Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Division of Taguig City and Pateros
SENATOR RENATO “COMPAÑERO” CAYETANO MEMORIAL
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HIGHSCHOOL
31st cor 51st Sts., Pamayanang Diego Silang, Ususan, Taguig City

Litany by Billy Collins

Presenter: Hasabeah G. Alombro
STEM 202

I. The Poem

You are the bread and the knife,

The crystal goblet and the wine...
- Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,

the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,

the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,

maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show

that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,

speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees

and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.
 II. My Author-Dependent Interpretation

(Historical–Biographical Approach)

Litany
(By: Billy Collins)

History and
LOVE
Biography

Stanza 1 & 6-7 Stanza 1  Married to Diane, an

architect.
 Class Clown in the
You are this person Started as a middle- schoolhouse of
and I am a different aged love that American Poetry
person. I can never transitioned back to  Mother memorizes
be you, and you can western-love poem of
never be me. So, let’s Shakespeare and
still be together other poets.
because we are two  Poem is inspired by
halves that make Jacques Crickillon, a
each other complete Belgian poet.

Theme: Synthesis:

To love a person is to accept each
other’s imperfections. Always
making each other feel how special
they are in ways you can.
The author shows his love for his
wife in a funny way by writing a
poem that is a reflection of
Shakespeare’s poem influenced by
his mother.

Unified Theme:

Love is the people working

together in accepting each other’s
flaw and making the best of it.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Division of Taguig City and Pateros
SENATOR RENATO “COMPAÑERO” CAYETANO MEMORIAL
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HIGHSCHOOL
31st cor 51st Sts., Pamayanang Diego Silang, Ususan, Taguig City

Historical-Biographical Approach is the criticism I used in my Author-

Dependent Interpretation, looking at the author’s life and the history of the
literary text let me understand the literature thoroughly.

I wrote first interpretation of the poem that will be relevant to the

author’s biography. Billy Collins have a humorous personality which can be
mostly found in his works, also this poem “Litany.” He is married to Diane,
an architect. Collins also joked that he is in a competition with her where he
plans his poems so that he could outlast the building Diane designs. This fact
can be seen in the poem where the author describes his lover positively to
flatter her but he also included himself in a joking or funny tone. When he
was still a toddler, he would hear lines of Shakespeare or other poets from
his mother that she had memorized as a school girl. This was the time
Collins was first introduced to poetry by her beloved mother, now that there
is another woman he loves in his life, his wife. The poem he had made is a
reflection of a Shakespeare poem, specifically Sonnet 30, which began with
the line, “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.” Both poems show the
same idea but is express differently.

Looking at the history of the text, the first two line was derived from a
poem of Jacques Crickillon, a Belgian poet. Crickillon’s poem is a love poem
that compares the beloved to various things again and again but Collins
think otherwise. Based on these evidence, I have come up with a unified
theme that the poem tells that love is about two people working together in
accepting each other’s flaw and making the best of it.
 III. My Text-Dependent Interpretation

(Formalism and Structuralism)

Litany

(By: Billy Collins)

Structuralism Formalism

Signifier Signified
Structure Sound Style

Bread Life
 No Metrical  Consonance  Figurative
Pattern Languages
Knife Elegance
 Unstructured o Repetitio
 Free Verse n of the o Metaphor (Line
White Dew Beautiful  Lyric Poetry – sound /t/ 3 & 8-9)
Satire in line o Irony (Line 19-
White Apron Purity  1st and 2nd 10-11 21)
Point of View o Anaphora
 Tone is  No End (Stanza 1)
Birds Unpredictable serious to Rhyme o Repetition of
humorous Stanza 1 & 2
Boots in  7 Stanzas o Allusion (Line
Left Behind
the corner 1-2)
o Symbolism
Shooting Star Hopeful
 Imagery
Evening paper
Alone or o Sight
blowing down
Depressed o Smell
the alley
o Hear

House of Cards Sensitive

Theme 1: Theme 2:

