Penny By Billy Collins Summary

Title- I think that this poem will be about money and how influential it can be. Nowadays, money practically runs the world. Perhaps the theme of this poem is “wealth and poverty in modern society”. Paraphrase- The poet describes the internal conflict of a man who is pondering on whether he is in love with a girl or not. Is he too old to be in love? Is he too young to fully appreciate a loving relationship? Then, the man tosses a penny in the air. It’s like he’s playing the game heads or tails to decide if he should or should not fall in love with this girl. It does not take long for the man to realize that it is okay for him to fall in love. The man does indeed love this girl very much and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. The poet states that “he’s looped in the loops of her hair”, meaning the man is blinded by her love. The man also admits that even without tossing a penny, he would have come to the same decision (to fall in love) on his own. The man learns a couple of things. Firstly, love is confusing. To try and understand exactly how love works would take an eternity. Secondly, love is timeless. It does not matter what age you are, everyone has the capacity to love. Lastly, the man addresses the penny once more; he speaks as though the penny gave him good luck.
There is a saying that goes : "Find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you'll have good luck". In the poem, the penny symbolizes luck. The man wishes for luck to be on his side, so that his relationship will work. The action of "flipping a penny" could also be interpreted as taking a chance; the man is taking chance on