Questioning Litany by Billy Collins

1. Why did Billy Collins choose to convey the narrator as having a boastful personality in the poem when he describes who he is metaphorically?

2. Is Billy Collins' poem based on his sarcastic view of love poems in general, or does it truly portray how he really feels about his beloved?

3. Should the reader be concerned with the difference between the metaphors used to relate to the beloved in the beginning of the poem and the metaphors chosen to criticize the beloved?

4. Are the methaphors significant in any way, or is Billy Collins just using any metaphor for the sake of comparing himself and his beloved to them?

5. Why did Billy Collins specifically steal the first two love lines from Jacques Crickillon?

6. Who is his beloved and why does he convey mixed feelings about her?

2. I believe that the love poem was both written to mock other love poems and portray what true love actually is. To Billy Collins, love poems have been around forever and none of them have ever expressed the true love relationships that most couples go through. Although it would be nice, it is almost impossible to create a strong and FLAWLESS relationship with someone who you love. At times, you would feel like tearing eachother apart becasue you are so fed up with eachother. At other times, you are so in love with the other person, that you feel as though you were meant to be together all along. This is the emotional rollercoaster Billy Collins tries to express in his "love" poem.