F08250_cdasbach

 

Cindy Dasbach
We do not speak like Petrarch or wear a hat like Spenser and it is not fourteen lines like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field

but the picture postcard, a poem on vacation, that forces us to sing our songs in little rooms or pour our sentiments into measuring cups.

We write on the back of a waterfall or lake, adding to the view a caption as conventional as an Elizabethan woman's heliocentric eyes.

We locate an adjective for the weather. We announce that we are having a wonderful time. We express the wish that you were here

and hide the wish that we were where you are, walking back from the mailbox, your head lowered as you read and turn the thin message in your hands.

A slice of this place, a length of white beach, a piazza or carved spires of a cathedral will pierce the familiar place where you remain,

and you will toss on the table this reversible display: a few square inches of where we have strayed and a compression of what we feel.

Way 1: First Impressions
My first impression of this poem is one of wonder. I can't wait to dig deep into this reading to figure out what it is about. Could it be about a vacation that someone is on? Maybe about a writer who is stuck on a line. Is it about what a writer feels, that they get to write about fabulous places, but never get to witness them the way a reader does? During my first impression, it is not clear to me what this poem is about or who it is about. I have many questions that I must research for this piece. What is the definition of Petrarch and how does it speak? How does one wear a hat like Spenser and what does that mean? What type of poem has 14 lines or is the poem really talking about a plowed field. What does the writer mean when he says "Elizabethan woman's heliocentric eyes." What is a carved spires of a cathedral? My final question is what is this poem about? What is Billy Collins trying to tell me. I feel like a detective with very little clues to start my research.

This isn't really my first impression anymore but as I read the poem tonight, the word "strayed" caught my attention in line 20. To stray means to cheat. This makes me contemplate the idea that this poem is about a love affair. Possibly an affair Collins has with a poem.

Once again I have looked over the first step in unpacking this poem and I have realized that I am only looking at one way of the meaning of stray. Stray also means to wander off. I think this definition fits the poem better as it is saying in line 20 that it is a few square inches of where we have wandered.

This poem is haunting me in my sleep. Our in class discussion forced me to read another Billy Collins poem, "Introduction to Poetry". After reading this poem it made me quit looking so hard for a meaning to, "American Sonnet." Once I did this, I now believe this poem to be about a postcard and its contents. It is a very simple poem that you can drive yourself crazy trying to understand when the meaning is actually right in front of your eyes.

Way 2: Engaging with the Text
I notice in this poem there is not any rhyming between the lines. The poem is written to the reader as Collins uses the word "you" to let us know that he is speaking directly to us. When he is speaking of himself he uses the word, "we" which implies that he is referring to a group of people. Collins groups of words run together as in lines 3-4, 12-13, and 18-19. When reading this poem allowed I noticed the alliteration in line 4 when Collins writes, "but the picture postcard, a poem on vacation," This may just be a coincidence in using "p" words, but something I definitely want to look into. Collins also repeats the word, "We" in lines 1,7,10,11,12,13,20, and 21. I think he is trying to stress the difference between the group of people and myself the reader. The sound of this poem affects me as a story. I feel that Collins is trying to tell me something, possibly about his life. Since he is not telling me who "we" is and giving descriptions instead of coming out and saying what something is he is making this poem quite the mystery. For example in line 3 he states, "like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field" He is describing something and leaving it to his readers to figure out what he is describing.

After looking back at this second step of unpacking this poem I am realizing that the "we" Collins is referring to includes the reader. It includes anyone who has ever written a postcard, or anyone that has ever received one. It is a general term to describe the simplicity of what a postcard brings. A postcard tells someone you are thinking about them, but it does not tell them much else. This goes along with the first lines in the poem reminding us that we are not brilliant writers, just someone who is jotting a note down on a postcard.

Vertical Thinking: Close Readings of the Text Way 3: A Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
"American Sonnet" is a form of lyric poetry. It gives us "the impression of being the subjective utterance of a single speaker" (Brown 83). Even though the title of this poem would suggest it is a sonnet, it does not follow the pattern to be so. The words do not rhyme which leads me to believe it has a blank verse. I think Collins chose not to have any rhyme in his poem because he wanted it to feel more like a story.

