Another hint the narrator gives is,

‘or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch. ‘

This recommends the use of one’s feeling about a poem. Hence the focus of narrator upon

the senses and feelings favours the aesthetic component of art and poetry, the techniques

that are pleasing and favourable, rather than burdening techniques that tend to exhaust

and disappoint students as well as teachers.

Another important theme in the poem is that of exploration, where Collins

encourages his students to inquisitive, rather ‘beating with a hose’ students should focus

upon exploring their own imagination with the help of their senses. In one stanza he says,

‘or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch. ‘

Students while analysing story are not only supposed to explore the meanings intended or

implied by a poem but rather they are advised to explore their own dark faculties of

imagination and activate their dormant senses. As mentioned at Shmoop,

We are asked to fumble around the walls of a dark room for a light switch. Again and

again, Collins presents us with this idea of exploration. (Shmoop Editorial Team)

Apart from these the narrator also wants his students to see poetry as a fun task.

He wants his students to relish poetry something as a cherished activity like water

skiing ,as he says,

‘I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem ‘

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As young students in their teenage or care-free phase want to engage in activities that

pleases them and where they are able to have fun, it is only then the students can

enthusiastically participate. So this is another strategy to keep students involved in poetry

willfully. Moreover by ‘across the surface’ narrator advocates that students should not be

forced to dive deep into the poems. They should not feel compelled to go into

philosophical and metaphysical aspects. Instead they should implore the surface

meanings which make sense to them and they feel pleased and enthusiastic to explore.

Narrative voice and characters in the poem

I = The poet or A teacher

Them = Students or Readers of poetry

Graphological aspects of the poem

The poem is written in blank verse. It is divided into seven stanzas. Three of the stanzas

of poem have two lines and three stanzas of poem have three lines and only one stanza

comprises of single line.

Diction

Diction means the choice of words that writer used as part of one’s style. Diction serves

to project the tone, atmosphere and mood of the work. Collins has used many strong

words that have helped him to better convey the themes and connotative meanings within

the poem. Words like probe, waterskiing and beating puts in movement and energy into
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the poem. Furthermore words are combined in every paragraph to present a vivid sense of

imagery which made the poem picturesque and imaginative.

Pronouns

The poems focuses on two pronouns ‘I’ and ‘them’. Where ‘I’ is a nominative personal

pronoun and ‘them’ is the objective personal pronoun. ‘I’ refers to teacher and ‘them’

refers to students. Here teacher is a subject and students are recipients or objects. The

focus upon these two pronouns shows that there is co-relative association between

teacher and students and similarly in context of the title of the poem we can presume

there is a creative association between students and poetry. The poem does show teacher

as a performer of the task, where teacher is instructing and students are taking

instructions but the instructions mentioned in the poem demands an active part from

students. Poet has used strong verb phrases for instructions like ‘hold it up to the light’ or

‘walk inside a poem’s room’ or ‘ I want them to waterski’. Hence suggesting that

education is not only involves active participation on part of a teacher but it also demands

active role from students.

Lexical Categories.

The poem mostly contains verbs and nouns which are thirteen and seventeen respectively.

The verbs used for the narrator are not very strong like ask, say and want whereas verbs

used for students as instructions are very strong and emphasizing like hold , press,

waterski, beating, tie etc. Furthermore the verbs used can safely be categorized under a

label ‘physical words’ as most of them involve a person’s hands and limbs like take, hold,
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press, walk, tie, wave etc, thenceforth encouraging an active participation. Thus

suggesting the emphasis is supposed to be given to the ideas or creations of students and

the poetry should be taken by students not any war to be won over but as a piece of art.

Secondly the nouns used in the poem are concrete nouns. It further focuses the main

theme of treating art as an enjoyable exploration. As art is approached first through

senses as a concrete entity the poet wants students to feel a poem first through, and want

them to devour the aesthetic pleasures offered by poetry rather than going into

philosophical and much complex intricacies which is not only a tortuous task for students

to perform but also make them repulsive towards poetic art. Hence Collins has used such

concrete words which can be easily perceived and interpreted by students. Moreover

Collins has not used any adjective in the poem. As the function of the adjectives is to

enhance the quality of a noun or a pronoun, the absence of adjectives in this poem

implies that a poem does not need extra embellishments to be appraised as these extra

accessories might distort the aesthetic factor from a poem and adds to its commercial and

miscellaneous purposes.

