How Billy Collins Uses Humour in His Poem Candle Hat and Another Reason Why I Don’T Keep a Gun in the House
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*How Billy Collins Uses Humour in His Poem Candle Hat and another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A* Gun In The House
A characteristic of many of Billy Collins Poems is that he starts in reality and ends up on a flight of fancy. He uses humour in different ways, sometimes to emphasise underlining themes or sometimes just to make you smile. The two poems that I am comparing Candle Hat and Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun In The House are similar in the fact that they are light hearted and that they both start in a situation of reality, one with a barking dog, one with a painting of Goya, then they both go lead to the authors daydream like wonderings which are often emphasised with humour.
Both Poems end up leaving the reality of the start and going off into the imagination, in both cases humour is used to make this transition, in the 1st poem Candle Hat uses a more restrained view ‘youcan only wonder’ clearly showing where the imagined bit of the poem begins, it does not make a funny statement but instead paints a funny scene in your imagination, of Goya walking around with his candle hat. In the second poem the humour marks the bit where the poem moves into fantasy ‘I can see him now sitting in the orchestra’ presenting another funny scene .Both poems go on with there humours scenes ‘as if Beethoven had included a part for Barking Dog’ and ‘laughing like birthday cake.’
However although on both of these poems the second half is more light hearted, they both have underlining themes, the fist a comment on classical music and the other on that artists are more than there paintings.
Both Poems end on a humours note, but they have a trailing off quality that make you wonder if they have ended at all ‘illuminated in the blaze of his famous candle hat’ and ‘while the musicians listen in respectful silence’ Bothleave you with a amusing scene in your head that emphasises the points that Billy Collins was trying to get across.
A characteristic of many of Billy Collins Poems is that he starts in reality and ends up on a flight of fancy. He uses humour in different ways, sometimes to emphasise underlining themes or sometimes just to make you smile. The two poems that I am comparing Candle Hat and Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun In The House are similar in the fact that they are light hearted and that they both start in a situation of reality, one with a barking dog, one with a painting of Goya, then they both go lead to the authors daydream like wonderings which are often emphasised with humour.
Both Poems end up leaving the reality of the start and going off into the imagination, in both cases humour is used to make this transition, in the 1st poem Candle Hat uses a more restrained view ‘youcan only wonder’ clearly showing where the imagined bit of the poem begins, it does not make a funny statement but instead paints a funny scene in your imagination, of Goya walking around with his candle hat. In the second poem the humour marks the bit where the poem moves into fantasy ‘I can see him now sitting in the orchestra’ presenting another funny scene .Both poems go on with there humours scenes ‘as if Beethoven had included a part for Barking Dog’ and ‘laughing like birthday cake.’
However although on both of these poems the second half is more light hearted, they both have underlining themes, the fist a comment on classical music and the other on that artists are more than there paintings.
Both Poems end on a humours note, but they have a trailing off quality that make you wonder if they have ended at all ‘illuminated in the blaze of his famous candle hat’ and ‘while the musicians listen in respectful silence’ Bothleave you with a amusing scene in your head that emphasises the points that Billy Collins was trying to get across.