After looking back at this third step I am realizing that there is a reason Collins has made his poem so simple. Collins is trying to let his readers see that a poem can be about anything and doesn't have to be a struggle to write. Collins is trying to communicate to his readers that a Sonnet can be as simple as writing your thoughts down on a postcard. If Collins were to use a different form for his poem it would have made it more complicated and difficult to write. By simply jotting down his thoughts, he is showing us that we can look at our everyday lives and turn them into poems.

Way 4: Unpacking an Instance of Figurative Language
The very first line in this poem is a simile because it compares two items using the word like or as. The line states, "We do not speak like Patrarch or wear a hat like Spenser" (1). Collins is comparing "we" to speaking like Patrarch. At this point we do not know if "we" is a person, an item, or what exactly it means. Generally "we" is used to identify the writer along with others. Patrarch is an Italian scholar who is famous for his love lyrics. Speak is a verb meaning to articulate sounds or express oneself. Collins is comparing oneself to the ability to express himself as famously as an Italian scholar. Italians are known for romance which would be a good reason he chose Patrarch rather than a different scholar. Comparing this line with the entire poem Collins is telling us that his writing is not as romantic as Patrarch.

After analyzing this poem more, I see that Collins is telling us that everyone's writing does not have to be as romantic as an Italian scholar. Your writing simply has to be your thoughts and what you are experiencing. You must simply jot them down; much like you would a note on a postcard.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
In the first line there is another simile that uses the word like. This simile states, "or wear a hat like a Spenser" (1). Wear means to have on the person. Spenser is an English poet who is known for his epic romance. When I think of English men I imagine them wearing a top hat. It is a visual of an intellect. Collins is saying that he does not write like this epic poet. Comparing this simile to the entire poem we are learning who Collins is not like. He does not write love lyrics or epic romance poems, so we would generally assume this poem; "American Sonnet" is not about romance.

Again looking back at the poem I can see that this is not a poem about who Collins is or is not like. His use of Spenser is merely showing that as a writer we don't have to be as skilled or talented as this particular writer.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
The second line in the poem states, "and it is not fourteen lines". Fourteen lines is a defining characteristic for a sonnet. Our text states, "Elizabethan sonnets are fourteen-line poems frequently dealing with the subject of love" (Brown 39). Collins is making this very clear that this writing is not about love. At this point in his poem he has switched from comparing items to "we" to now he used the word "it". Instead of comparing oneself he is now comparing an object but throughout the text "we" and "it" are talking about the same thing.

Collins use of the word "sonnet" is unpacking this poem for us. He is letting us know that a sonnet doesn't have to be 14 lines. It doesn't have to be about romance. He is challenging us as writers to think outside the box and break the rules. Collins wants us to expand our horizons when we write and instead of following the rules of 14 lines and romance, write what you feel and then look back and decide if what you have is grand.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
Our third line leads us to another simile using the word "like". The poem reads, "like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field"(3). Collins is comparing an item or oneself to furrows in a field. A furrow is a long narrow trench dug in the field. Collins is saying that he is not like a furrow. His use of "carefully" is important because he is saying he is not cautious like that. A plowed field has very straight lines so that the plow can harvest the field. Collins use of the word "small" could be in relation to a 14 line crop which would be a small field or it could be in relation to a small piece of writing. Either way, Collins is saying that his writing is not like trenches that grow crops. He might be implying that you need to do more than water the furrows to see his writing. I think he is saying that his writing doesn't follow the standard rules for a Sonnet. His writing is not going to be 14 lines and it is not going to be about love or romance.

