Billy Collins

Reflection:

This act had a lot of curveballs thrown into it. A lot happened that I did not expect. Most of the curveballs were the deaths. I knew that Hamlet had to die, and I assumed that Claudius died as well, but Shakespeare decided to go farther and kill just about everyone else. It caught me off guard but after thinking about it I realized that I didn’t mind that much. Shakespeare kept Horatio alive and I liked that. What I did not like was how Shakespeare killed off everyone. I thought he could have been a little more creative. Just having Gertrude drink the poison and have Laertes and Hamlet switch blades seemed a little far fetched, but it is Shakespeare so I can live with it. He does a lot of things that I would do differently.

On a different note, Act 5 also had some great comedy in it. I really liked the person digging the grave. I thought he was very funny. It provided some comedic relief for the tragic tale. Especially because he was digging a grave and that is usually not thought of as a funny thing just added irony and with that more humor.

The last thing that I am going to reflect upon is Fortinbras. I thought his involvement in the play was very unnecessary. I even thought that the subplot with Norway on a whole did not need to be included in the play. In the beginning I thought that Norway was going to go to war with Denmark even though they said they wouldn’t but that did not happen. Maybe I am missing something but from what I got out of the play, it could have gone the same even if Norway was never brought up at all. I guess that’s another thing that Shakespeare did that I would of done differently.

I decided to do another plot summary for this response. I chose this not because I did not understand the plot but more because there was a ton of plot development in this act and I think doing a plot summary will help me remember it all.

This act begins with a conversation between Gertrude and Claudius. Gertrude informs Claudius of here interaction with Hamlet –  including the murder of Polonius. Claudius stays with his original plan and says that Hamlet needs to be shipped off to England. He tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find Hamlet and to bring Polonius’ body to the Chapel. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern both rush away to do the King’s orders and they find Hamlet but not Polonius’ body. Hamlet does not say where he has put it, but finally agrees to go to the King. By this point there is no doubt that Hamlet has lost all of his marbles. Hamlet goes to the King and is = asked again where Polonius’ body is. Finally Hamlet says that he has put the body under the stairs in the lobby. After this information is out Claudius tells Hamlet that he is still going to England and then after leaves, reveals that he wants people in England to kill Hamlet.

The plot then shifts over to Fortinbras. He has finally reached Denmark on his way to Poland. Hamlet sees the army and asks a soldier about it. The soldier says that they are going to attack a piece of land that has no profit but the name. Hamlet thinks about this for a while and then comes to the conclusion that he isn’t thinking about killing Claudius enough and must think about that more often from now on.

Then the plot goes back to Gertrude. She is now talking with Horatio. Ophelia then enters the room and is believed to have gone insane. She is singing and won’t stop until she finishes the song. She is singing about Polonius’ death. Claudius comes into the room and sees Ophelia and says that Laertes has come back from France. Laertes then comes into the room too and is furious with Claudius because he thinks Claudius killed his father. However, Claudius soon tells Laertes that it was actually Hamlet that killed his father. They begin to discuss a way to kill Hamlet. Apparently Laertes is very good at fencing and wants to kill Hamlet himself. He has poison he is going to pour on his sword that will kill Hamlet even if it just barely grazes his skin. Claudius is also going to have some poison in a glass of liquid for Hamlet to drink just incase Hamlet proves to be better at fencing than Laertes.

Then the plot shifts to Horatio, Hamlet’s last true friend. He meets some sailors who have a letter from Hamlet. Apparently pirates have captured him and they are holding him captive. He has another letter to be delivered to the King. They deliver the message and it says that Hamlet is coming back. Then after Horatio and the sailors leave, Gertrude comes back and says that Ophelia drowned and is now dead.

That is pretty much were Shakespeare leaves off at the end of act 4. As I said before, a lot happens but I tried as best I could to briefly sum it up. It is safe to say that Denmark is struggling at the moment. 

Quotes with Commentary:

“To be, or not to be? That is the question—

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them?” – Hamlet

This is the most famous line in the entire play. I knew this line, or at least the “to be or not to be? That is the question” part of it before I even knew anything about Shakespeare. It really sums up Hamlet’s feelings well. He is really struggling with what life has presented him at the moment. So much so that he is considering killing himself, or at least thinking about it. Because he believes he is alone when he says this, leads me to think that he is actually insane and not just faking it.

