In

Introduction to Poetry, poet Billy Collins uses different types of figurative

language to express how readers react to poetry. In the first stanza, in the lines, take a poem/and hold it up to the light/like a color slide (13), the poet uses a simile to compare a poem to a color slide. This simile means that readers must look at a poem from another angle to fully understand what it means. Next, Collins states in lines 78 that he wants readers to walk inside the poets room/and feel the walls for a light switch. This metaphor compares a poem to a dark room, showing that readers must feel a poems words to be enlightened by its meaning. Lastly, Collins uses personfication to demonstrate how frustrated readers treat a poem. He complains that all they want to do/is tie the poem to a chair wit ha rope/and torture a confession out of it (1214). In these lines, he compares the poem to a person being tortured. Billy Collins uses these types of figurative language in order to express how readers commonly react to reading poetry. Writing About Poetry Tips Where does the punctuation go? 1. If you are not using a parenthetical citation, the period goes the quotation marks. In line 4, Collins tells readers to press an ear against its hive. 2. If you are using a parenthetical citation, the period goes the quotation marks and the parenthesis. Collins also tells readers to press an ear against its hive (4). Special Rules for Writing About Poetry 1. Use quotation marks around the title of a poem. Do not underline or italicize it! 2. Instead of citing page numbers, you are citing the 3. If you are including more than one line in the quote, use a to show where each line ends. 4. Explain why the quote is an example of a sound device, poetry device, or figurative language.