Weighing the Dog

406 Words2 Pages
In the poem, “Weighing the Dog,” Billy Collins uses the literal subject of weighing a dog to illustrate an even larger concept of losing a loved one or someone very close. The poem is filled with strong feelings of regret after realizing what the other had to offer once the relationship had ended. He suggests that once he removed himself from the relationship, he “figured out what you amounted to,” referring to the other person in the failed relationship (10). The poem is written in the first person point of view, allowing the reader to firstly, feel the awkwardness as the speaker attempts to physically weigh the dog, and then be aware of the shift as the speaker begins to reflect on a past broken relationship. This switch from a descriptive explanation of weighing the dog to the speaker stating, “…and I start to wonder if there is an analogy here.” intelligently introduces the twist in the poem. Collins also utilizes detailed imagery along with simple, easy flowing, and uncomplicated word choice in each line, to enhance the tone of confusion within the piece of poetry. In the first nine lines of the poem the speaker utilizes creative imagery through positive adjectives to set up the reader to visualize the “awkwardness” in trying to weigh the dog. For example, “…as I hold him in my arms in the small bathroom, balancing our weight on the shaky blue scale,” and “…easier than training him to sit obediently…with his tongue out, waiting for the cookie.” You can almost realize how uneasy the two must look trying to accomplish the task in hand. The speaker states his analogy in the ninth line. It is here, as he is attempting to weigh and calculate the dog’s weight by subtraction that he begins to reflect and compare this mathematical equation to a previous “broken” liaison. Lines 11 and 12, “…I never figured out what you amounted to until I subtracted myself from our
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