1. Are you mocking the previous artist's work with your recreation?
I feel like Billy Collins is mocking the original poet with his recreation. The original poet used descriptions like, "you are the bread in the knife", which doesn't really make sense. Billy Collins goes on to use other descriptions like, " You are the white apron of the baker", which seems to poke fun at the original author. I feel like there is no deeper meaning to the metaphors and descriptions Billy Collins uses, rather he is showing that anything can be used to described someone, even though the descriptions make no sense.
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Okay, well, first, you are wrong in that you said "the original poet used descriptions like, 'you are the bread in the knife.'" It's "You are the bread and the knife." Bread in the knife? Well, even I would make fun of that.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the "descriptions" you said Billy Collins used (they are actually called "metaphors") DO make sense.
Third, Billy's poem is a parody of all the silly, romantic metaphors and similes poets have used over the ages. "Litany," Billy's poem, is written in the vein of Shakespeare's Sonnet #130 ("My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun..."). (Try reading that sonnet. If Billy's poem and metaphors make no sense to you, I'd love to hear your criticism of Shakespeare!)
Billy's poem is funny. It's laugh-out-loud funny. Every time he reads it, the crowd erupts in laughter. Add up all those readings, and it's tens or hundreds of thousands of people, all laughing at -- AND "GETTING"-- "Litany." And yet, many couples have had "Litany" read at their weddings, solemn occasions.
Are all of those people wrong, or could you be the one who just doesn't get it?
I agree with you that he is making fun of what the writer said. He think that the original writer made a bad metaphor so he then decided to make many bad metaphors so he could poke fun at him.
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