Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "The End of the World," Billy Collins engages with the theme of apocalypse through a lens that is both profound and personal, contrasting grandiose, traditional images of cataclysm with the introspective and the mundane. The poem reflects on apocalyptic imagery—drawing heavily from the Book of Revelation and other catastrophic visions—only to pivot towards a contemplation of the end times in a more intimate, less spectacular manner. Collins's work is characterized by its ability to navigate between the vast and the minute, the cosmic and the quotidian, and in this poem, he explores the juxtaposition of these scales to ponder the nature of endings, both universal and personal.

Collins begins with a declaration of the profundity of the subject, suggesting the need for a submerged, perhaps deeper level of contemplation to grasp the enormity of the world's end. He then vividly evokes traditional apocalyptic imagery: skies exploding, horsemen emerging, the seas boiling, and mythical beasts from Revelation. This imagery is rich and hyperbolic, filled with the kind of grandeur and terror that has populated human imaginings of the end of days for centuries.

However, Collins quickly shifts gears, proposing a less dramatic, almost anti-climactic series of endings for the world: a simple covering, the crumpling and discarding of the cosmos, or the closing of a door. This transition from the epic to the understated serves to question the nature of apocalyptic fascination, contrasting the spectacular with the simplicity of potential real-world endings. It reflects a skepticism towards the dramatic, suggesting that the true nature of endings might be found in quieter, less observed moments.

The heart of the poem lies in its turn towards the beauty of the world, the pressing weight of its loveliness that seems almost in defiance of apocalyptic thinking. Collins invites the reader to consider the everyday miracles of nature and existence that make the contemplation of the world's end seem not just remote but almost irrelevant. The rhetorical question posed—about who has the time to consider such horrors in the face of the world's beauty—underscores a choice to focus on life's immediate and tangible joys rather than distant catastrophes.

The poem then moves to the figure of the "lone visionary," a prophet of doom, traditionally seen as detached from society, bearing the burden of knowledge about the end. Collins personalizes this figure, suggesting that once, it might have been enough for such a person to note the smaller, personal endings in life—the end of love, a song, a day—before ultimately identifying himself with this role, feeling the prophetic weight of declaring an end.

In its closing lines, "The End of the World" becomes a reflection on the poet's own role as a bearer of truths, however small or large. The act of lettering a sign, of proclaiming the end, serves as a metaphor for the poet's task: to observe, to note the passage of time and the shifts in the world, however grand or minute. Collins closes with a vision of evening and a "fuller darkness," a natural, cyclical ending rather than an apocalyptic one, suggesting perhaps that every day holds a microcosm of the end, and in that cycle, there is a kind of beauty and continuity that defies the finality of apocalypse.

Through "The End of the World," Collins crafts a layered meditation on the concept of endings, both literal and metaphorical. The poem navigates between the grandeur of apocalyptic visions and the intimate moments of everyday endings, suggesting a reevaluation of what it means to contemplate the end—whether of a day, a love, or the world itself. It is an invitation to find depth in the mundane and to appreciate the persistent beauty of the world, even, or especially, in the face of its eventual demise.

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