I appreciate you for what My love can be compared

you are and laugh for too many beautiful
what you are not but things in the world but
that doesn’t mean I don’t Unified Theme: love will not always be
love you. I am also beautiful.
flawed and with you, I
feel complete.
Love is accepting each
other’s flaw. It’s about
being yourself and finding
happiness together. It’s
seeing an imperfect person
perfectly
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Division of Taguig City and Pateros
SENATOR RENATO “COMPAÑERO” CAYETANO MEMORIAL
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HIGHSCHOOL
31st cor 51st Sts., Pamayanang Diego Silang, Ususan, Taguig City

Structuralism and formalism is the approach I used in my text-dependent

interpretation to extract the theme of the poem. In structuralism, I have
listed parts of the poem and related them to real things that can be found
beneath the surface. The first two words is bread and knife, the bread
signifies life knowing that it is food and we cannot survive without it. The
knife signifies the want, you don't really need a knife to cut the bread, but
you want the knife because it is a more elegant way to cut the bread. The
marriage of the two creates a gentleness, a delicacy that brings you back to
the goal of the comparison, which is the comparison to the beloved. The
white dew and apron tells that her beloved is beautiful and pure or innocent.
However, the birds tell that she is unpredictable as a person. The boots in
the corner tells that his love isn’t a person to be left behind because she is a
house of cards, which tells that she is a strong woman she won’t fall easily.
In first person point of view the persona stated that she is a shooting star
that shows that she is hopeful even though he is an evening paper blowing
down the alley that shows he is alone or depressed. These concepts lead me
to arrive at the theme: “I appreciate you for what you are and laugh for
what you are not but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I am also flawed
and with you, I feel complete.”

Structuralism looks at the different elements of the poem. Looking at the

structure, the poem is a free verse, which means it does not follow iambic
pentameter or any sort of rhyme scheme. This poem is a lyrical poetry
specifically satire, it is a form of comedy that makes fun of things using
sarcasm. This poem slightly uses satire by having a sort of mocking tone to
it the word litany itself means a long boring address. It follows a pattern of
changing tone it started from serious to humorous, then back to serious
again. The poems point of view also shifted it started from 1st person point
of view then shifted to 2nd person point of view in stanza 5 then back to 1st
in line 28. For the sound, it doesn’t have any end rhyme but the poem
consists of a word sound. Consonance is found in the poem where repetition
of the sound /t/ in line 10-11 is present. Figurative languages are seen the
poem like metaphor, irony, anaphora, allusion and symbolism. Imagery is
also present that can trigger the four senses of the body. Words like dew on
the morning grass, marsh birds in flight are for the sense of sight while pine-
scented air is or the sense of smell. Lastly, the words sound of rain on the
roof is for the sense of hear. I have arrived to the theme: “My love can be
compared too many beautiful things in the world but love will not always be
beautiful.”
 Joining the extracted themes together came up with: “Love is
accepting each other’s flaw. It’s about being yourself and finding happiness
together. It’s seeing an imperfect person perfectly.”

IV. My Reader-Dependent Interpretation

(Reader-Response Criticism)

Litany

(By: Billy Collins)

Critique Proposition

Love isn’t what you think

it is, it will catch you off-
 The text disrupted
guard.
the cliché poem that
talks about their
beloved in a flattery
way over and over People experience
again. different type of love in
their lives.
 The poem destroys
the assumptions of
men that they know Don’t be afraid to show
what women want. who you really are to a
person
 Cliché lines used is
unfamiliar to me.
Love isn’t supposed to
 Use of “you” makes it hurt. People tend to
look like the poem is force themselves that
talking about the what they have is real
reader. love

