Instructions
Read and analyze the poem below by Billy Collins to answer the following question. Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
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.
1. How many stanzas are there in the poem?
a. 5
b. 6
c. 7
d. 8
2. What is the tone of the poem?
a. The poet says that he wants to thank God.
b. It is overwrought, dark, frantic, and intense throughout this whole short story. c. It is to satirize the modern sensibility regarding poetry.
d. The poem shows how fun becoming an adult is.
3. What is the figurative language used in “tie the poem”?
a. hyperbole
b. alliteration
c. metonymy
d. metaphor
4. What is the figurative language used in the first stanza of the poem? a. alliteration
b. onomatopoeia
c. simile
d. metaphor
5. What does the line in stanza 2 mean?
a. Collins is comparing poetry to a buzzing hive of insects, asking the readers to simply listen.
b. He is referring to a group of students or perhaps his readers in general. c. Collins is comparing poetry to insects, asking the readers to give their opinion. d. It is where the central idea is established.
6. In stanza 4, the author describes a poem as having a dark room that he wants his students to walk into, then feel the walls to try and find the light switch. Which of these statements is the best interpretation of that metaphor?
a. Poems are so confusing, they're like walking into a dark room you have to find your way out of.
b. A poem can be confusing, but it's best to just start reading it and see what you can find and understand as you read.
c. You can't read a poem in the dark.