Consolation by Billy Collins

In his poem “Consolation,” Billy Collins attempts to comfort himself after not being able to visit Italy in the following summer. He creates a “consolation” for himself by listing all of the downsides to travelling to another country so filled with history and culture. However, his tone makes it seem as though he is unsuccessful at convincing himself that staying at home is actually a good thing. The reader can tell that he is actually disconsolate, that his efforts were in vain.

Collins begins his poem by noting how nice it is that he will not be touring Italy this summer. This first line seems to slightly shock the reader. It is surprising that one would actually prefer to stay home rather than to take the chance to travel abroad. It seems as though the author has made plans to travel that have fallen through leaving him disappointed. If he thought that not going was so “agreeable,” he would not have made the plans in the first place. Also his choice of words throughout the poem make him seem extremely bitter about missing the trip especially when he begins the poem with “how agreeable it is…” He then mentions that Italy has “torrid hill towns.” Collins seems to be using an exaggerated description for the town showing his true feelings towards not travelling. He makes it seem like Italy’s towns would be a burden to journey through because they would be extremely hot and tiring. He says that he’d rather travel his own “local, familiar streets, fully grasping the meaning of every road sign and billboard.” This description of his hometown is much less interesting than Italy’s. Although he already understands his local surroundings, he believes it would be better to continue to look at them all summer long. It seems as though Collins is trying very hard to convince himself that staying at home is a much better option.

Collins then lists all of the things that his hometown does not have that Italy does. While some people would think that the abbeys,