“For who not needs shall never lack a friend

And who in want a hollow friend doth try

Directly seasons him an enemy” – Player King

This quote took me a little longer to comprehend than the previous one, I am still pretty sure I dont quite understand it completely but Shakespeare is really hard to understand completely. The footnotes said that “hollow” meant insincere and “season him” meant ripens him into. After realizing that, I took from this quote that basically, someone who has everything, will never be friendless and an insincere friend will turn into an enemy if asked for help. I think I am still missing bits and pieces of this because I disagree with the first part but agree with the second. I do not think that someone who has everything will always have friends. In fact, if my childhood cartoon watching has taught me anything, it is that the people who have everything they want are usually the ones without friends. That goes against the first part of this quote. The second part, if I decoded it correctly is sort of a duh statement. An insinscere friend will turn out to be insinscere, that I do agree with. But, as I said before, I think there is at least a slightly different meaning to what I decoded or translated but hopefully I got it just enough that I am understanding and not, not understanding it, as my title questions.

Plot Summary:

This act starts out with Polonius sending his servant to go and spy on his son. After seeing the video version I had thought that Polonius might prefer his son over his daughter, seeing as he let his son go to France but told his daughter to stay away from Hamlet. This spying action wiped away that thought. I now believe that Polonius is just another parent that is too involved in his children’s life. The idea of Polonius favoring Laertes is even further bashed because he seems very changed after what Ophelia tells him regarding Hamlet. After he learns that Hamlet might actually be in love with his daughter he seems to believe that it might not be such a bad idea anymore.

The story then switches to the king and queen. They have invited two of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Wittenburg to Denmark. Cornelius and Gertrude are both supposedly worried about Hamlet because he has not been acting normal, probably because of his father’s death. They both hope that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can cheer Hamlet up and find the cause of his uncheerfulness. Then Cornelius and Voltimand return from Norway bringing what they call good news. This news was that Norway was no longer going to attack Denmark but merely bring their troops through the country on their way to attack the Poles. When I read this, I immediately thought it was bogus. I think that Norway is going to bring their troops in the country and then attack unless Hamlet saves the day and sees through this plan. Claudius and Gertrude have obviously been convinced that Norway is no longer a threat to Denmark because they are very happy and put the matter off until later. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave and the conversation goes to Polonius who reveals his plan to the king and queen to see if the reason Hamlet is going crazy is because of his love for Ophelia. His plan consists of himself and the King, arranging a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia and hiding behind the arras to spy on them. Polonius, it seems, is all about spying. The King likes the plan and Polonius leaves but runs into Hamlet on his way out. Hamlet is pretending to be crazy in front of Polonius, who seems to think it is nothing because of Hamlet’s love with Ophelia. Polonius then leaves and Hamlet runs into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet knows that they left Wittenburg because the king and queen want them to cheer him up. Then out of nowhere, I thought, some actors show up and get tested by Hamlet. He asks them to recite something from the Aeneid. After the test is done Hamlet devises a plan to see if Claudius is guilty or not. He is going to make a play (a play within a play! – Shakespeare is playing with plays) of his father’s murder to see Claudius’ reaction. I think this is a reasonable way of doing it, but I do not understand why he has to test Claudius’ guilt in the first place. Hamlet swore to the ghost of his father that he would get revenge for his murder. It seems to me that he has to kill Claudius no matter what so Claudius’ reaction to the play wouldnt matter. O well, we will see what happens next. That is the end of Act 2.

Reflection:

I enjoyed the plot of this first act. Usually when I read Shakespeare I don’t like it that much, or I can see where it is going and there are not very much surprises, but that was not the case with Hamlet. It was just like the previous Shakespeare plays that I have read: Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado about Nothing, and Merchant of Venice, in the fact that it introduced all the characters and their conflicts in the first act, but then it went a step further. When Hamlet talked to the ghost of  his dad and was told to kill his uncle, was the moment when I thought that this might be a different Shakespeare than before. That was serious plot development and so now I am actually looking forward to reading the rest and finding out what happens – a nice change with Shakespeare. That is why I titled this post a fresh beginning; it was not just because this post was a reflection on the first act but that I actually felt refreshed after reading it. I am no longer dreading the fact that I have to read Shakespeare for the next week and a half. The fact that I actually saw Hamlets Castle might also play a factor in this. Maybe that I am mostly Norwegian might also account for some of it too. Whatever it is, it is safe to say right now, that if the rest of the play is like the first act Hamlet will definitely be my favorite Shakespearean play by far.

I Was Looking Outside

And I noticed some children playing basketball

across the street. 

One of the kids was smaller than the other two,

he was winning – not unusual -

he always wins.

