Answer:
"The Trouble with Poetry" by Billy Collins is a poem that reflects on the difficulties of writing and understanding poetry. The speaker laments that poetry is often seen as inaccessible and difficult for readers to comprehend. They suggest that poetry is a form of communication that can be misinterpreted and its true meaning lost in translation.
What was left out: The poem also touches on the idea that poetry can evoke strong emotions and create a sense of connection between the reader and the poem, but this aspect was not mentioned in the summary.
The most difficult lines to say in other words:
"Poetry arrives in the form of a torpedo"
This line implies that poetry is a powerful and impactful force, but its meaning is difficult to convey without the metaphor.
"It has nothing to do with the reader"
This line challenges the idea that poetry is meant to be understood by the reader, and suggests that poetry exists for its own sake, independent of the reader's interpretation.
Text evidence:
"Poetry arrives in the form of a torpedo
and means nothing to those who do not know how to swim."
"It has nothing to do with the reader,
this far-off music,
these slowed-down words
more like absences than presences."