Analysis Of The Poem 'Days' By Billy Collin

Billy Collin’s poem “Days” may seem like a simple poem about days in general, but it has a much deeper meaning than that. This poem is a mix of fragile words that leaves the reader with a sense of calmness, but the meaning hidden beyond the written words is truly captivating. This poem’s overall meaning is that each day is not promised, and it can be easily taken away; therefore, people need to make the most of every day. This poem conveys that meaning by the speaker’s way of expressing religious beliefs, describing the day, and comparing the day throughout the poem. The speaker begins by expressing the idea that each day is a gift. He conveys that the day is not just a gift given to random people but rather handed to them by choice. In …show more content…
He states that every day is stacked on the one before it “like the impossible tower of dishes / entertainers used to build on stage” (15-16). He compares each day he has lived to a dish. As more are placed on the stack, the more fragile it becomes. The entertainers on stage represent that everyone is trying to build their stack of days as high as they can without them all crashing down. It is as if people are entertaining themselves each day by trying climb to the top of the stack and add another day. The speaker also compares life as he talks about people being “perched on the top of a tall ladder” (18). The stack of dishes represents how each day is delicate, and the ladder represents the person in which whom the stack belongs to. A tall ladder is very unstable at times, signifying that making it to the next rung of the ladder is not guaranteed. The last stanza talks about how people “place this cup on yesterday’s saucer / without the slightest click” (23-24). This means that one more day was added to the stack. The cup made no noise as it was set upon the saucer meaning the stack did not fall down, and the person was able to live another day. In conclusion, the poem is a powerful message on how each day is a gift, and should never be taken for granted. The poem delivers this message by speaker’s religious beliefs, descriptions, and comparisons used throughout the poem. Many people’s lives are taken away before they reach their goals and dreams; Collins had this in mind while writing this poem. This poem is motivation to go a step further in life and take risks to reach those goals, for one will never know when it is time for his or her stack of days to

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