Excerpt from a Billy Collins interview.

Stumbled across in my perception the perfect description of Billy Collins. Full interview is at http://www.cprw.com/wages-of-fame-the-case-of-billy-collins
'As a live reader he is charming, and his modesty is downright disarming. He is very concerned with the comfort of the reader, as one finds him remarking in his latest collection. He says he likes to “lasso” his readers. He is congenial, and it must be a great relief for casual readers of poetry and novices who have come to feel that poets, like many artists, are ungratefully self-involved. Collins wants to be sure everyone feels good. His friendly, easily understood deadpan irony is perfect for listening audiences. His mid-poem banter is concise and explanatory, peppered with humorous sayings and anecdotes. However, if one were told to listen and not told that what was being recited was a poem, one could be forgiven for thinking that Collins was reading from a book like Lake Wobegon Days or The Ferrari in the Bedroom. There is very little to indicate that what he recites is, in fact, poetry, aside from the occasional announcement of itself as a poem. They are lovely, domestic musings, delivered in unprepossessing language by a retiring, avuncular man. But one also feels that he is a bit of a smart ass, and this endears him further to his audience. One might guess that his readers and listeners have grown to like Billy Collins the man, the poet, the persona, whomever you choose, but in the end the poems must stand on their own and be judged on their own merits. If one is to grant them their light touch of poker-faced humor, their openness and accessibility, and their plainspoken grace, it remains to be asked what else recommends them.'

DEATH IS UNESCAPABLE

The Wires of the Night explains mental, inner thoughts into understandable images but with beauty rather than wit. Kept up through the night by the loss of an unnamed man, Collins pictures his death first as a body, then as a house with “an entrance and an exit/ doors and stairs,” then as a “white shirt and baggy trousers,” then as a book, a car, a house again, a lover and a bed. The transformation of concrete images through the poem reflects the emotional change of grieving and leads to the inspiring, if somewhat straightforward final lines:

and then [his death] was 'the light of day and the next day and all the days to follow, it moved into the future like the sharp tip of a pen moving across an empty page.’ 

I have been thinking about the poem by Billy Collins. In the tangle of ever-changing imagery, I think he captures the repetition essential in the process of grief and that death is inevitable. Or perhaps it shows that once you think you have a handle on what loss means, it means more, and takes another shape. And then at the end... after a long hard night wrestling with death, the narrator awakens to the fact that this loss will go with him into the future. 

Then, I started to notice a unique imaginative twist to many of the poems and even an occasional tendency towards death in "Purity." Billy Collins seems to see himself in an animated world where the laws of life and death don't always apply. While "Purity" is rather comical and shows a tongue-in-cheek attitude to the freedom he might be experiencing in his writing, "The Wires of the Night" is a solemn animation of death. While the skeleton in "Purity" is free, "Death" soaks itself into the poets mind and seems to present an instability and then a calm release from thought. 
 
Billy Collins was asked 'What are the recurring themes in your poems? This is what he said..

' I mean, the theme of poetry is death. The theme of literature is essentially misery leading to death. They asked Freud, “What is the aim of life?” Death is what he says. So that’s the subject of poetry. Mortality is the overarching subject of poetry. I mean some would say love is the subject of poetry, but it’s usually love in the context of death. Like the great poem by Andrew Marvell to his coy mistress, and the reason they should make love is because they’re not going to live forever. And the oldest theme in poetry is “carpe diem”. It’s seize the day. And the reason you want to “carpe” your “diems” is that you don’t have that many “diems” given to you! So this urgency that floods into your life when you see it through this lens of death . . . I mean, that seems to be the basic theme of poetry. And my poetry is no different.'

In the poem, The Art of Drowning, by Billy Collins, death is the theme. The poet explores the idea of life passing before one's eyes. That is not just what happens when one drowns but any tragic situation where death is possible. 
Drowning is when a person sinks below the surface of a body of water never to return. In this poem, it is a natural body of water, not a swimming pool or bathtub. The poem uses nature to convey the art. It speaks of the tide, the lake, the ship, the weedy bottom and the surface.

He mentions the ways that drownings occur: a flood zone, a cliff above the water, falling from a ship, the tide sweeping its victim away or the lake where one played games. The images are realistic and easy to picture in one's mind. The looseness of the writing makes it enjoyable to read. It appears to have no rhyme or rhythm just good  flow.
For those who believe in eternity, that is exactly how it is. Death continues where life ended. Regrets do not exist. The art of drowning looks ahead to eternity. It has nothing to fear. Survivors often speak of a brilliant light and a second chance at life awaits them.
Oftentimes, death is fearful and that is why life passes before one's eyes. This idea of death comes when one is spiritually ready to face their Creator. Without faith, fear reigns.

