Final Favorite

Final Favorite: "Workshop" by Billy Collins

I chose this poem as my final favorite over the other ones because I feel that I can relate to it the most. This poem mirrors my feelings as a student studying poetry. Most of the time I'm lost and can't see the deeper meaning of the poem, like the speaker in "Workshop". Poetry is confusing to me because it is so subjective. The meanings can differ from person to person, which the speaker notices in this poem, speculating that maybe his thoughts were "just how I [he] read it." Though this aspect of poetry confuses me, it also is what fascinates me about poetry. The fact that a poet can capture so many different themes and nuances in anywhere from a few words to a whole page is something I find interesting. Despite being confused with poetry 9 times out of 10, when I do figure out the meaning, I enjoy the poetry just like the speaker who feels a "very powerful sense of something" when reading the poem.