After reading the assigned poems from 180 more by Billy Collins, two demanded
my attention and addressed similar themes of the unknown “Painting a Room”
and “In the rear-view mirror”. Not only did the two poems have the same unknown
characteristics but both have a sense of someone leaving or moving on. Both
poems have unique way of describing the feelings a person has when coming to
terms on leaving or moving to different stages in their life. I believe
everyone has this depressing feeling overcome them when leaving a loved one or
your mother and father. Some people feel the same sort of sadness when moving
out of a home or apartment. Especially after living in a home for more than ten
years you have a tear-jerking feeling or almost heartbreaking to move out. Different
aspects in each poem were similar from the narrator’s way of leaving out what
happens next, also the feel of someone moving away or leaving something behind.
In the poem “painting a room” a woman is
crying while painting her apartment before she moves out to start a new
beginning. In the poem the narrator makes you feel that the woman painting her
apartment has had his fair share of hardship. The 14th sentences
states “Ten years of fears, unrequited loves, odd jobs, of night phone calls.
Now they’ve disconnected the line.”(14-15) this tells the reader that this
person has been through several heartaches and multiple relationships
throughout her ten years in the apartment. I believe she is sad while she is
painting overall; she is leaving her past in the freshly painted room.
In
addition, the poem “In the rear-view mirror” the man or woman is driving away
while watching his family disappear in the rear-view mirror of their car. The
poems depicts that the road is your life and the rear-view mirror is your past
and the front windshield is your future. In both poems someone is leaving and
they do not know what is in the future for them. The poem states “. . . Nothing
but empty road. Ahead of you are towns where you will never know a soul, exits
following exits you will pass. . .” (13-14) This tells the reader that the
opportunities ahead of the driver are unknown but, the outlook on their life is
unlimited. While reading this poem notice the way the narrator refers to her
memory as “higher-powered reflective instrument” that she can use to remember
her loved one she left behind in her rear-view mirror.
Overall,
both poems have a way of teasing the reader by not informing what the future
beholds. These two poems show that it is hard to embrace the unknown, fear of
change, and the future. Where did the person driving in the car go? What
happened to the woman that was painting her apartment? The odd way the narrator
is leaving it up to the reader intrigues me. It gives you the freedom to make
up your own happy ending and imagine what happens next.
