“While the novelist is banging on his typewriter, the poet is watching a fly in the window pane” ("Billy Collins > Quotes"). According to Bruce Weber of the New York Times, Billy Collins, unique to his own “domestic,” “suburban,” or “middle class” point of view, is hailed as “the most popular poet in America” due to high critical acclaim and broad popular appeal that is only matched by Robert Frost . According to John Updike, his poems are “limpid, gently and consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides” (“Billy Collins”). In “The History Teacher,” a poem by Billy Collins, Collins uses irony, euphemisms, and understatements to invoke a sense of humor and expose the reader to fallacies of modern teachings as an act of preventing history from repeating itself. Born as William James Collins on March 22, 1941, to Katherine and William Collins in Queens, New York as an only child, Billy Collins grew up with an innate affinity for literature. Although he is now 73, Collins has not slowed down; he teaches as a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College, City University of New York with residencies at multiple universities around the country (“Billy Collins”). In 2001-2003, Billy Collins served as the US Poet Laureate for a total of two terms. With this office, he invoked a new program, “Poetry 180” designed to have poetry appeal high school students around the country. Collins, a teacher for over thirty years, uses his own experiences in the poem, “The History Teacher,” to create a teacher that is fully controlled by fundamentalist Christian Groups (Overview: ‘The History Teacher’). In the first line of the poem, the History Teacher is immediately ... ... middle of paper ... ...w 23 Sept. 2001: 10. Literature Resource Center. yyyyyyyWeb. 21 May 2014. Library of Congress. "More about Billy Collins Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, 2001-2003." More About Billy Collins: Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, 2010-2011 (The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. "Overview: 'The History Teacher'." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 42. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2014. "Poet: Billy Collins." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014. "Poetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools (Poetry and Literature Center, Library of Congress) (Library of Congress)." Poetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools (Poetry and Literature Center, Library of Congress) (Library of Congress). The Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.
Fulton, Alice. “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses. Ed. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. 128-29.
With the use of irony and a free rhyme scheme, Collins’ poem vocalizes his opinion on how lying to children about significant facts can only serve to make them ignorant. The way he communicates this to us is by ironically emphasizing events by understating them. He shows how important an event is by mocking the teacher’s portrayal of the event. One example of how he does this is how the teacher tells his students that the ice age was just the “chilly age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters.”(3-4). Collins does this several times with other important events in history, such as the Spanish Inquisition, where “[It] was nothing more than an outbreak of questions.”(7-8). The teacher’s interpretation of events, when compared to the actual events themselves creates a sense of unease, as the lies stray far away from what actually happened, and brings up the question of whether or not these lies should be told. Collins uses events that involve death and destruction to accentuate how big the contrast between the teacher’s explanation and reality is. After the class ends, the children leave the classroom to “torment the weak and the smart” (15-16), while the teacher is oblivious to it all. Note that Collins puts “and the smart” (16) on a separate line from “torment the weak” (15). The children in the class aren’t smart because they did not learn about the true events in history. This distinction emphasized the ignorance of the children. This contrasts with Wilbur’s poem, as the lie told there served to soothe a child’s fear, rather than breed ignorance. The rhyme scheme is different as well. Collins’ free rhyme scheme is used to create a sense of unease, whereas Wilbur’s rhyme scheme creates a child-like feeling to his poem. Unlike the parents in “A Barred Owl”, the teacher is portrayed as an ignorant man, unaware of what happens around
...r’.” Poetry for students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 43 Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?>.
Billy Collins refused to stick to a standard of writing which has gained him so much fame over the years. He has been acknowledged with many awards and titles including Poet Laureate and Poet of the State of New York, he has also been compared to the late, great Robert Frost. His simplistic poetry structure and witty, dry humor has set a standard for the modern poet. Billy Collin’s hospitable and playful poetry will continue his legacy for many years to come.
In the poem “The Names,” by Billy Collins, the speaker is calmly recalling people’s last names alphabetically as he notices them wherever he goes. At first it seems as though he is playing a game to see how many names he can think of. After reading the whole poem several times, it becomes clear that he is referring to people who died on September 11th. Collins uses imagery, a serious tone, and similes throughout the poem to show appreciation for the memory of the victims that died that tragic day.
Billy Collins is a famous American poet who uses everyday language to appeal to his audience. Collins is a true wordsmith who can pack a lot of meaning into only a few short sentences; his poem Divorce does exactly that. Divorce is a short poem consisting of only 18 words and two stanzas composed of two lines each. Collins ability to concentrate so much meaning into such a short poem shows his mastery of metaphors.
Chalk for snow and blackboard skies are just a few vivid images in a Billy Collins poem that he wrote in 1985 called “Schoolsville.” In Poetry Foundation’s article on “Billy Collins” it says, “But Collins has offered a slightly different take on his appeal, admitting that his poetry is ‘Suburban, its’ domestic, it’s middle class, and it’s sort of unashamedly that.’” Collins in his years was a professor at several schools such as Columbia University and City University of New York. His first poem was published in 2001, and shortly followed by many more books that were written about everyday life. “Schoolsville” is about a teacher looking back on past students. There are both fond and disappointing memories of students and the world around them. The teacher is the mayor of this world as he would be the authority as a teacher never leaving his position. Collins uses vivid imagery and personification to help the reader understand how they are feeling.
In “The History Teacher,” the teacher demonstrates that he has little self-awareness in the fact that in he does not teach actual history at all, but rather highly censored euphemisms that remove all violence and suffering from historical events. Thus, the irony of a history teacher not actually teaching history emerges right from the start of the poem. Further on in the poem, Collins continues the use of irony by explaining how the children would leave this violence-free classroom “for the playground to torment the weak/and the smart,” establishing that the
In “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins describes a methodology for approaching poetry as something to be consumed and experienced with your senses, not merely forcing an interpretation by way of dissecting and butchering it line by line.
An American, if they are familiar with poetry, is familiar with the name Billy Collins. Collins served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003, and the public continues to respect his name as one of the most renowned exemplars of modern American poetry. Consequently, if given a degree of “Americanness”, Collins’ poem “Man Listening to Disc” ranks as nothing less than first-degree American, capturing within it Collins’ characteristic style of writing that Americans have loved, as well as personal and small details of the American experience.
The literary journey that Collins takes his readers when they read his poetry instills an assortment of powerful emotions. While acting as the poet laureate for the United States of America in 2001, he was asked by congress to write a poem recognizing the attacks on 9/11. The name of the poem is called “The Names” and it provokes a sense patriotism, sadness, a...
For this assignment, I have decided to write about a famous poem of Billy Collins which is titled as ‘Introduction to Poetry’ written in 1996.
Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001. 123-154.
Each year, Holbrook High School holds a poetry café. During this event, many young adults have the opportunity to get up and perform for their peers. This past year, a plethora of young adults choose to perform spoken word poetry. In today’s generations, that has changed. Spoken word poetry is a necessity to openly discuss the issues that affect today’s youth.
“The Road Not Taken.” Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print.