Death by Billy Collins

Death by Billy Collins

In the old days news of it traveled by foot.

An aproned woman would wave to her husband

as he receded down the lane, hauling

the stone of the message.

Or someone would bring it out by horse,

a boy galloping, an old man trotting along.

A girl would part the curtain wondering

what anyone would be doing here at this hour,

as he dismounted, hitched the beast to a post,

then lifted the brass knocker, cold as night

But today we have the telephone.

You can hear one from where you are right now,

its hammer almost touching the little bell,

ready to summon you, ready to fall from your hand.

The poem “Death” by Billy Collins is a self explanatory free verse poem with three stanzas’ that shows the transition of how the news of death traveled from the “old days” to what we know as “today”. First and last stanza both have 4 lines; mirroring the ending the way it began. This could take you back to the saying “from dust you came and dust you shall return” that is usually recited at funerals. Middle stanza is the longest showing the longer period of time it would take on horseback compared to the other means (arguably, if I was going to travel on foot my destination would not be that far). The constant comma’s in the last two lines of the second stanza  slow down the poem showing the slowness of the movements, building up the climax as we, the readers, know what is about to happen even though Collins doesn’t mention it. She will receive THE news. This repeats on the last two lines of the last stanza where now we are experiencing the reaction of receiving THE news; the heart stopping shock that “summons you”. Last stanza is more personal and directly talking to the reader “you can hear one” instead of telling the story from third person in the first two stanzas. Ending like that makes the poem more personal to the reader and makes them reflect.

Collins adds several descriptions that are related to the theme of death. Firstly the significance of the wave in the first stanza symbolises the parting of people. Followed by the “stone of the message”, this relates to the tomb stone placed on grave which bestows the general message of the loved one who passed away. The brass knocker in the second stanza resembles the use of brass on traditional coffins as decorations and handles. Death is usually described as cold and dark or as Collins would put it “cold as night”. Moreover there is the passing or better yet aging of time from the “boy galloping” to the “man trotting along”. I believe that this is the common ideology that most people die due to old age (however this is not always the case).

 A reader from ‘the old days’ would pick up on the overwhelming compulsion modern technology has. Despite it carrying the same message, information is now at arm’s reach “ready to summon you”.  We are always anticipating a phone call, a text or a notification “ping” for some sort of news to reconnect us to the rest of the world. This only takes seconds to change our lives, sometimes forever. Technology has allowed us to “upload”, “post”, “share” or simply verbalize our lives in a matter of seconds across THE WHOLE globe. Let’s face it; communication isn’t as personal as it used to be.  We do not take the time to “recede down the lane, hauling the stone of the message” nor go horseback riding to deliver it, in the words of Sweet Brown “Ain nobody got time for that”, at least not “today”.  A reader from “today” would have trouble really understanding the patience required in the first half of the poem; the process information had to go to until it finally reached its destination. The fact that they would have to rely on someone to physically deliver the message is not a struggle we have. All we have to do is wait on our phones and “its hammer almost touching the little bell”. However, some may not think it’s a struggle, some may say that it is much better to wait for it to arrive than it to be dropped like a bomb in your life. I personally believe in the end, the means of how THE news got to you ceases to be relevant. By the time you receive the message you are more obsessed over the information it holds more than how it made its way to you, it has already summoned you.

Sekela Thambikeni