2. Is Collins serious about how the previous poet "failed"?
3. The poem sounds rather sarcastic, especially the way it was presented...why?
4. Is there a symbolic meaning of his use of utensils? Do goblets, bread and knives go together...?
5. What is he trying to say about what "you are"?
6. What is he suggesting about "I"?
1. I think that he feels like the original poem is way overdone. The original author is comparing the person to strange things, such as a bread and a knife. I personally wouldn't want to be called "bread," and I don't think that knives are all that romantic...
ReplyDelete4. Goblets, bread, and knives absolutely do not go together. Sure, they are all used at the dinner table, but how can they be applied all to one person? Is he trying to say "cut me?" because the person is a knife? How strange.
3. I think that it is VERY sarcastic. I think that Collins feels that the original poem is not only sourly overdone, but that it is just simply crazy. Collins feels that you can't compare someone to any random object (such as a knife), because what makes the person a knife? How is a knife relevant to the situation? The knife is random, which just doesn't make sense. Collins is using the knife from the other poem to show just how absurd it really is.
1. I think Billy Collins finds the original poem to be rather foolish and strange because of the sarcastic nature he reads it in. Even before he begins reading the poem he mentions that people would compare their beloved to various things in the world in order to flatter them. I don't see how anyone would want their husband or boyfriend to compare them to "the pigeon on the general's head." How is that flattering? That is what Collins is trying to get across. He wants people to see how bizarre this poem is.
ReplyDelete2. I think Collins is very serious about how the previous poet "failed". Even before he begins reading the poem he mentions that he takes lines from other poems that have "failed" and try to approve upon them. And that is exactly what he did with this poem.
3. I find the entire poem to be sarcastic because of the way Collins presented it; through his tone. You could even hear the audience laughing at many parts throughout his entire presentation. I think Collins found the poem to be completely ridiculous and wanted others to see that as well.
1. Collins feels that the original poem is too decorated, too perfect, too FICTITIOUS! No beloved can be 100% PERFECT because there is no such thing as perfect. This is why he puts his own spin on the poem to make it more truthful.
ReplyDelete2. He thinks the poem failed because it doesn't tell the truth because it doesnt account for the flaws of the beloved. Every good story tells both sides. However that poem was bias and gives false pretenses that when you find your beloved, it will have no flaws. This is a lie so Collins clears it up fr the reader to let the reader know that it is ok for your beloved to have flaws because so do you.
5 He is trying to say you are GREAT but you have flaws but I accept those flaws and love you beyond them. This is the true definition of love and he outlines this for us.
4. Bread and goblets certainly go together-Bread and Wine in a goblet are religious symbols. Maybe Collins was comparing “you” to Jesus; maybe they’re a Christ figure. Knives, I’m not sure about. Collins talk about what “you” are, and then what “you” are not, then what “I” am. And he, at the end, reassures “you”: “But don't worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
ReplyDeleteYou are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow-- the wine.”
I think Collins is comparing “you” to Christ, or maybe just a sacrificial figure. This person may be patient or have other qualities of Christ, unlike “I.” But in writing “—somehow—the wine,” “I” shows that they don’t understand why or how this person is the way they are.