F07-250-Group5

="Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins lines 12-14 ("But all they want to do / is tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it")=

Group 5: Stephen, Diane, Deann, Melanie
Facilitator: //Steve Haldiman// Polisher: //Deann Schilling//

__Expert move #1: identifying the figurative language__
The identifying figurative language being used in this section of the poem is an image. What makes these lines of the poem convey an image are the lines "tie the poem to a chair with rope...and torture a confession out of it" (13-14). We can all visualize something or someone being tied to a chair and tortured until the information that the torturer wants is revealed. This allows the reader to be more engaged with the text and actually see an image in their mind of what is happening in the poem. The part of the text that sets up this figurative language is the preceding line of Collins' poem, "But all they want to do" (12). This text suggests that the people trying to figure out the poem's meaning are ignoring some instruction or procedure on how to do it naturally, instead of resorting to torture. The readers want nothing of the rich words or poetic beauty. Rather, they only focus on their interpretation of what the author was thinking. What does it mean? They do not want to put in the time and effort it takes to really break apart the text to see what's hidden inside. Part of enjoying literature is to read it at a few different levels and that it can have many different meanings depending on the experience of the reader. At times people examine it too deeply and they lose the meaning and passion the words hold.

__Expert move #2: exploring denotations__
The details of the image of something tied up to a chair and tortured until a confession of information is achieved can bring to mind different images for a reader. A chair is a seat to hold a person. It is holding down the poem with rope. The imagery doesn't allow the poem to have room to breath because it is held so tight in readers' minds. The sensuality of the image is the reader would be able to visualize something being tied to a chair, the rope tight. Maybe they see a bright table light, shining in the face of the tied up subject. Some alternative words that could have been used are beaten or pushed into instead of "torture", even though torture is the perfect word for this. It is very descriptive and lets the reader's mind wander and imagine. In the dictionary, torture is defined as, "distortion or over refinement of a meaning or an argument." We distort and refine a poem until it fits the meaning we want from it. It could describe the metaphorical pain the author feels when people squeeze literature too tightly to find answers. The word confession means to acknowledge or disclose ones wrongful fault. The author could have used, "the rest of the story," or "the meaning." Rather, the word confession seems to expect some shocking, tragic truth that is being hidden. By choosing this word Collins is telling the reader that in a way when people look too deep, they start to think it is a fault of the poem for not being clear and at one level. Poetry is to be enjoyed at many different levels. Because of the use of language, gaps exist. Readers are to examine it and unpack it, or even pluck away at the stems to get to its roots. The author of the poem is saying that people put the blame on the poetry instead of changing the way they are thinking.

__Expert move #3: unpacking the figurative and connotative meanings__
In these lines, Collins is talking about the reader, or students, being lazy. Instead of trying to really learn how to pull out, or unpack, the subtext, they want word for word literal meaning from the poem. The focus is on what the poem meant to the author, rather than what the poem meant to the reader. These lines may also refer to the student's frustration of not being able to understand the meaning of the poem. We get stuck feeling like there can only be one real truth. The student could "tie the poem to a chair" (13) and "torture it" (14) and take out their frustrations on the poem in its vulnerable state. The chair and rope symbolize the binding effect put on a piece when we do not allow it to just be what it is. We immobilize it. And then, not only is it bound, but it is tortured. Torture refers to the obsessive straining to find the correct meaning. In television shows we sometimes see detectives using all possible means to hear what they want to be said. When the word torture is used connotatively we can think that they try to make up what they want to be said even if the truth of it is not present in the text. It is hearing what one wants to hear rather than what is actually being said. You can assume one is powerful and one is a victim. The poem is the victim. Instead of being left as a beautiful work of literary art, we tie it down and refuse to let it be the personal interpretation it is meant to be. We are torturing the integrity of the words themselves.

__Expert move #4: recontextualizing within the whole poem__
The imagery of our selected stanza on the rest of the poem is that this stanza gives the alternative to what the teacher wants the students to do. The first half of the poem is talking about how the teacher wants the students to understand the depth of poems and that they are like mazes, where you get dropped inside of it and you need to figure your way out. You need to interpret the situation and understand how to maneuver. The teacher also tells them to "waterski on the surface" (9), or to look at the literal meanings of the words. Or to "drop a mouse into a poem" (5), meaning to really get inside the meanings of the words and find alternative meanings and subtext. Collins wants us to "walk inside the poem's room...and feel the walls for a light switch."(7-8) He wants us to go inside the poem and feel, or search our way around it until the light goes on, or we figure out it's real meaning. Our stanza describes the students unwillingness to let go of their need for true meaning. This is where the consequences become known. In the next stanza we see the final actions. The poem has been sat down, tied up, and finally, it is "beaten with a hose."(15) The poem is encouraging the enjoyment of reading. It links our obsession with concrete evidence to the destruction of literary art. The moral is to simply enjoy what poetry has to offer, let it speak personally to you, and stop trying to squeeze out a confession.