Walking across the Atlantic by Billy Collins.

Billy Collins shows his attachment with nature as his collection of poems share that same theme. For example, ‘Walking across the Atlantic’ and ‘Driving Animals’ have the common lines “tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface” and “… rock to sleep in the bow and lift of antlers.” The poet metaphorically tries to show how he compares the soft waves with a baby being rocked to sleep.

Focusing on the poem walking across the Atlantic Ocean, Collins tries to set your mind on nature and internal conflict. The poem simply talks about a man who isolates himself by crossing the Atlantic. The reader might see this as a double entente in which the man has issues within himself as well as issues with the pollution of nature around him. The first stanza says, “I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach before stepping onto the first wave.” The words “holiday crowd” represents nature, which is dirty and polluted as mankind is constantly destroying it. The author mentions the ocean, which is where most water pollution occurs. They could as well stand for the isolation the poet wants to have in order to settle down and reflect on his inner issues.

The poet continues to explain the man’s journey as he says, “…checking for whales, waterspouts.” The whales represent emotional healing and rebirth as he struggles to connect with his emotion vulnerability and power. When the poet says,”…I feel the water holding up my shifting weight. Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.” The phrase “holding up my shifting weight” suggests that his feelings, troubles, problems, and issues are being lifted off his shoulders. In this case “shifting weight” shows how as the oceans waves move, so does the density of all his worries. In the quote “…tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface,” Collins brings an image of a baby to mind, that is being rocked to sleep safely. Hence the man has reached his safe haven.

When the poet sums up the poem by saying, “but for now I try to imagine what this must look like to the fish below the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing,” he brings back the theme of nature in which “footsteps” are a symbol of humans on earth leaving their mark after they have destroyed the earth. The poem is a metaphor of which the free verse and structure of the poem makes you picture the flowing of waves in an ocean through the writer’s strong technique of Imagery.

By Ella Richard.