Billy Collins poem The Lanyard is not only Essay

Billy Collins’ poem â€Å"The Lanyard† is not only a nostalgic recollection of a childhood event, but a testament to the unconditional, selfish love of a mother. â€Å"The Lanyard† is such a moving poem, despite its simple subject matter, because it teaches readers that one seemingly inconsequential moment from the past can, years later, have such a meaningful impact on the way one views the world or the people around him. Collins’, through the diction, format, and point of view that he uses in his poem, is able to take such a universal- the message of the strength of a mother’s love and man’s inability to ever truly recompense his mother for the sacrifices she had made- and turns it into something poignant and fresh. Collins’ diction, especially his repletion of certain words or ideas, is import to the poem as it helps to get across his message and alert readers to deeper themes at play in his work. For example, the word â€Å"lanyard,† aside from being the title of the poem, is used numerous times within the text itself. The repetition of this particular word is an attempt to highlight the contrast between Collins’ gift to his mother, a simple hand-made lanyard, and his mother’s eternal sacrifice. There is also a good deal of parallelism used in this poem, particularly in the third stanza. Collins’ confides: â€Å"She gave me life ad milk from her breasts†¦ lifted spoons of medicine to my lips†¦laid cold face-cloths on my forehead†¦led me out into the airy light. This use of parallelism makes the reader feel as if Collins is making one long list of the numerous times his mother has loved and cared for him, while he can think of only one particular time where he has attempted to recompense his mother for her devotion- his small, plastic lanyard. â€Å"The Lanyard† is a poem that seems to be divided into two main sections, consisting of the author’s thoughts regarding the past and the present. Collins’ narrative starts out in the present, when, while wandering around his office out of boredom, â€Å"ricocheting slowly off the blue walls of this room,† he finds come upon a long forgotten memory of a gift he made his mother once during summer camp. This nostalgic word, â€Å"lanyard,† brings upon a flashback of this memory, particularly when the time when he gave his mother the homemade trinket. What the man now realizes, considering this event once again years later, is how insignificant his present was in paying back his mother for her years of devotion. The narrator remarks, â€Å"I had never seen anyone use a lanyard, or wear on, if that’s what you did with them. † Despite the gift’s uselessness, the author, at the end of the poem, recalls being absolutely sure that the lanyard would be enough to repay his debt to her. The format of the poem, the switching from to past back to present, allows Collins to reflect on the contrast between his childhood state of naivete, which allowed him to believe that he could ever repay his mother for her sacrifices, and his current understanding that his mother’s love is unrequitable, even for a thousand lanyards. The first person point of view used in â€Å"The Lanyard† is central to the poem, as it allows readers to experience one man’s personal reflection on a mother’s love. Collins narrates the poem through his own eyes, leading readers to recall their own memories that illustrate the unconditional love of a mother. The dialogue in the poem, which comes at the beginning of the fifth stanza, shows the not only the sacrifice of the mother, when she says â€Å"here is a breathing body and a strong heart, strong leg, bones, and teeth,† but also the willingness of the mother to provide these things. Within this dialogue lies an important theme of the poem- Collins is not just exemplifying the unconditional love of a mother, but the ease with which she gives her whole self to her child, never expecting anything in return. The conclusion of this poem shows the narrator finally coming to realize, however ruefully, that he will never be able to repay his mother, that no act of kindness or generosity towards his mother can ever equal the thousands of times she has loved and provided for him over the years. Collins illustrates the importance of memories because they help people compare their past beliefs and thoughts to their understanding of the present. Memories are unpredictable things that can be set off by anything- a certain smell, a song on the radio, or even, in Collins’ case, a dictionary word. Without memories of the past, we would not be able to appreciate the present.