I kept watching

and eating my eggs.

I got up and walked over to the computer.

High of 88 today-

my favorite temperature.

The sun was already shining,

but I guess it was 11.

I finished my eggs

and my orange juice.

I see some runners outside

sweating profusely.

I wonder if they know it will be warmer soon.

Right now the day is still young.

I stay in my pajamas

while I listen to Miles Davis

and John Coltrane, So What.

What does this day have in store for me?

Whatever I want - 

I love summer.

-Jonathan Ogland-Hand

I tried to make this poem imitate Billy Collins’ work in many ways. First off, the title of the poem is part of the poem and it is in first person and is observational. Those were the easy parts, everything else was a little more difficult to do. One particularly hard part was to not have my message displayed until the end like Billy does in many of his poems. Also, I tried to have my poem be about a lot of different little things so it would be like a person’s mind in the summer – wandering about and care free. First I look outside and then go the the computer and then finish my breakfast and its already 11 o’clock. I stay in my pajamas the entire time as well. I tried to convey that I just woke up without saying that I just woke up. It was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be. I also used the dash because I did a post on that. Lastly, I thought I would include some reference to jazz music because Billy includes jazz music in many of his poems. It is his favorite music. I think I made a solid attempt at creating an enjoyable, easy to read poem about an average event like Billy does.

This research project was interesting. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I have done worse things for school before. The thing that I didn’t like about it the most was that it was always hanging over my head. I always felt like I had the blog to do. Im not sure what you could do about that for next year though. That is where I like writing papers better. When I wrote the fall research paper, I only had to go through a day of writing, but here I had to go through many days. Other than that, I enjoyed blogging better than writing a paper. I liked how I could read how my peers wrote, because usually I cannot read what my friends write. I also liked how the blog allowed for a little humor because papers are not humorous. Also, the blogging seemed to be more about the content rather than how it was written, and that was a nice change. Overall, I thought the blog was a good idea. My only advice for next year is to have all the assignments up at the beginning of the project. I did not like how I did not know what I would need to look for next.

http://johncegr5.edublogs.org/2009/03/11/and-now-for-something-completely-different/#comments

my first post on John’s Blog

http://reedegr5.edublogs.org/2009/03/11/get-to-know-pinsky/#comments

my second post on Reed’s Blog

http://raspberrythunderbolt.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/billy-collins-taking-off-emily-dickinsons-clothes/

here is my 3rd post (the first on a blogosphere blog). Raspberrythunderbolt did not accept it. But here is what I wrote:

Hello Raspberrythunderbolt-

I am a high school student, doing a blog about Billy Collins for my English class. For an assignment, I had to compare Collins to a poetry master. I chose Emily Dickinson, because of a quote Collins said: “From Emily Dickinson, I learned how to use the dash.”

I noticed that you wrote “I know that Dickinson used a lot of “sudden dashes” in her poems.” She does, and it looks as if Collins is following her path. One of Collins’ poems that I like, “Passengers,” uses two dashes in the first stanza. I commented on that in my blog but did not reference “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” even though I knew about this poem, because it is in the same collection, “Picnic, Lightening,” that I read. However, I still do believe with your conclusion that Collins feels a connection when he reads Dickinson. I read that when he was a child, Collins did not like all the poems he read in school that were written by dead, white males, and I am sure that when he discovered Dickinson, he probably liked her poetry immediately. It would have been much more modern and interesting than what he read in school and a nice change. This could be a reason why he feels this connection when he reads Dickinson’s work.

The only reason I am a little uncertain about this statement would be that Collins really strives to write simple poetry. I have read very little Dickinson but what I have read, I have come to the conclusion that Dickinson’s poetry is not simple at all. I guess though, that Collins only said he learned the use of the dash, from Dickinson, nothing more.

That is all I have, feel free to comment on my blog, jonathanegr5.edublogs.org, if you want. Depending on when you visit, my latest post might not be done. Thanks!

http://cechaffin.blogspot.com/2006/08/500-words-on-billy-collins.html

that is my last post on the blogosphere. Im not sure why it didnt hyperlink. It wouldnt work to hotlink either. Sorry for the inconvenience. I wrote it as anonymous but he accepted it. Right now it is the last comment made on his blog by someone other than himself. Here is it copy and pasted anyway.

I agree with you, I often wonder myself how someone can dislike Billy Collins. He is such a good poet. I recently read some Wallace Stevens’ poetry and that just made me enjoy Collins’ work even more. Stevens’ poetry was confusing and even after I thought about it for a while, some questions I had after reading the poem remained unanswered. I never have that experience with Collins’ poetry. That is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much. 

