the fear of darkness is nyctophobia.
:)
A contour interval<span> is the vertical distance or difference in elevation between </span>contour<span>lines.</span>
"or press an ear against its hive,"
I'm assuming in this poem Billy Collins is comparing the act of reading a poem to the act of listening for the sound of honeybees but since it isn't mentioned it would be an "implied metaphor" which is comparing two unlike things without mentioning one of them. Hope this helps.
