Introduction to Poetry – Bridging Questions

1. Read the following information and explain how it may be connected to the poem.

Billy Collins is an American poet, Named Poet Laureate ((משורר לאומי of the United States in 2001. Believing poetry should be celebrated and enjoyed by everyone, Collins initiated a program called “Poetry 180”, which aim is to read literature out loud and outside of the classroom. In an interview, Collins discussed this aim: “The idea would be to have high school students hear a poem every day so that the poem will be a feature of daily life and not something that is just taught.”

2. In an interview, Billy Collins once said: “I think one of the worries that sometimes destroys the spirit of poetry… is students’ uncertainty about how to approach a poem and how to deal with difficulty in poetry.”

Relate this quotation to the poem. Remember to base your answer on the text.