Collins's cow poem

[Debisa]

Harry?

I am interested in knowing which one of Billy's piece was being referred to?

Such clarity in a poet is admirable, but as Collins himself realizes, there has to be a countercurrent, a touch of ambiguity and uncertainty, as it were. Not the kind that leads nowhere and makes the reader give up on the poem in no time, but the kind that draws us back into it. What one needs is some unexpected image or twist in the point of view that makes us realize that there's more here than meets the eye. When that occurs, as in the following poem, when he seems to be surprising himself as much as he is surprising us, Collins is by any measure a very fine poet.

Thanks

Deb

[HowardM2]

This is Collins' general practice, not a single specific poem.

[Debisa]

Such clarity in a poet is admirable, but as Collins himself realizes, there has to be a countercurrent, a touch of ambiguity and uncertainty, as it were. Not the kind that leads nowhere and makes the reader give up on the poem in no time, but the kind that draws us back into it. What one needs is some unexpected image or twist in the point of view that makes us realize that there's more here than meets the eye. When that occurs, as in the following poem, when he seems to be surprising himself as much as he is surprising us, Collins is by any measure a very fine poet.

I felt there should have been a poem following?

Deb

[Debisa]

Thank you Harry it must only be available in paper print though because I was unable to google it :-(

Another one on my "to read" list.

Regards

Deb

[Donner]

Originally posted by Debisa
Thank you Harry it must only be available in paper print though because I was unable to google it :-(


I was able to find this archived Prairie Home Companion peformance (http://www.prairiehome.org/performances/20021130/index.shtml) of Billy Collins reading several of his poems, including Afternoon with Irish Cows. Poetry is, afterall, meant to be listened to more than read. You need RealPlayer to hear the file.

Hint: When you Google a poem it sometimes helps to put the poet's name before the poem you're looking for, like so -- Collins "Afternoon with Irish Cows".

Donner

[Debisa]

Hi Donner,

Yeah I found those audio recordings but my problem is I need speakers to be able to hear anything LOL

Thanks for the advice though.

Deb

[Rachel Lindley]

I may have gotten the linebreaks all wrong, but somehow, knowing Billy Collins, I thoroughly doubt it.

___________

Afternoon with Irish Cows
by Billy Collins

There were a few dozen who occupied the field
across the road from where we lived,
stepping all day from tuft to tuft,
their big heads down in the soft grass,
though I would sometimes pass a window
and look out to see the field suddenly empty,
as if they had taken wing, flown off to another county.

Then later, I would open the blue front door
and again the field would be full of their munching
or they would be lying down
on the black and white mats of their sides,
facing in all direction, waiting for rain.
How mysterious, how patient and dumbfounded
they appeared in the long quiet of the afternoon.

But every once and a while, one of them
would let out a sound so phenomenal
that I would put down the paper
or the knife I was cutting an apple with
and walk across the road to the stone wall
to see which one of them was being torched,
or pierced through the side with a long spear.

Yes, it sounded like pain, until I could see
the noisy one anchored there on all fours,
her neck outstretched, her bellowing head
labouring upward, as she gave voice
to the rising full-bodied cry that began
in the darkness of her belly and echoed up
through her bowed ribs into her gaping mouth.

Then I knew she was only announcing
the large, unadulterated cowness of her self,
pouring out the ancient apologia of her kind
to all the green fields and the grey clouds,
to the limestone hills and the inlet of the blue bay,
while she regarded my head and shoulders above the wall
with one wild, shocking eye.
___________________

There. Curiosity satisfied?

Rachel

[Debisa]

Yep, thank you very much Rachel.

I don't dare ask "what's the point?" :)

There is something profound in there amongst all the cow dung but I am not sure I really want to go digging for it...

Now I can cross it off my list.

Thanks again

Regards

Deb

[UNC95]

regarding Billy Collins' "Afternoon with Irish Cows" (from his book "Picnic, Lightning") and the response following, and how it all applies to the thread as a whole --

of course there's a point to the poem ... and it's not so much that the point itself is profound as it is that the way of expressing it is ... this is one of the more overlooked Collins poems, but one of my favorites, at least of that period (honestly, I like the more raw earlier poems of "The Apple that Astonished Paris" and "The Art of Drowning" a little better even though they're nowhere near as polished) ... as always Collins puts forth his "cutesy moments": ("on the black and white mats of their sides"; "the large, unadulterated cowness of herself"), but they're great and original moments, so they should be forgiven as indulgence as always with Collins (who else would even dare those lines?)

but to get back more on topic, if you're going to use Collins as an example of a poet writing without a point, there are plenty of poems to use that would make a better case ... this (to me) is one of his more serious works, and in fact I would go so far to say that it reminds me in a way of Whitman ... it is a celebration of life, it is Collins' own "barbaric yawp" in a way, through the voice of Irish cows ... he is intimating that his own "human" life is interrupted by the sheer noise of an animal that should have nothing to say, but it does, and very loudly ... think of a cow, its dumb face, its standing in the rain, and yet every now and then it makes a noise which makes someone stop what they are doing and stand and wonder at it ... this is what Collins is saying ... it's partly a celebration of "cowness", partly a condemnation of himself that he should care so much ... this is not a poem without a point to any careful and insightful reader (at least not one who appreciates Collins) ... this is a poem that deserves to be read and thought about much more than it has

[Debisa]

I agree and have been doing just that. I really love the ending as I feel it sort of says and "just who do you think you are looking at?" but through its own one eye it knows no other existence so it is being its usual cowness and nobody should wonder why a cow is any different to the rest of all existence.

Mmmm something along those lines... it is a poem worth digging deeper with some great lines.

This is my favourite...

How mysterious, how patient and dumbfounded
they appeared in the long quiet of the afternoon.



Deb

[UNC95]

I think those are my favorite lines too and it's weird because there's nothing especially remarkable about them ... that's the way it is with a lot of Collins' poems ... you find yourself drawn to lines that sound very unimpressive out of context

[Harry R]

Originally posted by UNC95
but to get back more on topic, if you're going to use Collins as an example of a poet writing without a point, there are plenty of poems to use that would make a better case ...

If you'd actually read the thread, you'd know that no-one suggested this poem was an example of a poem that lacked a point.

Indeed, no-one suggested that Collins's poems generally lacked a point. Charles Simic suggested, basically, that many of his poems were too predictable and too simple, but offered this poem as an example of one that worked.

I was suggesting that when people suggest that a poem lacks a point, they usually actually mean something more like what Simic is saying about Collins, and tht that's a much more useful way of looking at it.

Anyway, the reason I didn't post the poem to the thread in the first place is that I didn't want to get into a discussion about Collins, which is why I've now split it into two.

Harry

[UNC95]

"Indeed, no-one suggested that Collins's poems generally lacked a point."

--------------

quotes from earlier in the thread:

"The lack of ‘some unexpected image or twist in the point of view’ which Simic finds in Billy Collins is, I think, the usual reason why we read a poem and are left feeling ‘what’s the point?’."

"This is Collins' general practice, not a single specific poem."

"I don't dare ask "what's the point?"
There is something profound in there amongst all the cow dung but I am not sure I really want to go digging for it..."

anyway, who have I managed to offend now, by simply posting my thoughts on a poem? are we not even allowed to discuss Billy Collins here? I'd be happy to discuss Tate instead if that is found to be more acceptable

[Harry R]

I was just tidying things up and trying to keep the thread on-topic.

Harry