Genius

Genius by Billy Collins

was what they called you in high school

if you tripped on a shoelace in the hall

and all your books went flying.

Or if you walked into an open locker door

           ⁵you would be known as Einstein,

who imagined riding a streetcar into infinity.

Later, genius became someone

who could take a sliver of chalk and square pi

a hundred places out beyond the decimal point,

         ¹⁰or someone painting on his back on a scaffold,

or a man drawing a waterwheel in a margin,

or spinning out a little night music.

But earlier this week on a wooded path,

I thought the swans afloat on the reservoir

         ¹⁵were the true geniuses,

the ones who had figured out how to fly,

how to be both beautiful and brutal,

and how to mate for life.

Twenty-four geniuses in all,

         ²⁰for I numbered them as Yeats had done,

deployed upon the calm, crystalline surface-

forty-eight if we count their still reflections,

or an even fifty if you want to toss in me

and the dog running up ahead,

         ²⁵who were smart enough to be out

that morning- she sniffing the ground,

me with my head up in the light morning breeze.

                                                                                                            May 2003

From: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/182/2#/20606121/1

Billy Collins’ poem Genius was intriguing to me because of the unexpected shift it took to divulge its underlying message and theme.  Upon reading the poem for the first time, I was immediately captivated by the first two stanzas.  The scenes of a student tripping in the hallway and dropping his books are often typified in movies and books.  Yet Collins tactfully steers the poem away from the stereotypical idea we have of a genius, one of a young boy or girl with large glasses and an oversized stack of books in their arms.  Instead, he chooses to relate a genius to doves who have discovered their purpose in life and exude both confidence and poise.  In doing so, Collins suggests that being a genius is not based upon grades or test scores but rather roots itself in an individual’s understanding of themselves.  After extracting this underlying message from Genius, I felt that it was a poem we could all relate to as we embark on new journeys and adventures next year that will help us to discover our place in the world and evaluate what we deem most important in our lives.

Literary devices:

1. Lyric poem: Collins’ poem is a lyric poem because of the life principle of finding oneself that it alludes to.  He chronicles several phases of life, starting out with the teenage years during which individuals are often unsure of themselves.  These teens do not yet understand the type of “genius” that Collins is referring to because they still brand the quiet, smart classmate who “tripped on a shoelace in the hall” (2) and whose “books went flying” (3) as an all-knowing person.  Collins then shifts to describe a young adult’s perspective on the word genius, a perspective that capitalizes on an individual’s mental capacity and intelligence.  He suggests that from their point of view, a genius is someone who can master the skills of “painting on his back on a scaffold” (10) or “spinning out a little late night music” (12).  The last shift is seen as Collins describes the confidence and beauty of the swans that captivates the speaker on his walk.  The swans are the ones who are “true geniuses” (15) because they “figured out how to fly / how to be both beautiful and brutal” (16-17).  They have discovered their purpose in life, and according to the speaker, that is what makes a “true genius”.

2. Euphemism: The title of Collins’ poem, Genius, is used as a euphemism in the first and second stanzas.  As he describes the clumsy, embarrassing moments of a genius in high school, he alludes to what today is often stereotyped as a “geek” or a “dork”.  Both words procure images of a clumsy but extremely intelligent student who “tripped on a shoelace in the hall” (2) or “walked into an open locker door” (4) as Collins describes.  Yet using the words “geek” or dork” is undesirable to Collins because it is too direct and undermines the message of his poem.  Rather than discouraging people from being a genius, or a dork or a geek as we often say, Collins upholds the title of genius and encourages his readers to be their own geniuses because it will help them to discover their identity and individuality.

3. Parallel structure: Collins’ use of parallel structure emphasizes and stresses the purpose of the poem.  In lines 16-18, he writes, “the ones who had figured out how to fly, / how to be both beautiful and brutal, / and how to mate for life.”  By repeating the phrase “how to”, Collins is able to highlight the accomplishments of the swans to strengthen his intended message.  They have figured out what this life consists of for them, and this is what enables them to stay “afloat” (14) on the “calm, crystalline surface” (21) of the reservoir that accurately reflects who they are.