Week 7, Sign Inventory

Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House

Billy Collins 

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.

1. Most of the stanzas are controlled, 4 line stanzas. There are two exceptions in the middle of the poem, a 5 line stanza followed by a 3 line stanza.

2. "Barking" appears 12 times.

3.  Shift in time and space in the 3rd stanza.

4. Use of music terminology in the last stanza.

5. The title-like we discussed last week-changes the meaning with this poem.

6.  The last line of the 1st stanza, the speaker guesses about the life of his neighbors. Interesting characterization.

7.  Repetition of the same line for the beginning of stanza 1 and 2. It seems that the poem starts over again.

8. "Symphony" and "full blast" are dissonant ideas. Usually, symphonies are typically thought to be calming, not something that causes you to head bang.

9. The dog is in the oboe section.  Specificity.

10. Who is the conductor character leading the whole situation. The relationships of characters in this poem seems significant. The speaker is watching from a window, the dog is alone, the conductor leads, etc.