“Introduction to Poetry” and “Traveling Through the Dark,” are poems written by Billy Collins and William Stafford. The poem’s, “Introduction to Poetry”, main conflict is a teacher who tries to get his students to read and appreciate a poem, but what all the students only care about is figuring out what it means. The conflict is highlighted through the many uses of metaphors to help us understand how he wants the students to look and decipher a poem and how they only focus on finding the meaning instead of taking their time to listen and see the art of poetry. William Stafford’s poem, “Traveling Through the Dark,” describes a driver’s dilemma of deciding whether to throw a dead pregnant deer into the river, or leave it laying on the road where it can cause an accident. In both poems, the use of literary devices such as metaphors, personification, imagery, and diction are effective in making and building up the conflict and reaching the resolution. The main conflict in the poem, “Introduction to Poetry”, is that a teacher is troubled by his students not wanting to put effort into understanding poetry. He uses metaphors and similes to explain how a poem should be analyzed to be understood and appreciated and how the students want to understand what the poem means without putting in the effort and mindset that go into reading poetry. For example, the author says, “and hold it up to the light like a color side”, which is a simile that explains how the teacher is comparing the
However, through 1862, and into the early weeks of 1863, authorities had been gazetting robberies and hold-ups where it is most probable that Ben Hall through his current associations had undoubtedly participated. Furthermore, the NSW Police Gazette provided descriptions of perpetrators closely resembling the known physical descriptions of Gardiner, Gilbert, O'Meally and Hall along with other known acquaintances such as the three Jack's. Furthermore, it was also reported that on occasions Catherine Browne had been participating in robberies alongside 'The Darkie' disguised in men's apparel. Consequently, all reports, however, continued to state that the bushrangers 'can be identified'. Although many of the correspondents in the country areas
I chose the poem, “traveling Through the Dark, by William Stafford. Stafford describes the speaker as traveling at night. On speaker’s way, he discovers a dead female deer on the side of the road. He stops his car and takes a look at the deer, he touches the deer’s body and finds everything except the stomach area is cold. After a while he figures, there was an alive fawn in deer’s body when he was almost ready to push her away into the canyon. The speaker hesitated for a while and then after thinking knowing the fact that he cannot do anything to save the fawn, he pushed the deer to prevent accident that could cause by it.
In “The Trouble with Poetry” and “Introduction to Poetry” Billy Collins speaks about two different topics , however he is able to demonstrate his personal perspective of poetry and poets by using figurative language. Throughout both the poems the speaker uses vivid imagery ,so that the audience is able to comprehend what he is saying. One of the poems regrades the interpretation of poetry, while the other is about the poets themselves. In the “Introduction to poetry” and “ The Trouble with Poetry” Billy Collins develops his message by using figurative language and vivid imagery.
In “Traveling through the Dark” by William Stafford and “Woodchucks” Maxine Kumin, man vs. natural death situations are present. Both poems share some similarities and differences. In “Traveling through the Dark”, the speaker is compassionate and considerate towards the dead deer and whose main goal is to get it off the road to prevent future deaths. However, in “Woodchucks” the speaker shows violence in killing the woodchuck, to the point of killing the whole bird family. In both poems by William Stafford and Maxine Kumin, the poets each emphasize different attitudes toward animals; Stafford showing compassion while Kumin shows vengeance, through the use of vivid imagery, explicit diction, and metaphors.
Over all, the poem helps imagine a possible student siting in a desk, reading a poem, and pulling his/ her hair out. Also the poem’s sound seems to be rushed. Together with the tone, it makes the poem sound like an angry student speaking very fast as to why he/she hates poetry. The rhythm seems to be regular. It shows to have a regular beat of unstress and distress. Each line follows a beat, but the lines don’t rhyme. The poem seems to show a few figures of speech. “Has difficulty retaining such things as addition and subtraction facts, or multiplication tables” meaning has a hard time understanding the poem more than math (Collins). “May recognize a word one day and not the next” means the reader would have a hard time remembering the overall meaning od a poem and its means (Collins). Also it would mean that the reader was very annoyed that he/she forgot everything about the
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
With this use of the first-person viewpoint, both poets depict what the speakers see, hear, feel, and their internal thoughts. Therefore, the audience can have a clearer picture of the speakers’ intentions and better understand the poems. Beside the similarity that both poems share, several differences can also be noted. In “Traveling through the Dark,” the poet depicts a vivid image by appealing to the senses of sight, hearing, and touch; however, the writer of “Woodchucks” portrays a more gruesome image to show the death of the animals. In order to appeal to sight, Stafford first describes the dead doe to convey a scary and sympathetic atmosphere to the audience (I. 1).
