Anita's Notebook

Here’s a nice little animation of the poem ‘The Country’ by Billy Collins.

Set to audio of the author himself, the animation plays out the story of why you shouldn’t leave matches out in this certain house in the country…

I like how the animation was done in this one, little touches like the fire blazing a dance in the eye of the mouse really brings the spirit of the poem to life.

What strikes me about the poem itself is how I’m left wondering exactly who this person with the pyro-mice story is. Did they tell Collins the story as a joke or were they someone kind of crazy who actually believed that mice would snatch matches and torch the house?

I lean more towards the person being a little mentally unsound, mostly based on the title ‘The Country’.

As in maybe the person lived in the country too long and the isolation affected them negatively. Seperated from neighbors and friends by the great distance and with nobody to talk to over the years their mind got twisted by the sound of mice scratching in the walls that echoed through the empty house.

Well that’s my theory anyway, what do you think?