An Explication of Billy Collins’ “The History Teacher”

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“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 ...

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...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.

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