Brief Overview of Billy CollinsBilly Collins was born in New York, New York on March 22, 1941. He grew up in Queens, New York and wrote for his High Schools literary magazine. He grew up going through Catholic Schools and spent time as an altar boy. His time as an altar boy helped him with his poetry career because he memorized the sounds of the Latin hymns during the mass. He continued his post-secondary schooling at the College of the Holy Cross where he received his Bachelor's of Arts Degree. Next he furthered his education at the University of California, Riverside where he earned a Doctorate in Romantic Poetry. Soon after he begin teaching as an English Professor at Lehman College. He also wrote poetry for Rolling Stone. This was all happening in the 1970's. Collins got recognition for his poetry writing in 1991 with the publication of Questions About Angels. However he had three pieces of work published before his recognition.
**Fun Fact** -- Collins's first published work, Pokerface is no longer in print and Collins, himself said in an interview with Pembroke Magazine that he would buy up any copy anyone owns just so he could burn them. He considers those poems "late juvenilia". |
The Poet LaureateIn 2001 Billy Collins was name the United States Poet Laureate. During this time he came up with a program for Poetry for high school students called Poetry 180. There are roughly 180 days in a school year which is how he came up with this title. This program includes 180 poems that he hand picked from various authors so that high schools could incorporate poetry into their everyday lives.
Not only does he want the poems to be incorporated into the schools he wants them to be publically announced, but not necessary be dissected for mean or discussed. He just wants them to be heard so that one will get a students attention and get them excited about poetry. Poetry in GeneralFor Billy Collins it can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half to write a poem. This is just the the original draft though. He continues working and making little fixes until it is perfect. He says that even his editor rarely make corrections on his work. He also doesn't make himself sit down and write it just happens. When the ideas come to him he writes about it. When he gives advice to other aspiring writers he tells them one thing: read. Read others work and write with their influence.
CriticismJeffry Jensen writes a criticism on Billy Collins as a whole. He mentions that Collins has become a popular poet because of his accessibility to his readers. He does this by speaking a language that the average person can understand and by using humor and creative ways to explain and present everyday life. He says the Billy says that poets who use more advance and confusing wording are stuck up. And even though he admired these authors as a young boy they no long serve him. Collins writes to each individual reader and not as a whole of readers which is one of the reasons his audience continues to grow. That and his use of humor and everyday language.
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