When it comes to literature, individual stylistic preferences can differ radically. Some people like long, flowery, detailed pieces of elaborate writing, while others prefer short, simple ones. Being a poet himself, Billy Collins is sometimes quite outspoken about his tastes. In "Sonnet", Collins presents his dislike of sonnets through satire based on his diction, allusions, and disdain for the typical sonnet form. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayCollins presents the poem with a very casual choice of words and creates a sense of friendly conversation in its first line, in the way it begins with "We only need fourteen lines, nay thirteen now." Starting his poem with “we” creates a sense of inclusion, making it seem like the reader is a close friend with whom he is engaged in small talk. The next “well” also provides this sense, making a quick twist on what the reader was just saying. This increases the feeling of randomness by making it seem as if the author is casually changing his mind, as if this were not a published poem. He later contributes to this sense of randomness in line nine when he says “but wait here while we go round.” This is a common way to get attention that someone uses in modern conversations when the listener appears to be falling asleep. It helps the listener focus again and informs them that something important will happen soon. Therefore, this line adds to the conversational aspect of the poem. This contributes to the satirical tone because it mocks the popular idea that poetry should be beautiful, dramatic, and well thought out, and contrasts with the stereotypical and difficult to understand idea that most people have of poetry. Writing a poem in layman's terms it seems that sonnets are nothing special. This diction also demonstrates his dislike of sonnets. He openly states "how easy" it is to write a sonnet. Saying how easy it is, he mocks the art of poetry by saying that it is something anyone could do. He follows this by mocking the style in which it is commonly written by rapidly changing "unless you go Elizabethan and insist that iambic bongos must be played and rhymes placed at the ends of lines". This criticizes the form of the sonnets and paints them as ridiculous compared to the bongos. Furthermore, Collins uses allusions to discredit its importance. For example, in the third line he alludes to a Shakespearean sonnet to demonstrate how an entire story cannot fit into fourteen lines. Then, in verse 8 he makes a biblical allusion to the fourteen stations of the Cross. This brings out the number of lines once again, emphasizing how short a poem it is. And finally he alludes to Laura, the woman to whom Petrarch addressed his love sonnets. These first two examples highlight the number of lines in the sonnet. This is done to satirize the short length of the poem and how it is not long enough to understand the entire story. Instead, the final allusion is used to show the author's distaste for this type of poetry, rather than to mock it. He says "Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen", implying that Laura doesn't appreciate his sonnets, finds them annoying and wants him to stop writing them. The last two lines reinforce this idea, as she tells him to "take off those crazy medieval tights, turn off the lights and finally come to bed." This suggests that she is tired of having to listen to Petrarch express his love through ridiculous sonnets, when he could spend that time instead taking action and physically showing his love to her. So he makes fun of the act of writing.