S07_250_Grp1

=Collins Group 1=

="Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins lines 1-3= ("I ask them to take a poem / and hold it up to the light / like a color slide")

=__Expert move #1: identify & explain the figurative language__= In Billy Collins’ poem “Introduction to Poetry,” the speaker asks his audience "to take a poem / and hold it up to the light / like a color slide" (1-3).

This passage is primarily a simile because it compares holding a poem up to the light like one would hold a color slide up to the light to see what's inside the tube. This is a simile and not a metaphor because it compares the two ideas using the word like. "(H)old it up to the light / like a color slide" is suggesting that the reader look into the poem to try and sense the deeper meaning (2-3).

This passage is also an image as it states "hold it up to the light" (2). The word light is the image because when the audience is reading the word light they get a visual picture of what the word light is. Not only does light work as an image, but it is also a symbol. Light symbolizes understanding or illumination. Collins’ wishes us to “hold [the poem] up to the light / like a color slide” in order to illuminate it and “shed light” on the hidden meanings so we better understand the poem (2-3). Light also symbolizes supreme knowledge; biblically it represents God who is all knowing.

=__Expert move #2: explain the comparison__= In lines 1-3 of Brian Collins's "Introduction to Poetry" he compares poems to a color slide. The many colors of a slide suggests how people see the meaning of a poem differently from one another. As one person turns the color slide, the colors and shapes inside the slide change; this can also represent how one can read the poem and keep "turning" the poem to see the different perspectives or levels of the poem.

A slide is a very small photograph, and is meant to be shown on a screen by using a light projector. It is usually a photo of something that is important to us, which we captured on film in order to share with others. A poem is generally a short story or description of something that is somehow meaningful to its author. This meaning has been “captured” on paper, and is usually meant to be shared and may have a deeper meaning if we “illuminate” it.

"[H]old it up to the light / like a color slide" also hints that by rereading a poem, like "hold[ing] it up to the light", not only the color slide, but also the poem will become transparent (2-3). This means that the message of the poem will become evident.

In the image "light" we see the beauty of the words as their meaning becomes clear. We hear from the poem the words that the author is saying in the text from his points of view. We touch the paper or book and feel the context of the text and the authors concepts that are being illuminated come to life in stories or poems. We can taste the desire that the author has put into words mentally and the concepts that he has for the poem. We smell the scent of the illuminated figures of the poem that make us use our imaginations.
 * Image:** light
 * Sensuality of image:** The definition of "light" can be a point of view, or aspect from which a concept, person or thing is regarded.


 * Image:** color
 * Sensuality of image:** When stating "like a color slide" the poet uses the word color to show that a poem isn't just black and white (3). The object of color is to demonstrate that poems have a variety of ways to be seen and interpreted. A "color slide" may look different to each person who views it. This is the same with poetry. We all may interpret the subtext and figurative language differently.

When light is shown upon an object, it reveals all of its deepest crevices. By holding a poem up to the light, as Collins suggests in his poem "Introduction To Poetry" the reader will be able to see every individual part of it and be able to interpret it more effectively. Holding a poem up to the light also implies shedding a different way of looking at it's pieces and deciphering them.
 * __Expert move #3: unpack the figurative meanings__**

There are many definitions for the word color, such as distort and appearance. Not only does the use of the word color show that poems have different meanings, but it could also allow the reader to misinterpret the message that the poet was trying to get across in the poem. So by using light Collins' is saying that the real message will be seen.

If we are to see what photograph or information is contained on a tiny slide, we must either hold it up to a light or shine light through it to project it onto a wall. Collins chose to use the words “hold it up to the light” which seems to make the viewing of this slide more a personal experience than if it were shown on a screen and shared with many people at one time (2). This is likely because a poem, which is represented in the simile by the slide, contains personal meaning for each person and is better understood if viewed and interpreted by each individual rather than an audience. When we examine things in groups, we tend to listen to what others say and avoid examining each detail personally; we tend to make general overviews instead of many intrinsic discoveries. This may lead to a misunderstanding of the poetry, as well as a missed learning opportunity, as individuals interpret poetry differently.

Collins also specifically states a “color slide.” Slides in black and white seem flat and less visually interesting or detailed than those in color. Color slides are more lifelike and are easier to relate to than black and white because we see the world in color. Perhaps the slide is in color rather than black and white to emphasize the life and detail in poetry. When we say things are in “black and white” we mean they are either this way or that way, they cannot be any other way. By using a color slide, Collins is pointing out that poetry is not “black and white” and can mean different things to different people. Collins use of a "color slide" also represents the various depths of poetry. As with colors, when they are mixed you create a new color. With poetry, when the words are looked at closely they take on a new meaning.

=__Expert move #4: recontextualize within the whole poem__= The meanings of the simile "like a color slide" are relevant to the larger work as a whole. Collins uses the simile of the slide as well as many others to show that readers must be proactive while reading poetry. We must manipulate it, look at it (line 2, “hold it up to the light”), listen to it (line 4, “press an ear against its hive”), and feel it (line 8, “feel the walls for a light switch”) in order to understand it. We cannot, as the last lines of the poem suggest, attack it without any understanding of how to openly view it, and expect it to just give up its meaning. Collins's entire poem is full of different ways a beginning reader of poetry can look at poems in order to better understand them.We should go into the reading open minded and expecting to gain knowledge, not **make** it mean what **we** think it should mean.

=__3-Sentence Summary__= After analyzing lines 1-3 of "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins, it can be seen that Collins was trying to explain that once a reader sees a poem for itself the meaning of the poem will become evident. By "hold[ing] it up to the light / like a color slide", the similes, metaphors, symbols, and images will explain the true meaning of the words and the poet's message (2-3).When holding anything up to a light, the light reflects it's image more clearly as you focus in on what you are trying to see and color always adds more details to the object of interest.

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