The History Teacher Billy Collins Analysis

David St. John called Larry Levis “a close friend” of over 30 years before reading Levis’s poem Anastasia & Sandman with his usual coolness; but when he read, there was something in his voice, a tone, a desire perhaps, to honor his passed friend. I hear the same, though in different tones, whenever I hear someone speak about Philip Levine. How strange. I feel like I’ve known Levine and Levis, and other poets who are no longer with us, all my life, though I never had the privilege.

With the shift in tone, comes the shift in diction, imagery and syntax. In, The Flags of Our Fathers, the author uses this shift in tone to keep the reader constantly on the edges of their seat. An example of this shift in tone is: “So much of what all these boys would do over the next months, so much of their survival, so much of their sanity in the midst of murderous chaos, would come down to just that: following the back of the next Marine. If he could do it, they could do it.

The poem “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins has a greater lie than “The Death of Santa Claus”, in its intention to save the innocence of students. It is necessary to tell the truth when the lie is destroying students future and breeding ignorance. To begin, in this poem the history teacher is trying to protect the innocence of his students by simplifying most historic allusions to make them sound friendly and less important. For example Collins writes, “The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more than an outbreak of questions...” (Collins 7-8).

This tone change from carefree to serious portrays the complexity of his feelings towards growing up. On the other hand, he also demonstrates how he is nostalgic about growing up. Collins tone in the second stanza is very positive and suggests he enjoys reflecting on the past. He uses words

The tone helps the reader build the characters life story, and how they feel at a certain time. Sometimes the author may put figurative language to portray what the character is feeling, and sometime if the text is extravagant, it may cause the reader to feel the same way, such as this quote, “One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live.” (page 109). This is such a powerful emotion of hatred toward something that is very sad, such as when Eliezer lost his father.

Tone, the general character or attitude the author has towards a piece of writing. The tone in “Harrison Bergeron” is represented, by the author, in a number of techniques that writers have in their arsenal such as, satire, irony, symbolism and diction. The author uses Satire many times thought this story to give us something to think about and ponder instead of giving us what we are supposed to think. For example; when he tells us about the ballerinas and how they are held down by weights and how a horrid mask covers their beauty, we are saddened and depressed by the fact that something so beautiful and wonderful has to be covered up and weighted down just for everyone to be normal and the same.

In the following passage from the novel We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates laments that even though most everything in one’s surrounding is dying, not everyone has managed to find the adequate amount of maturity to accept the fact that they are not immortal, even though the idea of death is difficult to come to terms with. Oates conveys this universal idea and characterizes the narrator through the usage of a depressing tone and dismal imagery. The tone set in the passage is fairly dark and depressing. An “eleven or maybe twelve,” year old child should not be fixated on the idea that “every heart beat is past and gone.”

There are many tones observed in this narrative. Tone is defined as the general attitude of a piece of writing. A very important tone present shown through the novel is emotional. Throughout the narrative, Douglass truly lets his emotions run wild whether it was from telling his brutal experiences while enslaved or his famous speeches that really questioned what your view of freedom is. Overall, Frederick Douglass’s tone is generally straightforward and serious as he covers emotional, heart wrenching topics.

Born in 1941 in New York, Billy Collins has grown to become an excellent writer. He currently appointed as the Poet Laureate of the United States. Billy Collins poems discuss human experiences with in life to relate to the reader. The experiences discussed or remembrance, questioning, and love.

The narrator’s changing understanding of the inevitability of death across the two sections of the poem illustrates the dynamic and contrasting nature of the human

“The Scarlet Ibis” “It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that ibis lit in the bleeding tree” (Hurst 350). James Hurts creates a depressing tone, or attitude, by using figurative language, symbolism, and imagery. This sad story is about a child who is born with a deficiency and expected to die however, lives. His brother soon realizes that Doodle is not like the other kids so he pushes him to be like the others, which actually hurts him more. Figurative Language helps show the gloomy tone throughout the story from the first paragraph onwards.

He could imagine his deception of this town “nestled in a paper landscape,” (Collins 534). This image of the speaker shows the first sign of his delusional ideas of the people in his town. Collins create a connection between the speaker’s teacher teaching life and retired life in lines five and six of the poem. These connections are “ chalk dust flurrying down in winter, nights dark as a blackboard,” which compares images that the readers can picture.

In her thought provoking essay “In History,” author Jamaica Kincaid explores the idea of naming things in a historical context through various anecdotes. Kincaid makes a purposeful choice to tell her story non chronologically, beginning with the tale of Columbus, putting her own reflection on plant nomenclature in the middle, and ending with an overview of Carl Linnaeus, the inventor of the plant naming system. This choice gives Kincaid the opportunity to fully vet out each point that she makes, an opportunity she wouldn’t have gotten had she written her essay in chronological order. Throughout each anecdote that Kincaid tells, the theme of names and giving things names is central. Kincaid argues that by giving something a name, one unrightfully takes ownership of it and erases its history.

Tone us pretty much an overall feeling of the story. When you start to break down tone into feelings, you can see how you could manipulate it to express your feelings. Jamaica Kincaid chose to attack loving by the fact that the lecture is advice on life. Ms. Kincaid attacks caring by telling her what not to do. The author attacks strict by not letting her speak very much.

In writing, authors use different types of tone. Tone is an expression of a writer's attitude toward a subject. An author may use specific words or phrases to convey their intended tone. The author of "Beowulf" uses a variety of tone to express their attitude towards certain characters and events. This author's tone adds more depth to the plot and provides entertainment for the reader.