Poem Analysis: Introduction To Poetry By Billy Collins

The first thing that drew me toward this poem was its basic title: Introduction to Poetry. It’s ironic that there is a poem about reading other poems. Further reading showed me that Billy Collins was sending the message that people should not over analyze poems but take them open-mindedly. Additionally, Billy Collins use odd but imaginative comparison on how to read poetry. For example, in line 3, he says to hold the poem up like a color slide. But I think the main point of this poem is the fact that we should never over analyze everything we see and always seek answers. I think this is actually present in many different aspects of people’s lives. One thing that many people like to over-analyze is a tragedy or coincidence. One example is the