What is the theme?

Question

http://plagiarist.com/poetry/794/


Now, I am asking that someone please answer and explain why they say. It is cheating yes, but I am finding it tough to find themes of certain poems. All I am asking for is help. Thanks

Answer 1

I'd not respond but you've been frank enough that it is class assignment and you deliberately want to cheat. I was a student too and know that things can get desperate that the mind just refuses to obey and get hostile.
Yet I'd just suggest to you what to look at closely not give an answer as it were.

The poem is about Goya, an artist who goes against the grain, does not self-portray in similar fashion as other painters. Most of the poem illustrates how different Goya is. Yet he is a great one to the poet, Collins.
The speaker sees Goya as a wonderful, enigmatic artist. His hat illustrates an apt symbol of his uniqueness. He's like Richard Wagner in some ways in my mind.
The hat hides a great candle. . . .the brains behind the great art. . . . a metaphor for Goya as accomplished painter.
The theme:Fame: humility and wonderment of an eccentric artist whose fame is unsung yet superior to most - that's Goya. Reflect about it and recast.

Candle Hat
Billy Collins

In most self-portraits it is the face that dominates:
Cezanne is a pair of eyes swimming in brushstrokes,
Van Gogh stares out of a halo of swirling darkness,
Rembrant looks relieved as if he were taking a breather
from painting The Blinding of Sampson.

But in this one Goya stands well back from the mirror
and is seen posed in the clutter of his studio
addressing a canvas tilted back on a tall easel.

He appears to be smiling out at us as if he knew
we would be amused by the extraordinary hat on his head
which is fitted around the brim with candle holders,
a device that allowed him to work into the night.

You can only wonder what it would be like
to be wearing such a chandelier on your head
as if you were a walking dining room or concert hall.

But once you see this hat there is no need to read
any biography of Goya or to memorize his dates.

To understand Goya you only have to imagine him
lighting the candles one by one, then placing
the hat on his head, ready for a night of work.

Imagine him surprising his wife with his new invention,
the laughing like a birthday cake when she saw the glow.

Imagine him flickering through the rooms of his house
with all the shadows flying across the walls.

Imagine a lost traveler knocking on his door
one dark night in the hill country of Spain.
"Come in, " he would say, "I was just painting myself,"
as he stood in the doorway holding up the wand of a brush,
illuminated in the blaze of his famous candle hat.

Read what others say below:
Good luck

Answer 2

entertain also to show life and nature in a rythmetic way