Assignment Code: DCE-5/ TMA/1/2021-2022

Course Code: DCE-5

Assignment Name: Writing Poetry

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Attempt ALL the questions

100 marks

Q 1) Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

Introduction to Poetry

BY BILLY COLLINS

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

i) What are the various things that the poet compares a poem to? (5)

Ans) To this speaker, reading poetry shouldn't be a dry, analytical process. Instead, using a vivid simile, he suggests that his students should treat a poem like a "color slide" (a little transparency used to project an image, like this).

This simile encourages the students—and, in turn, readers—to approach poetry with a sense of wonder and curiosity. The best way to read poetry, this image suggests, is to simply look at what's there: holding it up to let the "light" of one's attention shine through. By comparing a poem to a "color slide," the speaker implies that poetry reveals its beauty when readers take the time to thoughtfully observe it.

ii) What image of a poem is evoked in the last few lines? What is this literary device called? (5)

Ans) The last tercet. The poem is seen to turn. That all important word - But - contrasts sharply with what has gone before. There is an accusation, the speaker strongly asserting that all they (the readers, the teachers, the lecturers) do is harm poetry by restricting it, doing nasty things to it in the hope that they will find answers and meaning.

How the language and imagery changes. From the light, the hive, the innocent mouse, to the dangerous world of the torture chamber and the cruel hose. But meaning can never be beaten out of poetry, no matter how much you torture it, it remains loyal to itself.

iii) Who is ‘they’ in the poem that the poet refers to? What does he actually want ‘them’ to do? (5)

Ans) ‘Introduction to Poetry’ by Billy Collins presents a poetic persona who seems to be a professor of English literature. Here, the poetic persona is none but the poet himself. The poet tells his student to first of all take a poem as it is. They have nothing to look elsewhere. A poem is a world in itself. There are sound, visuals, colors, complexity, simplicity, everything. A reader has to be concerned about the senses. Poetry generally demands an association of seeing, smelling, feeling, and last but not least it also gives enjoyment. The poet says, “I want them to waterski/ across the surface of the poem”. This line presents the essence of the poem. However, in the end, the poet feels dejected about the attitude of readers to poetry. They somehow want a meaning, no matter if it has one or not.

iv) Which lines in the poem tells you that a poem can be complicated and needs to be navigated carefully? Do you think it is appropriate? Give 2 alternative comparisons to indicate the same thing. (5)

Ans)

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

In the following stanza, the poet uses the metaphors of a room and a light switch to refer to compare these with the themes in a poem and the essence of a poetic work alternatively. When the poet talks about water skiing on the surface of a poem, he metaphorically says that a poem is fluid-like and a reader should float above it for enjoying the work. If readers want to know more, they have to dive deeper into the watery world of poetry. The concept of “close reading” is metaphorically introduced here too. The “hose”, a metaphor, refers to the analytical mindset of readers in the last section of the poem.

Q 2) Write a short poem from a reader to a poet describing the difficulties that s/he may have experienced while attempting to understand a poem. (20)

Ans)

Im a reader trying to understand

Your words are out of this land

How can I comprehend?

Its makes my mind bend

Poems are what I want to conquer, but I’m stuck

Stuck in a writers block

I cant write I cant understand

As I tap my pen patiently,

Patiently waiting in a writing book

Soon ideas I begin to see

Like ships setting out to sea

And as my pen moves they flow, flow

Flow graciously out of me

But to today is not the same

Ideas are stuck in my brain

As I sit and think, think,

Think of something lame

Q 3) Imagine that you are a poem being analysed by teachers and students. Write a poem describing what it feels like to be cut open in such a manner. (20)

Ans)

Sadly poems are always critiqued,

By everyone that we know

By title or occupation

And by the possessions that we show

We analyse by thoughts and emotions,

Or by awards received.

By church denomination

And by what we believe.

We’re analysed by what we spend,

Or by what we give.

We’re analysed by age and gender,

And by where we live.

We’re analysed by our past,

And by our education,

By the language that we speak,

Or by our nation.

We evaluate cosmetically.

We analyse both fat and small.

We analyse by ones appearance.

Fact is, we analyse it all!

Some analyse because they’re paid to.

Some analyse intentionally.

Some analyse to build self worth

Some analyse unwillingly.

Beware, for there is only one,

Who evaluates every stain and smudge

Google luck amateur critics of poetry,

When you face that judge!

Q 4) Think of a situation that holds meaning for you and write down any images that the thought generates in your mind. Now write two verses using the same images to describe that situation.

(20)

Ans)

I live like this:

as a kid I always pretended

to escape any situation

attacks from monsters

sudden impacts, super-villainesses

 now that I’m grown I’ve never known

clean escapes without consequences

dragging my body through a zone

lit by memories and burning questions

situations, complications

degrees of humiliation

strength of weapons, nerve damage

heart attacks, financial ruin 

as man I’ve got no plan

jumping from moment to moment

I see the end before it begins

and I move towards it

Q 5) Write a rhyming poem full of fun and nonsensical images to make a small child laugh.

(20)

Ans)

Herbert Hilbert Hubert Snod

Herbert Hilbert Hubert Snod

was known for eating all things odd.

The thing that bothered me the most

has he spread toothpaste on his toast?

“It’s springtime fresh, so cool and minty.”

His smiling eyes were bright and squinty.

On baked potatoes, he would slather

one half can of shave cream lather.

I don’t know how his tum could cope

as he ingested cubes of soap.

At times his food choice made a scene;

at least he kept his innards clean.

Daddy Fell into the Pond

Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.

We had nothing to do and nothing to say.

We were nearing the end of a dismal day,

And then there seemed to be nothing beyond,

Then Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone’s face grew merry and bright,

And Timothy danced for sheer delight.

“Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!

He’s crawling out of the duckweed!” Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,

And doubled up, shaking silently,

And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft,

And it sounded as if the old drake laughed.

Oh, there wasn’t a thing that didn’t respond

When Daddy Fell into the pond!