Theme 1:
You are filled with
amazing things and you
are flawed, I am too.
There will aspects of you
that will make you and
me from everyone else
and that’s the reason
people will love you but
in order to do this we
must first learn to love
our flaws
about yourself and this
Theme 2:
Love comes during the
most unexpected time
with the most
unexpected person but
sometimes this person is
only meant to teach us a
lesson.
Unified Theme:
Someone will love
everything you hate
will start with you
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Division of Taguig City and Pateros
SENATOR RENATO “COMPAÑERO” CAYETANO MEMORIAL
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HIGHSCHOOL
31st cor 51st Sts., Pamayanang Diego Silang, Ususan, Taguig City

Analyzing the text through reader-dependent interpretation, I decided

to use Reader-Response Criticism. I critiqued the poem first, what I like
about the piece is that it doesn’t follow cliché love poem that talks about the
good things about their beloved for 30 lines, though I don’t have any bad
opinion against those type of poem. On the other hand, there are lines used
by the author that is mostly found in other poems but it was presented
humorously. I found this poem refreshing and interesting because this was
my first time encountering a love poem that included himself in the picture,
it has a little plot twist. It also destroys the thinking that man knows what
woman want. There were some parts of the poem that is hard to understand
especially the cliché words used that is mostly found in other love poems
because I am not a wide reader, I don’t read books that often. I have also
notices the repeated usage of the “you” pronoun which make it looks that
the author is talking to you or talking about you. My critique came up with
the first theme: “You are filled with amazing things and you are flawed, I am
too. There will aspects of you that will make you and me from everyone else
and that’s the reason people will love you.

Looking at the poem and my point of view in life, it clashes with my

view on love that every love is different and every love will make you either
a better person or stronger for another love. As F Scott Fitsgerald states,
“There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.” This
poem showed a type of love that is playful but at the same time the
existence of each other in their life makes them a better person. As a
reader, it thought me to show who I am as a person with flaws, weirdness
and bad sides because the right people will love you for who you are. Like
the quote, “Your flaws are perfect for the heart that is meant to love you.”
Personally, this text affected me because of some experiences. Once love
comes to you all your assumptions and expectations about love will be erase
because you will never know what type of love will come in to your life all
you have to do now is accept what’s in front of you and work together to
make it work. What I’m mostly concern about when it comes to love and
poems about love is that people tend to make their lover their home when in
some cases it doesn’t. Sometimes people tend to force love, thinking that
they will never find love again so they choose to stay even though they are
hurting and not happy. Love isn’t supposed to hurt, it should be synonymous
the words joy and acceptance. A quote stated that “Love doesn’t hurt, loving
that wrong person does.” These lead me to my second theme: “Love comes
 during the most unexpected time with the most unexpected person that will
love our flaws but sometimes this person is only meant to teach us a
lesson.”

Joining the two themes extracted from my opinions and views I have
come up with a unified theme that Someone will love everything you hate
about yourself.

V. From Author-Text-Reader Dependent Interpretation

Litany
(By: Billy Collins)

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3

(Historical-Biographical Approach) (Formalism and Structuralism) (Reader-Response Criticism)

Love is the people working Love is accepting each Someone will love
together in accepting each other’s flaw. It’s about everything you hate
other’s flaw and making the being yourself and finding about yourself and this
best of it. happiness together. It’s will start with you
seeing an imperfect person
perfectly

Grand Theme

It’s better to seek partner who understands and shares

your failings, someone who would complement your worst
characteristics. To find your soul mate, you first needed to
be able to look inside, examine your character defects,
and change them or embrace them.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Division of Taguig City and Pateros
SENATOR RENATO “COMPAÑERO” CAYETANO MEMORIAL
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HIGHSCHOOL
31st cor 51st Sts., Pamayanang Diego Silang, Ususan, Taguig City

Three different approach was use to analyze and interpret the poem of
Billy Collins titled “Litany”. The criticisms are historical-biographical,
formalism and structuralism and reader-response criticism. The themes
extracted from the different criticism lead to the grand theme that states,
“It’s better to seek partner who understands and shares your failings,
someone who would complement your worst characteristics. To find your
soul mate, you first needed to be able to look inside, examine your character
defects, and change them or embrace them.”