Anyway, just wanted to share some of my thoughts and tell you that this is a great post! Thanks!

Since that last post was such a success, I will begin this one with a quote from an interview, just like I did before.

“And then I suddenly came under the influence of, first of all, people like Karl Shapiro and Howard Nemerov and Reed Whittemore and a lot of other contemporary poets that I was exposed to.” -Billy Collins

I was a little shocked when I read this because I had commented on John C’s blog about how I thought our poets were similar. John picked Shapiro for his poet. As it turns out Shapiro was an influence for Billy! I will take some of the information John said to back up this post.

One, Billy and Karl are both known for their simplistic modern style. They also both write about the experiences they have had. Check out John’s blog for more info. (Click John C under the Blogroll)

Howard Nemerov has poetry similar to Collins as well. I can see the influence. Especially in Howard’s poem The Beautiful Lawn Sprinkler.

This is about a sprinkler that Howard is observing. It is an observational poem, just like many of Collins’ poems are. Even though it is not as simple as some of Billy’s are, it is still not complex. I can see Billy reading this poem, and really enjoying it. It follows the guidelines for what Billy believes poetry should be. Like what he said in his poem, Introduction to Poetry - it is enjoyable. 

Lastly is Reed Whittemore. I could only find one poem of his online so I will that one.

Thinking of Tents
By Reed Whittemore

I am thinking of tents and tentage, tents through the ages.
I had half a tent in the army and rolled it religiously,
But Supply stole it back at war’s end, leaving me tentless.
And tentless I thankfully still am, a house man at heart,
Thinking of tents as one who has passed quite beyond tents,
Passed the stakes and the flaps, mosquitoes and mildew,
And come to the ultimate tent, archetypal, platonic,
With one cot in it, and one man curled on the cot
Drinking, cooling small angers, smelling death in the distance—
War’s end—
World’s end—
Sullen Achilles.

This is a very intimate poem and it is written in first person. Two things that Billy’s poetry has. It is just like Billy’s, in the fact that Reed says his thoughts and his opinions. It is different from Billy’s in that it is not observational and is dark where Billy’s are funny and observational. None the less it is intimate. I can see the influence. 

These three people were all influences to Billy, I can see the resemblance in their poetry. I am sure that Billy is a huge influence on many people. He influences people when they write poetry and also forming what people believe poetry to be. I, for example, after reading Billy’s poems believe his poetry to be some of the best I have ever read. I do not understand why people enjoy poetry that is not simple, like that of Stevens’. Stevens’ poetry takes 15 minutes to understand and even then, some mysteries are left unanswered. Billy’s poetry is not that way at all and I can easily foresee a new generation of poets in the near future that all write simple, observational poetry because of Billy.

“What did you learn from the poets that inspired you?”

“From Emily Dickinson, I learned how to use the dash. From Walt Whitman, I learned intimacy.” – Billy Collins. Source.

Obviously Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman have influenced Billy Collins. This may seem odd because Walt and Emily are very different poets. However, Billy’s poetry does show similarities to each of them. Obviously his uses of dashes resembles Emily’s. Lets examine that first.

“Dickinson uses the dash to fragment language and to cause unrelated words to rush together” – Scholarly Source

Because Billy’s use of the dash should mimic that of Emily’s, Billy’s use of the dash should also fragment language and cause unrelated words to rush together. Lets see if we can find an example.

Taken From Poem Passengers

“At the gate, I sit in a row of blue seats

with the possible company of my death,

this sprawling miscellany of people–

carry-on bags and paperbacks–

that could be gathered in a flash

into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.”

From the collection Picnic, Lightening

In this poem, Billy uses two dashes in the first stanza. At the end of the 2nd line, Billy uses a comma and if he had used another comma after “people,” the meaning of the poem would not have changed at all. In fact, if this was not a poem and was a story instead, it would be correct grammar to use a comma because it is a list: this sprawling miscellany of people, carry-on bags, and paperbacks. However, Billy choses to use a dash instead. But the sentence is not done. It continues to “that could be gathered in a flash into a band of pilgrims on the last open road.” His use of the dash accomplishes fragmenting the language very well. When I first read this poem, this stanza change caught me off guard, I thought the sentence was over but it wasn’t. Billy reinforces his break in language even more when he begins a new stanza. Even without the stanza there, because there are dashes, the words “carry-on bags and paperbacks” are completely separated from the other parts of the sentence. The language is broken up very well. Billy’s dash also forces “people” and “carry-on bags and paperbacks” together. Because of the dash, even though there is a line change, these two things are related just like Billy wants them to be and everyone can see that all three of them are the miscellany he is referring to. People and carry-on bags are not similar at all, but because of his dash, these two words become connected. They are still broken up, because the dash creates a pause in the poem, but they are related. This is a great example of a poem that Billy uses the dash in to separate language while at the same time creating a link between two otherwise, unrelated words.

