© 2015 Shmoop University, Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction to Poetry

Introduction to Poetry


by Billy Collins

Stanza 7 Summary


Line 15

They begin beating it with a hose

  • Ouch! That's going to leave a mark. Those mean, mean students. They are attacking that perfectly friendly poem, with all those nice little rooms. Why? Why the brutality?

Line 16

to find out what it really means.

  • In this final line, we find out what the students want the poem to confess. The purpose of the torture is to discover the poem's meaning.
  • In the end, we can see Collins is arguing that the students are trying to discover what the poem is trying to say without really listening.
  • They want to see the truth, but they don't take the time to look around and find a light switch or two. They focus too much on meaning and forget the fun, the excitement, the art.
  • To sum up—if more students spent their study time doing some literary waterskiing, there would be less poem torture in the world and that would make Billy Collins, and Shmoop, happy.

People who Shmooped this also Shmooped...