"Sonnet," Billy Collins

Named "the most popular poet in America" in the New York Times, Billy Collins is known for his wit and humor in his observations of the everyday, particularly reading and writing.

All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now, 
and after this one just a dozen
to launch a little ship on love's storm-tossed seas, 
then only ten more left like rows of beans.
How easily it goes unless you get Elizabethan
and insist the iambic bongos must be played
and rhymes positioned at the ends of lines,
one for every station of the cross.
But hang on here while we make the turn
into the final six where all will be resolved,
where longing and heartache will find an end, 
where Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen, 
take off those crazy medieval tights,
blowout the lights, and come at last to bed. 

Billy Collins's poem "Sonnet" is a sonnet detailing the difficulty and tediousness of writing a sonnet. Initially he uses a nonchalant tone stating that "all we need is fourteen lines." He continues to emphasize the ease with which he can write a sonnet by noting when he has completed another line ("thirteen now and after this one just a dozen," "only ten more left").  
However, he soon realizes that there is more to a sonnet than simply 14 lines about "love's storm tossed seas." For example, an Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains and a couplet written in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme. These sonnets "insist the iambic bongos be played and rhymes positioned at the ends of lines." Similarly, Collins suggests the difficulty of writing a Petrarchan sonnet, noting that Laura will tell Petrarch to "put down his pen" and "come to bed at last."
Collins writes his poem using the typical structure of a Petrarchan sonnet: an octet followed by a sestet. He describes the struggle of writing a sonnet in the octet, then after the turning point or volta ("hang in here while we make the turn") he details the resolution ("into the final six where all will be resolved"). However, the "resolution" is Petrarch putting down his pen and going to bed, in what appears to be defeat. By using the basic structure of a sonnet but failing to follow many of the rules, such as meter and rhyme, Collins conveys the difficulty and frustration experienced by artists such as Petrarch and others, including himself.

However, this poem also conveys a larger message: we should not waste our time and energy trying to achieve the impossible. Instead, we should think freely, love freely, and express ourselves freely. Only then are we able to reach our goals and achieve success.

"Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins

Named "the most popular poet in America" in the New York Times, Billy Collins is known for his wit and humor in his observations of the everyday, particularly reading and writing.

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.

Billy Collins's "Introduction to Poetry" explores the problems many encounter when reading or studying poetry. Like the readers in the poem, we tend to "tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it." We often "beat it with a hose to find out what it really means" instead of discovering what it means to each of us individually.

The poem's logical and rational progression parallels the way Collins wants readers to approach a poem. His conversational tone and use of simple language also conveys that understanding a poem does not have to be a complicated, never ending search for meaning. Rather, he encourages readers to interact with a poem: to look at the structure and style, listen to the words, and feel the message. His use of sensory details and action verbs, such as "hold," "press," "watch," "walk," and "feel," convey this active interaction. In addition, his imagery of the natural world, such as light, bees and mice, and the ocean, encourages readers to stop, take a step back, and appreciate the beauty of the words, to experience the poem and appreciate it as a form of art, and most importantly, to determine what it means on a personal level.

This poem may even be an extended metaphor for life and our constant need to know everything and to have constant control over every aspect of our lives rather than letting go and living in the present, appreciating life for what it is.