Position:Home>Poetry> Can anyone provide an explanation of Billy Collins' poem 'Madmen' pl
Question: Can anyone provide an explanation of Billy Collins' poem 'Madmen' please!?
I get the gist of it (I think)!. It seems to me to be about know-it-all people who burst other people's bubbles!. How it's best to keep some things to yourself, because if you give someone a glimpse of something that is special to you, they can ruin it for you in an instant, by making much more out of it than you wanted them to!. It also seems to be about looking for enlightenment (headlights/street lamp/illuminated)!.
Any help will be appreciated as I have to do a stylistic analysis on this poem!. Thanks in advance!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
A lot of it seems to be about the struggle for permanence; Collins' search for a poem mirrors the lifecycle of visual art, of things destroyed suddenly by madmen!. In this poem, the person who Collins is talking to destroyed his poem the same way that the madmen destroyed art!.
Anyway, interesting question!. I hope this helps ^_^Www@QuestionHome@Com