After analyzing this poem further I realize that Collins is not talking about his writing when he says, "like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field" (3). He is telling us that when you write you don't always go in a straight line. Sometimes your story goes in a direction that you never saw coming. Sometimes your writing criss-crosses across the page, but usually your mind does not follow one path. Rather than start at the beginning of a story, go to the middle, and then end your story much like a straight line, let your story guide you as if you were describing a trip.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
Our fourth line uses a metaphor when it says, "but the picture postcard, a poem on vacation," (4). A poem cannot literally go on a vacation. Collins is giving this poem a human characteristic to make us question whether a poem can or cannot go on a vacation. If a poem is as simple as writing down your thoughts then technically a poem could go on a vacation. The poem would just require the human to write down its emotions.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
In line 6 the use of measuring cups as a symbol really caught my attention. Collins is having the measuring cups stand for a strict code that you must follow. When using a measuring cup you are pouring something up to a certain point. If you give to much your recipe can be ruined just as if you measure to little. A postcard only gives you a small amount of space to write your feelings. It is restricting your thoughts to a small piece of paper. If you have too many thoughts they won't fit and if you have to little thoughts it isn't worth sending. This goes along with my idea that Collins wants us to think outside the box when writing. He doesn't want us to use a small square to record our ideas, he wants us to break the rules and write whatever sentiments come to us. He wants us to use more than a postcard, and more than 14 lines, he wants us to think.

Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language
Another simile in this poem comes in lines 8 to 9 when Collins writes, "as conventional as an Elizabethan woman's heliocentric eyes." (8-9). This simile is important to unpack because when we do we see more rules the typical writer must follow. To be conventional would be to be socially acceptable, much like the behavior of an Elizabethan woman. The heliocentric eyes stand for the sun always being in the center. When writing on a postcard we follow the rules of writing, we put the address on the right hand side with our stamp; we put our short dialog on the left. This behavior on our postcard is socially acceptable.

I can't help but think that Collins wants us to not be socially acceptable. He is telling us everything we do when writing on a postcard but the tone of the poem makes me think this bores him. He wants us to jump off the page and write on the wrong side of the postcard.

Way 5: Analyzing the Setting
The setting of this poem is not a specific place that you could go to but an image of a vacation that you could go on. Collins writes in line 7, "We write on the back of a waterfall or lake,". In line 16 and 17 he goes on to write "A slice of this place, a length of white beach, a piazza or carved spires of a cathedral". He is describing several spots that you could vacation to. You could vacation near a lake, or a waterfall, a beach, or visit a cathedral. All of these locations are fabulous places that one should enjoy visiting. That is one side of the setting. The other side is the person at home receiving this postcard. Collins has this person, "walking back from the mailbox, your head lowered" (14). Because of the mail box you envision a person walking down the driveway to receive their mail. The title makes you think of a typical American house and the publishing date of 1991 gives you the image of the current time period.

Looking back now, I see the setting as more of a classroom. I see Collins teaching his class what writing is and how to become a great writer. I see his use of lines 16 and 17 as a way to show you to gain experiences. He wants you to see white beaches, see the cathedral, travel the world and when you have done this, write about your feelings. The setting he pictures is important because you learn so much more from being outside the classroom. Real experiences are what shape the person you are and that is what Collins is trying to portray.

Way 6: Identifying the Analyzing Point of View
This poem is written in first-person point of view. According to our text book, "The first-person point of view is generally characterized by a narrator who refers to himself or herself as "I""(Brown 63). In this poem the narrator is referring to himself as "we". The speaker in this poem is a person who is on vacation. They are writing postcards to a friend describing the weather, and what a wonderful time they are having. This person is not as fabulous of a writer as Petrarch or any other poet for that matter. Even though the speaker is writing letters to another, they are hiding something. In line 13 Collins writes, "and hide the wish that we were where you are," (13). Why would this speaker wish that he was not in such fabulous places, why would he rather be getting the mail and reading about others journeys? If this poem would have been written in third person point of view it would have read, "They do not speak like Petrarch" which would have given a different feel to the poem. Because the use of the word "we" the poem has an ownership to it. The poem is talking about a person on a trip, describing his thoughts to someone who is not with him.

After looking back over the point of view I realize the importance of the first person. Collins is trying to get us to take ownership of our writing. He wants us to admit that we don't write like Petrarch but to understand that it is alright. The ownership is so important in understanding this poem that if Collins would have used any other point of view it wouldn't work.