By Wizilya Lembeli

"The Dead" By Billy Collins

Billy Collins seems to address the topic of death more then once in his poem collection Questions About Angels. This essay will analyze how he does this and in what context.
            Firstly, in his poem The Dead, he starts by saying that “The dead are always looking down on us…” This obviously suggests that there I life after death, which I think Collins believes in. In the next line he goes on to say a completely normal, everyday thing, which undermines the first line because he goes from saying something mysterious to something contrary. After this he explains; “They are looking down through the glass bottom boats of heaven as they row themselves slowly through eternity.” Collins is so good at using imagery that is so clear that it gives the reader a vivid image of the ‘dead’ rowing themselves through the sky in their “glass bottom boats, ” Furthermore, by using the adjective “slowly,” it becomes easier to imagine because one thinks of the boat on the river Styx, (Greek mythology, the river you must cross to get to the underworld) which rows slowly across the black waters.

To continue, in the second stanza, Billy Collins goes back to everyday life saying, “They watch the top of our heads moving below on earth…” I think he is trying to suggest that although death is a prominent thing, life still goes on regardless of the loss of friends or family. By making the entire last stanza one sentence, he further exaggerates the “waiting” that “The Dead,” do when they think we are looking up at them as he makes the stanza drag on for longer. In addition to this, he says that sometimes “They think we are looking back at them, which makes them lift their oars and fall silent and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.” This gives the reader a sense of comfort as Collins uses the words “Parents,” which a person usually relates with home and someone who takes care of you. Furthermore, by using this simile, I think Collins is further suggesting the death of friends and family. He is trying to say that although we cannot see them they will always be there looking down on us “through the glass bottom boats of heaven.” Finally, by making the entire last stanza one sentence, he further exaggerates the “waiting” that “The Dead,” do when they think we are looking up at them as he makes the stanza drag on for longer.

Conclusively, I think when writing this poem Billy Collins was trying to picture what life was like after death. He obviously got inspiration from greek mythology from the River Styx and drifting along through eternity in a "Glass Boat."

Aimeless Love By Billy Collins

An amazingly Simple Love poem by Billy Collins that makes one Truly Smile...

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

 

In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.

The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.

No lust, no slam of the door –
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor –
just a twinge every now and then

for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.

But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.

After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,

so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

Impact of Physical and Social Environment and Personal Relationships

“Characters in works of literature are at their most vivid when formed by their physical and social environment as much as by personal relationships”

How far do you agree with this statement? In your response you should comment on and analyze the connections and comparisons between at least two texts you have studied

Environment, whether physical or social, is an umbrella term for the combination of external physical conditions and the complex of social and cultural conditions affecting the nature of an individual. Personal relationships refer to close connections between people, formed by emotional bonds and interactions. These two terms arguably bring out evocative and powerful feelings out of characters in works of literature, such as Emily Dickinson in Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes by Billy Collins and Othello in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare; and in this essay I will be assessing which of the two elements has a major impact on the character’s self-concept.

To start off with, it can be advanced that characters in works of literature are at their most vivid when formed by their physical and social environment. Indeed, Othello, who is a Moorish general in the Venetian military, lives in a white Venetian society where he stands out for he has a different skin colour. This leading to racial prejudice “The Moor” has enticed the protagonist of the play to prove his worthiness through his accomplishments and achievements “Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances/Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach [...] of my redemption thence/And portance in my travels' history”. Othello’s social environment has induced him to his very vivid self academically speaking. He is a celebrated soldier “Valiant Othello” and a trusted leader. The theme of race can be said to have had an enormous impact on Othello’s self-identity, for better and for worse. Indeed, as in the 16^th Century, black men were believed to be beastly, vicious and evil, Othello contrasted this idea by becoming an honest and kind man “The Moor […] is of constant, loving, noble nature”. This relates to the temporal self-appraisal theory, which argues that people have a tendency to maintain a positive self-evaluation by paying more attention to their positive self. However, it can also be argued that the theme of race brought the worst out of Othello, for it is that sentiment of being lowlier than the entire Venetian Society “Haply for I am black, And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have…” that led him to murder his own wife. Similarly, in Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes by Billy Collins, the character Emily Dickinson comes out alive when looking at her physical environment, in other words nature “looking out at the orchard below”. This could perhaps be an allusion to paradise or the Garden of Eden, thus implying that nature has a liberating effect on her. When encountering it or witnessing it, she is at her most vivid self in terms of self-identity. Additionally, the fact that the “upstairs bedroom” is where the whole undressing is happening suggests that, that is the place where she can be her true self without constraints.

