Upon reading the poem “The Names”, a reader would agree that the topic of the September 11th attack is very tragic and possibly hits home for many people in the United States. Some would even consider the topic a tough thing to talk about considering it is one of the most memorable pieces of history for the United States. The speaker Billy Collins, is in an extremely sentimental and heartfelt state of mind considering he shows that he can feel the presence of the ones lost in the attack, he implies he may have lost a loved one in the attack, and how much the tragedy affected him. Furthermore, feeling the presence of the ones lost in the attack is one way the speaker proves his sentimental mindset. Billy Collins explains how he is imagining the names of people no matter where he goes or what he is doing. Seeing the names “printed on the ceiling of the night” (1294) he explains, and “blown over the earth and out to sea” (1295) can prove that this topic and incident is hugely near to his heart. Due to the fact of seeing the names all around him, a reader could imply that Billy Collins could feel the tension and the presence of all of the lives lost during the tragic attack on September 11th. …show more content…
He really seems to be passionate about the topic and wanting readers to realize how many people were affected by the attack. The speaker mentions in the poem, “the bright-eyed daughter, the quick son” (1295) which could have meant his daughter or son could have been killed during this time. By showing how much this poem seems to be of vaule to Billy Collins, and how well he has written the poem, he may have implied that he did in fact lose a loved one. He also says that the names were “wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory” (1295) which could show that since the attack, he only has memories of the people lost in the attack, if he had lost someone close to