Way 7: Analyzing Complexity Ambiguity, & Difficulty
A lot of the difficulty of this poem came with the language chosen for it. I solved this difficulty by using my dictionary and looking up Petrarch, Spencer, furrows, and heliocentric. The language of it also started with "We" which made me immediately think of a person and it wasn't until I looked at the entire poem did I see the postcard. The style of the poem was easy to read having each of the three lines separated. One bit of ambiguity I found in the poem came in line 7, "We write on the back of a waterfall or lake,". One way to interpret this would be to actually think a person is writing with a pen on a waterfall or on a lake. That doesn't quite make sense so you would need to look at another meaning. This meaning would be that they are writing on the opposite side of a postcard, one side has a picture of a waterfall or lake, and the other side has the text. This could be symbolic that the text is opposite of what the persons feelings really are. In line 13 it says, "and hide the wish that we were where you are,". To interpret this I feel that the text they write on one side of the postcard is not the way the person is truly feeling.

Reviewing all the complexity of this poem I have realized that it was only complex because I made it so. I was trying so hard to unpack something that I overlooked its simplicity. Collins does not write like Shakespeare or other poets who hide their true meanings. Collins poems tend to be straight forward with the meaning right on the surface. Looking back at my thought of line 13 where I say that the person is not really writing what they are truly feeling. I still agree with this and to expand on it further that is the problem with a lot of beginner writers. Instead of writing what we are truly feeling, we tend to want to fit the mold of the assignment. Collins wants us to explore deep inside and instead of giving a small compression of what we feel, he wants us to open our souls to writing.

Way 8: Considering Canonicity
The poem, "American Sonnet" has been "judged to by a large consensus of readers, authors, scholars, critics, and teachers to have literary merit" (Brown 2). One reason for this is its ability to engage the reader to unpack its story. For example the first line states, "We do not speak like Petrarch or wear a hat like Spenser". Without unpacking this line the majority of readers would not know who Petrarch or Spenser is. We would also not know who "we" is without unpacking the story. This ability to use language that requires thinking is one reason it has become part of the canon. Another reason this poem would be considered part of the canon would be because of its universal relevance. A postcard is a simple note you might write while on vacation. This simple note is what the poem is about yet it does not come across as simple. This simplicity is what is relevant today in the ways you can view a piece of literature. When you look at Collins poem you can make it more difficult to come up with is inner meaning, or you can look at its simplicity in that it is discussing a post card. We can then look at the meaning for sending a postcard, which is just a simple thinking of you.

As I was reevaluating my thinking I wanted to understand why this would be considered in the canon. I believe it is part of the canon because it is not about a postcard; instead it is about actual writing. On the surface the poem is about a postcard but it is what is underneath the surface that put this poem in the canon. This poem must be unpacked and that is why so many have chosen it for the canon.

Way 9: Biographical Context
This poem is a very simple poem. It is a poem about a postcard and the image that is portrayed on the card. When unpacking such a simple item, it leads one to wonder why such simplicity? To understand this simplicity I went to a Biography of Billy Collins and read, "Yet, as often as Collins's poems reveal the mysterious within the familiar, they also work by demystification, applying a subtle, critical intelligence to question received ideas of human meaning and happiness" (EbscoHost). This definitely pertains to this poem as line 5 states, "that forces us to sing our songs in little rooms". Collins is letting us know that it is a postcard that should reveal how happy the human is. Yet when we look at line 13 it states, "and hide the wish that we were where you are,". Collins is having the reader question the received idea that one should be happy while on vacation.

When further unpacking this poem I turned to Contemporary Authors via GaleNet. From this I learned that Collins said, "I have one reader in mind, someone who is in the room with me, and who I'm talking to, and I want to make sure I don't talk too fast, or too glibly" (Sidelights). This brought great insight to this poem as I was wondering who Collins was talking to. In line 12 he writes, "We express the wish that you were here." This one sentence from his biography brought this entire poem into perspective as it was allowing me to see that he was writing to one person and that one person was the reader.

The more I think about this poem the more I realize there has to be more. Using Ebscohost again I found the discovery I was looking for. Collins has been a teacher since 1970. This occupation is more than a poet, as a teacher wants to share their passion with the world. Teachers want their students to understand the literature, not just enjoy it. This makes sense for Collins poem as you can read it once and enjoy it, but read it again and you will understand that he is talking about writing. He wants you to understand what an American Sonnet is and have the capabilities to write one.

