Billy Collins’ “Bread and Butter” exudes an effortless simplicity that gracefully lends to its deeper, more delicate meaning. The underlying poise with which the narrator expresses his sentiments allows the reader to feel at ease and comfortable with the universal ideas being shared, while the use of literary tools such as point of view, symbolism, and imagery, serve to communicate a message that is best felt in the heart rather than heard by the mind.
In the first stanza, the narrator uses vivid imagery to bring the reader into an intimate setting when he says, “You could hear the
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