How Does Billy Collins Use Literary Devices Used In Introduction To Poetry

\To Read without Being Lost
Human beings are almost always positive about knowing where they are in their life. But, they may never exactly know for certain where they maybe going or what their life will lead to. Billy Collins, the author of numerous poems including Introduction to Poetry and Schoolsville shows the aspects of this theory throughout his works. Collins provides enough details and description to let the reader know where they are when reading his poems, but not necessarily always where he is going with them. While most poets hide information or the fine points from us, Billy Collins does not. Instead, he indulges the reader with his clear topics, literary devices and precise imagery throughout the poems.
In the poem, Introduction to Poetry, Collins chooses to use a personal experience of his own to form the topic. The poem describes
The desire Billy Collins has for the reader is to illustrate the picture he is painting for them and to comprehend his style. For instance, metaphors in the Introduction to Poetry make it almost painless for the reader to understand what is in fact being said: “I want them to water-ski across the surface of a poem” (9-10). This metaphor clearly explains that Collins wants the reader to have words to ponder, but the poem should flow smooth for them like water skiing across calm water. An additional literary device Collins makes relevant is personification. He gives living characteristics to a non-living object— a poem. When Collins says, “they begin beating it with a hose” (15) he does not literally mean that the students beat the poem with a hose. In reality, he is saying that the students get so frustrated that they can’t understand the concept. If they could they would beat it with a hose to get a meaning out. All Collins wants is for them to treat the poem with loving attention and find the underlying significance for