BILLY COLLINS​,​ “No Time”

In a ​rush​ this weekday morning​,

I tap the horn as I ​speed past​ the cemetery
where my parents are buried
side by side beneath a slab of smooth granite​.

Then​, ​all day​, ​I think of him rising up

to give me that look
of knowing disapproval
while my mother calmly tells him to lie back down​.

The title of this poem, “No Time”, implies that the speaker is left with no time; thus, it cannot be full of
reminiscing.

Punctuations, Literary tools:

Basic grammatical punctuations without sophistication. It makes me think that the poem is either a stream
of consciousness or a daily routine of the speaker as the poem does not require a detailed description of
his grief of the loss of parents.

Word Usage:
Rush, speed past: the speaker is in a hurry and has no time to be dealt with the grief of losing the
speaker’s parents; thus, the speaker gives a shallow greeting to the speaker’s parents and leaves. Unlike
the second stanza, in the first stanza, there is absolutely no description of the speaker’s parents, meaning
that the speaker had no time to even look closely into the grave that the speaker’s parents were in.
Then, all-day: after unconsciously revealing the speaker’s lack of time, the speaker goes off in the second
stanza to regain the feelings of speaker’s and speaker’s parents’.

The line underlined in the following color implies that the relationship between the speaker and the
speaker’s family was similar to that of a child, sun, and the darkness. The speaker(child), is disapproved
by the darkness(father), yet the sun(mother) convinces the darkness to go away, to leave the child alone,
and to let the child have his own life. As the speaker feels like it is still disapproved by its father, the
mother comes in to ask her husband to stay irrelevant to the speaker’s life so that it won’t feel like it is
disapproved, yet ironically makes the speaker feel like its mother has always got its back.
 The poem “No time” by Billy Collins consists of two stanzas that ironically mismatch. The title of
the poem suggests that the speaker is allowed not to have any time to greet the death of its parents.
While the first half focuses on how busy the speaker is, the second half gives the sense of reminiscing to
the readers. The grammatical punctuation of this poem–the basic punctuations without
sophistication–makes me think that even the poem itself is either written in a hurry or a daily routine for
the speaker. The author is attempting to express the underlying message of independence through the
usage of ​certain words​ and ​sentimental ideas​.
Collins’s usage of certain words reflects the idea of independence of the speaker. Both the first
and the second stanza give us a slight hint about the worries that the speaker is full of. In the first stanza,
line 1 and line 2: “in a ​rush​ this weekday morning, I tap the horn as I ​speed past​ the cemetery”, the terms
rush and speed past tells the readers that the speaker lacks time to even greet its dead parents. They
give the readers the feeling that the speaker isn’t reminiscing about its parents; thus, it isn’t describing
anything about its parents. In these two lines above, it seems like the speaker is keeping himself
irrelevant to what has happened to his parents. However, in the second stanza, in line 1: “​then, all day, ​I
think​ of him rising up”, the speaker is left to deal with the everlasting feeling that nags it: the disapproval
of its father. The second stanza implies that the speaker is still dependent on his parents, disabling him
from shaking off the disapproval of his father. As such, Collins uses certain words to express the
underlying message of independence.
Collins also uses sentimental ideas to conceal the underlying message of independence. Unlike
the first stanza, the second stanza focuses on the leftover feelings that the speaker is left with. Line 5
through 8:
“Then, all day, I think of him rising up
to give me that look
of knowing disapproval
while my mother calmly tells him to lie back down.”
Collins describes the relationship between the speaker and the speaker’s parents, as well as the abrupt
alteration in the speaker’s mood. Unlike the first stanza, the speaker suddenly contemplates about his
future, as he constantly reminds himself that his life is still under the disapproval of his father. The
relationship between the speaker and the speaker’s family was similar to that of a child, sun, and the
darkness. The speaker(child), is disapproved by the darkness(father), yet the sun(mother) convinces the
darkness to go away, to leave the child alone, and to let the child have his own life. As the speaker feels
like it is still disapproved by its father, the mother comes in to ask her husband to stay irrelevant to the
speaker’s life so that it won’t feel like it is disapproved, yet ironically makes the speaker feel like its mother
has always got its back. As such, Collins uses sentimental ideas to express the need for independence of
the speaker.
Through the usage of certain words: rush, speed fast, then, all day, and think, and sentimental
ideas, Collins is able to introduce the readers to the idea of independence in need. The speaker’s life is in
a hurry; thus, he cannot reminisce properly about his parents. At the same time, he is also full of
reminiscing as he constantly reminds himself of the failed relationship between him and his father. Would
this irony support the fact that the speaker is still lost in the woods and is a dependant? At the end of the
day, the poem suggests that all people should separate themselves from the past as Collins introduces
the paradox that the speaker in this poem is going through: the separation of himself from his
unsuccessful past.