I was a poetry reader when I was in elementary and high school during any school events. I was also involved in drama during my elementary school years. I enjoyed reciting poetry in front of a crowd of people. I have been doing that when I was a little girl, even in a kindergarten. To this day, I have a special relationship with poetry and often read and listen to new poems. Billy Collins’ Litany is a poem that I found interesting and unconventional.
Specifically, the piece stood out for me since the author used humor and exaggeration in a romantic poem. Basically, Collins took the idea of a popular poem concept in which the narrator compared their beloved to different phenomena and transformed it into a humorous poem. For instance, the narrator uses similes and unflattering imagery such as “fish under the bridge” to describe the person they address in the poem (“Billy Collins”). Additionally, the narrator further exaggerates the humorous effect by challenging the conventional structure of similes by saying what their object of admiration is not. Such an approach to writing romantic poetry makes the poem interesting and rather amusing. After listening to the poem for the second time, I noticed that Collins’ intentionally made short pauses during his recital. I found these pauses effective for amplifying the impact of the poem and, namely, the comical aspect of it. Essentially, the pauses allowed the audience to laugh at the part of the poem they listened to and then hear the next part without being distracted by their laughter.
Litany by Billy Collins is an example of a poem that uses an unconventional approach to achieve a comical effect. The author utilizes similes in a way that is not common in romantic poems and thus ensures a transformation of the established form of poetry. Additionally, Collins uses his speech, namely, pauses to highlight each part of the poem, which deserves the laughs of the audience.
Work Cited
“Billy Collins – Litany.” YouTube, uploaded by FORA.tv, 2008, Web.