Tone

Tone is the overall attitude of the poet. The tone of the poet can be analyzed through the

use of words by examining words used, whether they are positive, negative or neutral. In

this poem we see that the tone of poet is that of frustration and hopelessness, where the

teacher who is also a narrator exhibits annoyance at students for not showing favourable

behaviour towards poetry, which according to narrator is to treat poetry as an art form but
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students take it as a compulsive act which not only serves to misrepresent art but also

make student’s behaviour irritated and bitter as shown at the end of the poem,

‘But all they want to do

Is tie the poem to a chair with a rope

And torture a confession out if it.

They begin beating it with a hose

To find out what it really means.

So it is demotivating for a teacher when he says something but it is taken as something

else.

The students want to find out what a poem truly means but narrator believes that in

poetry it’s not reality of that matters but it is creativity of a poet that counts and he wants

that creative process to be an overarching phenomena that encourages creative analysis of

poetry. Hence the diversity of analysis on part of students adds to the aesthetic process of

art.

Literary devices and techniques used in the poem

Collins has used many literary techniques in a poem. It is filled with metaphors, similies,

imagery and personification. As this poem is about a poem so a poem has been likened to

many other things by the poet through metaphors and similies. In the first stanza a poem

is likened to a colour slide which is used as a similie,

hold it to a light like a colour slide.

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Similarly narrator has compared the poem with a bee hive, a maze and a lake. A poem as

a bee hive shows having internal and external appearance as like a hive appears quite

static from outside but there is lot of activity happening inside it. So while analysing a

poem person supposedly come across many concepts and ideas.

Secondly metaphors lake and maze are implied metaphors which are not directly used for

contrasting as it is said by narrator,

Drop a mouse into a poem.

And watch him probe his way out.

This sentence compares poem to a maze indirectly and along with metaphor it also forms

strong imagery.

Another implied metaphor is lake,

‘I want them to waterskii

Across the surface of a poem.’

As waterskiing is mostly done upon surface of a lake but here teacher asks his students to

water skii upon a poem.

Apart from metaphors vivid imagery can also be witnessed in the poem like” press ear

against hive”, “tie a poem to a chair “ and “beating with a hose”.

Another literary technique used in the poem is that of personification. For example “walk

inside the poem's room” and “torture a confession out of it” as it is only people who own

a room or are tortured but here poem is personified and is tortured and owns a room.
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Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis is the study of texts and conversations. In linguistic and literary

context it helps to know the hidden intentions or motives of the writer. Discourse analysis

has its implications upon language teaching and thinking skills. Moreover it helps to

understand the rules and conventions that govern the structure of the language. It is also

used to know what function the language is serving for different people and it also helps

analyze social functions of the language and words.

Similarly this poem also serves certain function. The words in the poem are organized in

such a way to convey the intentions and motives of the poet. Collins has conveyed his

deep concerns regarding the teaching and understanding of poetry. He believes that

studying poetry has been considered as a difficult and tiring task by the students. Students

either think it as boring or nerve wrecking which make them aggressive and aversive

towards it. Collins tries to pinpoint and criticize the traditional methods of teaching

poetry which has been deep rooted in the education system, which believed on the notion

of one single reality which had to be extracted and believed universally, but Collins

rejects the dictum of single reality. He wants his students to treat poetry as an aesthetic

endeavour and interpret it as pleased by one’s senses and feelings. When he finds out

that that deep rooted system still has its traces within minds of students he feels utterly

disappointed.

‘They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means. ‘

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For Collins ‘what really means’ does not hold importance more than the exploration,

imagination and pleasurable factors involved in the poetic art.Collins implicitly

condemns the traditional teaching methods and wants other teachers to adapt to modern

methodology and cater to different intellectual and aesthetic needs of students.

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Works Cited

Leech Geoffrey, Short Mick. Style in Fiction A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional

Prose. Great Britain: Pearson Education Limited, 2007. Pdf

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Introduction to Poetry Theme of Education." Shmoop. Shmoop University,

Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 22 Dec. 2016.

“Poem in Seven Easy Steps.” Youtube, uploaded by J Du, 21 December 2016

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKj_oYiAMYQ&t=46s

APPENDIX

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.
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