Furthermore, characters are at their most vivid when formed by language, form and structure of their physical and social environment. Indeed, Othello is often referred through animal imagery by his physical and social environment such as “Barbary Horse”, along with metaphors such as “sooty bosom” and adjectives “thick lips”. This makes him look and sound like a savage. Post-colonial critics such as A.C. Bradley, as a result, have had Othello depicted as exotic and alien with phrases like ‘there is something mysterious in his descent’ or ‘[Othello] does not belong to our world […] as if from wonderland’. This has an effect of disappointment on the modern reader, as he cannot cope with the racial prejudice entailed by Othello’s physical and social environment. But the Elizabethan audience would enjoy the racially-based language as it would confirm their belief that race accounts for differences in human character and that a particular race is superior to others. As for Billy Collins’ Emily Dickinson, she comes out alive through the shape of the poem. Indeed, it is in a neat vertically straight form overall, that perhaps might reflect to Dickinson’s rhythmic style of writing in real life, that came off as nursery rhymes in poems such as “My Life had stood A Loaded Gun”. Rhythm, overall, is slow “First […] then”, and this serves to create an apprehensiveness from the reader. The latter is tingling with emotion. Fast-paced rhythm is peeped “through clips, clasps” “catches, straps”, referring the complexity of her mind.

However, physical and social environment have limited outstretches when tempting characters to be at their most vivid. It has been suggested that personal relationships have succeeded greatly in this domain.

Indeed, in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by Shakespeare, Othello is at his most evocative through partnerships. This includes his romantic relationship with his beloved Desdemona “My sweet Desdemon". Desdemona is a typical upper class white woman of the 17th century; she is devoted and loyal to her husband. What sends his soul scintillating in the play is his doubts about his wife’s faithfulness “That he hath used thee”. It is no wonder Othello loses it and decides to kill her “Down, strumpet!” Desdemona’s supposed infidelity heightens his feelings of inadequacy. His inner good has been betrayed, and the result of that, as the modern audience will understand, is that madness gets a hold of him “Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell”.  The Elizabethan audience would have been repulsed by him, as it would have confirmed what they already thought of men of colour: unholy murderers of good-natured souls. To some extent, his actions are understandable to a modern audience, though unforgivable, as we realize that it is the id of his personality retaliating. As Sigmund Freud, one of the most prominent psychologists suggested, the id part of our mind acts according to ‘pleasure principle’ and most importantly seeks immediate gratification of any impulse- which, in this case, is killing Desdemona for her betrayal. Freud further goes on to say that the id knows no judgment of value, no good and evil and no morality. Othello experiences a parallel journey, and in the end he is a clear example of the great impact personal relationships can have on one’s self-concept. This is enlightened when he takes away his own life after finding out the truth, that his wife was not disloyal “he stabs himself”. Unable to cope with himself, as James Joyce has suggested, he loses faith in life. Personal Relationships differ though in Billy Collins’ Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s clothes.  They are more of an ecstatic unleash of one’s liberty. In the poem, Emily is at her most vivid when having sexual intercourse with the poet “could hear her sigh when finally it was unloosed”. This is brought out through the language and the mood of the poem. Indeed, Collins’ poem overall has an intimate timbre “it was terribly quiet”, which is reflective of the aura of the act happening. There is also a very sensual tone to it “I could plainly hear her inhale when I undid the very top” without it being vile. It seems the poet is only engaging with the character this way, because that mirrors her personality’s mystery. The real Emily Dickinson was known to be private and very reclusive. Therefore, her sexual temperament is an enigma, hence Collins approaching it respectfully. The tone/timbre of the poem has an effect of Dickinson’s nudity being comfortable to the ears of the modern reader. However, the pre-civil war audience, in Emily’s time, would have found it foul and offensive. Dickinson also is at her most vivid through Collins’s similes “it was like riding a swan into the night”. Her eroticism is not only connected to her relationship with Collins, but also anchored to her self-concept. Through her relationship with Collins, she discharges all of herself, generating an epiphany-like moment within her: at the end of the poem, a new characteristic aspect is born inside her. This is further enhanced through sexual imagery “sailing towards the iceberg of her nakedness”. This reminds one of exploring and conquering new land, and the modern audience wonders if Collins is trying to colonize Emily Dickinson. The pre-civil war audience would have found this language unbearable as they were much more provincial and conservative in their attitudes towards sexuality. Dickinson is striking in this poem through Collins’ use of onomatopoeia “clips, clasps” “tumbled”, which perhaps might refer to the foot-print her personal relationship with the poet has marked. The impression created is one of lovers, as the reader thanks Collins for making Dickinson accessible.

To conclude, I beg to differ that characters in works of literature are at their most vivid when formed by physical and social environment as much as by personal relationships. The latter definitely has a considerably bigger influence on luring out characters’ powerful and strong emotions. When having personal relationships, characters are able to develop a sense of self. The relational self is the part of an individual’s self-concept. Just like Othello unconsciously saw himself through Desdemona’s eyes, and did not realize it until he murdered her “my life upon hers”.

 

By Grace Mwizero