18 pages • 36 minutes read
Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun In The House
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Background
Literary Context
Billy Collins did not formally study the writing of poetry. He says in several interviews—and only as a partial joke—that his “MFA” was the paper clip renowned poet and editor Miller Williams put around 17 poems Collins sent to Williams in the late 1980s. These were of the style Williams thought Collins should pursue, and Collins credits this as part of his major guidance as a young writer. Collins honestly confesses he was not part of the conventional poetry establishment and that he did not follow advice to be more serious in his poems. His poems often apply dry wit and dark humor which, as he told George Plimpton, function as “a door into the serious.”
Famous novelist John Updike said to Plimpton, “Billy Collins writes lovely poems […] limpid, gently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides.” Although Collins has his detractors, his dedication to this earthy voice, and his ability to relay common experience, explain why a poem like “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun in the House” is popular. Collins put it in the interview with Plimpton as follows:
My hope is to continue to do good work, which is to write good lines and good stanzas. Gasoline comes in gallons, cigarettes come in packs, and poetry comes in lines and stanzas. No matter what I’m thinking about when I’m writing a poem, no matter what is captivating my attention, all I’m really trying to do is write good lines and good stanzas (Interview with Billy Collins. 2001. Paris Review.)
Musical Context
In “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep A Gun in the House,” the speaker listens to a symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) to drown out the barking of the neighbor’s dog. Beethoven is considered one of the greatest classical composers of all time and his Symphony No. 8 has certain interesting similarities to the poem. Collins particularly mentions the “oboe section” (Line 14) and the “endless coda” (Line 19). Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony is relatively short—26 minutes long—and was scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. It is known for Beethoven’s innovative coda—the final passage of a musical piece—which takes up half of the end movement. Most musicians consider it a light-hearted but experimental symphony that strays from preexisting classical conventions.
This poem also deals with unexpected subject matter: Collins’s speaker’s vision of the dog as part of the orchestra. Symphony No. 8 has no slower movement and ends on a final chord that many feel is open—a deliberately unfinished ending. Collins constructs his poem in a similar fashion with no resolution (e.g. the neighbors do not come home, it is not revealed if the dog stops barking). In the second movement of Symphony No. 8, Beethoven uses an unexpected intermezzo—a brief, connecting instrumental movement—which houses a series of staccato chords (sharp, short notes separated from others). Many believe this was a joke on his friend Johann Maelzel’s invention of the metronome as Beethoven’s composition sounding like the ticking of the clock. Collins shows the dog’s “sharp, rhythmic bark” (Line 2) multiple times. Beethoven’s musical references to Mozart and Haydn within Symphony No. 8 are considered to be humorous, much as Collins’s reference to Beethoven is humorously informed.
Finally, Collins’s deliberate reference to the “endless coda” (Line 19) is significant. In classical tradition, it was uncommon for symphonic construction to put emphasis on the last of the four movements. In Symphony No. 8, Beethoven expanded the coda so it has equal musical weight to the previous sections. Traditionally, too, the coda is an extension of previous thematic components. However, Beethoven gave his several false finishes new flourish. The coda sems to end only to start again—a bit like the continual barking of the dog.
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By Billy Collins