Whitman, on the other hand, taught Billy something less exact – intimacy. This can be taken many differnt ways. The dictionary has 8 different definitions for it. However, I believe that Billy was talking about his subject matter and relaying it to his audience. Billy writes from what he knows, usually about a very simple event in his life, and writes about it very personally. He includes his actions and thoughts in his poems. A good example of this is: I Chop Some Parsely While Listening To Art Blakely’s Version of “Three Blind Mice” from his collection, Picnic, Lightening seen below.

The thoughts Billy includes in this poem are ones that I could picture myself having like how he started wondering how the mice came to be blind and the rest of their untold story. These are great questions that I could see anybody, past poet laureate or not, having. Billy does a great job of conveying his thoughts to his readers. The content of his poetry are of things that everyone experiences and because of that, any person can relate to it. By writing like this, Billy creates an intimacy with his audience. They can experience the exact same thoughts he had and wrote his poem about. Billy is very close to his poetry and as a result, his audience is too.

If that is not enough, check out this quote from a review of one of his collections, Ballistics. 

       “As Collins strives to find truth in the smallest detail, readers are given afascinating, intimate glimpse into the heart and soul of a brilliantly thoughtful man and exemplary poet.” Source.

Or maybe this quote from Billy himself: 

“Who are you speaking to in your poems?”

Billy Collins: ”I’m speaking to someone I’m trying to get to fall in love with me. I’m trying to speak intimately to one person. That should be clear. I’m not speaking to an audience. I’m not writing for the podium.” Source.

Introduction To Poetry-

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.

from The Apple that Astonished Paris

This is a great poem in which Billy presents how he thinks poetry should be approached. He sounds like a teacher, and even though he does teach, I believe he is saying this as if he is teaching everyone how to read poetry, not just his actual college students. However, I also think that his college students approach at poetry was probably the reason he felt the need to write this poem. I think he is referring to his students when he says “they begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.” Billy is being very inventive with his belief about poetry. His poetry as a whole is very modern. It is simple and does not need footnotes or anything of that sort to explain it. Some are so simple, some people believe that it is not poetry. His poetry is nothing like what the traditionalist believe poetry to be.

R.S. Gwynn, author of The Hudson Review, agrees with this. He said, “[Collins Poetry] is the poetic equivalent of and episode of ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘the show about nothing’” (Gwynn). It is true that Billy does write about a lot of everyday events such as cutting onions, listening to music, or reading to name a few. In the eyes of the traditionalist*, these are not poetry, because poetry should be full of figurative language and say more than the actual words on the page. To people like this, Billy’s poems are not about anything, because there is no moral/meaningful underlying message. His poems just say what they say and that is not poetic. However, if poetry was approached like Billy wants it to be, like he says in Introduction to Poetry, his poems are poetry. According to his views, poetry should be simple and should not need to be analyzed until it is dead. Instead, poetry should be enjoyed. I agree with this. Poetry does not have to be complex and give someone a headache. A poem can say he was listening to music and also mean that he was listening to music.

What is this? Interesting Connection to Past Unit!?! WOW

                Billy also says “I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore.” This could be taken as Billy is saying the reader of the poem has the final say in how to interpret a poem. The reader can take whatever he or she wants from it with no regard to what the poet wants the reader to take from it because the waterskier is waving goodbye to the poet. What the poet had in mind for the meaning of their poem does not matter because the reader is the one waterskiing in/reading the poem. If that is the case, it could be said that Billy is somewhat of a New Critic.

Gwynn, R.S. The Hudson Review, Vol. 56, No. 1, 55th Anniversary Issue (Spring, 2003). pp. 208-216. Published by the Hudson Review, Inc.

*I bet also, that these traditionalists enjoy Seinfeld because, who doesn’t? Seinfeld is a fantastic show full of humor, irony and delicious junior mints. This would make them hypocrites and how trust worthy are hypocrites? Not very. They probably secretly love Billy’s poetry and wish all poetry was as enjoyable.