Lanyard- Annotation

In the poem “Lanyard” by Billy Collins, the main character talks about how he had made a “worthless thing I wove out of boredom” for his mother in order to repay her for everything that she has done for him. While many people think of lanyards as pointless and even a bit nerdy, the definition says something different. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, lanyard is defined as: “a cord or strap to hold something (as a knife or a whistle) and usually worn around the neck; a cord worn as a symbol of a military citation; and a strong line to activate a system (as in firing a cannon).”

If we say that a lanyard is a symbol of a military citation than the lanyard in the poem isn’t as worthless as the main character had originally suspected. Since this poem is from a point of view as looking back on a childhood, we as the readers could easily interfere that the grown man is a military man who had just received recognition. In this recognition, he could have received a lanyard, symbolic to his position in the military. When he hands the lanyard to his mom he is thanking her for giving him life, milk from her breasts, nursing him in a sick room, lifting spoons of medicine to his lips, laying cold face-cloths on his forehead, teaching him how to walk and swim, cooking him meals, giving him clothes, and giving him a good education.

Although he has now made a name for himself in the military (if we were to interpret it this way), he will never be able to fully repay his mother for everything that she has done for him. No matter what ranking he receives, he will never be able to repay her for the countless sleepless nights, the endless meals she had to cook, or even the number of dishes she had to wash.

The word lanyard, in my opinion, is used in two different ways. As a child he made a simple lanyard out of rope during camp and now he has been given a lanyard in the military. I believe that this word is symbolic because when he was a child he wasn’t able to repay his mother for everything that she has done for him by giving her a simple red and white lanyard and now that he is older, he isn’t able to repay her by being recognized in the military.

Once you realize the several definitions that the word lanyard has to offer, you begin to see the deeper meaning that this poem holds. It simply isn’t talking about a child creating a twisted rope at summer camp but it’s talking about how even a grown man, with all the resources that he may have, can’t repay his mother for everything that she has done.

"What Is the Theme of Billy Collin's "Lanyard"?" Enotes.com. 13 May 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
                <http://www.enotes.com/billy-collins/q-and-a/what-theme-billy-collins-lanyard-83711>.