Figurative Language in Introduction to Poetry

In Introduction to Poetry a teacher expresses his frustration towards his students, as he describes through figurative language how he wishes his students would read a poem. The author writes “I want them to water-ski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore” (lines 9-11). If one were to take these lines literally, the poem would make no sense at all, but the author uses figurative language to express that he wants his students to have fun and jump into the poem just like they would on a water-ski. These lines also expresses that he does not want his students to go right into analyzing the poem, but he wants his students just read them poem for what they see on the surface of the poem. This relates to how a water-ski just skims the surface of the water. At last they are waving at the author, this is used to illustrate that a student should acknowledge the poet who wrote the poem, but the poet does not have to be right on the water with the reader as they experience the poem. By using figurative language the author expresses his message, but not in such a direct manner, and this makes the poem more visually pleasing and fun to read.