“Traveling through the Dark” is a poem written by William Stafford. William Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1914. In 1948, he moved with his wife and four children to Oregon to teach at Lewis and Clarke College. He published “Traveling through the Dark” in 1962 and won the very first book award in 1963. In 1970, Stafford was named the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, which is known as the Poet Laureate("William Stafford Archives”). He passed away in 1933from a heart attack. Stafford’s biggest influences to his poetry are his parents. He used his father as a subject in some poems; however, his mother was his biggest influence when it came to the focus of writing.
Billy Collins uses dark rooms, oceans, hives, color slides and mouse mazes to describe his poem “Introduction to Poetry”, but also a way to analyze poetry in general. Growing up, students are advised by teachers how to analyze poetry. The speaker of Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins, attempts to guide the readers by teaching them a unique and appropriate way to analyze poetry. The use of personification and imagery, by the author, gives the readers a new perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to listen to the teachers of the reader’s past, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a
Two literary pieces, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by, Dylan Thomas and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by, Emily Dickinson are both poems that discuss the topic of death. While there are some similarities and comparisons between the two poems, when it comes to the themes, both poets writing styles are quite different from one another which makes each poem unique. Thomas and Dickinson both use identical figurative language devices and other literature symbolisms as they explain their main themes which contrasts the differences to the concept of death. These distinct variations between poems are apparent in both the form, and how the choice of words is used in the poems. Both of the authors have presented two very different ideas on death. The poems are well distinguished literature devices, they share minor similarities and differences between each other and how they present the meaning of death to a toll.
The poem itself is known for its mistaken qualities. Many readers believe it is an inspirational poem. However, realistically the poem is a metaphor for a decision the poet has made in the pastThe poem contains interesting imagery throughout, including the autumn setting of the poem, how the leaves are “lacking wear” on both paths, it is a beautiful image. The poet uses his descriptions to his advantage as by unique imagery he depicts the decision that needed to be made. “To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair/And having perhaps the better claim/ Because it was grassy and wanted wear”The poem consists of four five-line stanzas with a general rhyming scheme of ABAAB. The tone of the poem switches on a regular basis. The first line of the poem is factual . The main idea of the poem is the decision making we as humans face by the poet travelling on the less wore road he is making a decision not many people make Another poem from the “Roads and Journeys” section is “Travelling through the dark” by William Stafford. The poem was written in 1963. The poem is strange in structure, although it falls under the term “free verse” it is structured in to four neat four line stanza's with a couplet at the
William E. Stafford’s poem, “Traveling through the Dark,” criticizes the killing of a pregnant deer by a hit-and-run driver in the dark. In this situation, the poet was selfish by pushing her over the edge into the river instead of trying to save her. Not everybody sees it this way. However, Terry Fairchild, a literary critic whose journal is titled, “Stafford’s traveling through the dark” mentions, “His attitude toward this common tragedy is sadness but also resignation” (Fairchild. In other words, Fairchild clearly agrees that Stafford’s action towards the situation was immoral, though, it was the right thing to do at the moment. William Young, also a literary critic, whose journal titled, “Traveling through the dark: The wilderness surrealism
The poem suddenly becomes much darker in the last stanza and a Billy Collins explains how teachers, students or general readers of poetry ‘torture’ a poem by being what he believes is cruelly analytical. He says, “all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it”. Here, the poem is being personified yet again and this brings about an almost human connection between the reader and the poem. This use of personification is effective as it makes the
In life we travel alone. Though this may seem like a depressing statement, it is meant to be exactly the opposite and to represent strength in self. Throughout life we can seek the advice and guidance of others but when it comes down to the final decisions that define us we are ultimately on our own to do what is right. Right or wrong seems like a concept that is easily defined, but as we travel the road of life we realize that the defining line of right and wrong can be blurred. We find that our own conscience can challenge us with questions we are unable to answer, but must ultimately make a decision anyway.
wrote at different times but their chosen subjects were often similar. “Piano” written by D. H. Lawrence and “Traveling through the Dark” by William Stafford show remarkable similarities and differences about their experiences and emotions. Although Lawrence and Stafford are both respected poets, their writing styles, and expectations for readers differ significantly. While Lawrence maintains a feeling of nostalgia and remembrances to keep the reader’s attention, Stafford’s pervasive structure includes a bit of darkness and suspense for his readers. These astute writers are similar in many ways, but they also have significant differences represented in their messages and delivery methods within the poems.