Way 10: Historical and Cultural Contexts
To get more clarity on this poem I turned to an article written by Billy Collins titled, "What's American About American Poetry" (USINFO). In this article Collins explains why he needed to add the clarity of American to the title of his poem. After having several speaking engagements outside of the United States Collins realized that the American language does not always translate well. "I became convinced that the mention of "a state flower" in one of my poems must sound to the British ear like "estate flower." I was discovering that idiomatic American is difficult to translate not only in French or German, but into English" (USINFO). This is important to learn as it gives you a little history into Collins thoughts.

To understand Collins even more I looked at Poetry Foundations website to learn more about him. Collins is a professor which rings clear to his poem. I have always felt his poem was trying to teach how simple poetry can be if you just let it be. Viewing this website showed me his career as a Professor of English since 1971. Teachers have a way of sharing their knowledge with the world, and Collins fits the mold. In fact PBS website shares "As United States Poet Laureate (2001-03), he created a poetry collection called "Poetry 180," a project whose aim was to increase poetry's popularity among teens by exposing them to a meaningful contemporary poem each day of the school year" (PBS).

This poem was published in 1991 which is not that long ago. I think the significance of its history is that it is timeless. When writing in past, present, or future times the purpose is to get your thoughts down on paper. This is what Collins is expressing that you need to just write rather than following a strict code or guidelines.

Way 11: Theoretical Application
The psychoanalytic approach to this poem would remind us that the narrator is stuck in his childhood. He is still dreaming of writing postcards which is something you would do as a child. You would send post cards to your friends back home. Adults generally don't send postcards while vacationing because they are with the ones they love. In line 9 when the narrator says, "as an Elizabethan woman's heliocentric eyes" it is obvious that the writer is imagining his own mother's eyes. He is stuck in that childhood place where his mother is the sun and he is warmed by her.

Way 12: Another Theoretical Application
The feminist approach would note the repetitive use of the word "we". If the story was truly feminist it would have used the word "she" throughout. The use of Petrarch and Spenser are also signals. Both of these are romantic poets which romance usually falls into the woman category. It is also the sexist view that a woman is the one who sends the postcards and keeps the contacts with the loved ones while away on vacation. In line 13 when Collins writes, "and hide the wish that we were where you are," is a typical suppression of women's feelings. Women often don't let on our true feelings much like this person in the poem doesn't let on what they wish.

Way 13: Unifying Interpretation
In 1991 Billy Collins wrote a wonderful poem titled, "American Sonnet." The poem is very simplistic in its word choice yet it requires a lot of thought. Collins has you start with the title and research why it is American. From that point he has you questioning the form of a Sonnet. You might wonder, don't all Sonnets have the same standards to live up to? From that point he has you dig right in. Collins use of figurative language encompasses the entire poem and has you wondering what is beneath the surface of this poem.

The first impression that made sense to me involved the poem being about a postcard. This is what lies above the surface in this poem. You can research the word choices and try to understand why Collins is writing about a postcard but without looking underneath the surface you will not find any meaning. It is when you look underneath that you see that Collins is trying to teach you something. Collins is looking directly at you and proclaiming that "We do not speak like Petrarch" (1). It is with his use of "we" that we realize that he is including himself and he is talking about both himself and the reader. He is letting us know that even though we do not speak nor write like Italian poets, it is okay. It is also okay that our Sonnet does not have 14 lines. Rather than force our ideas and journeys into a standard such as a postcard or a Sonnet, Collins would like us to express ourselves. We currently are following all the guidelines for writing. As Collins puts it, "We locate an adjective for the weather." (10). When you locate adjectives for the weather you are becoming familiar, common, and boring and your writing will be tossed aside. What Collins is trying to teach us is to venture outside the lines and write what you feel. When you venture outside the lines your writing will be underneath the surface which is where it will remain a mystery until the next person unpacks it. This is what I understand from "American Sonnet" by Billy Collins.

Works Cited and Consulted
Brown, James S., and Scott Yarbrough. __A Practical Introduction to Literary Study__. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005.

"Collins, Billy (b 1941)" __Bibliography__ B2499. Ebscohost. https://ezproxy.uwc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=jgh&AN=B2499&site=ehost-live

Collins, Billy. "What's American About American Poetry". November 2008. http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/writers/collins.html

"Billy Collins" __Archive.__ The Poetry Foundation. November 2008. []

"The Lanyard" The Poetry Foundation. November 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/collins.html