Billy Collins

Table of Contents
1. Introduction..page 1
2. Biography.page 2
3. Poem Analysis....page 3 9
4. My Poems...page 10 11
5. Works Cited....page 12



























Introduction
Billy Collins is an American poet. I chose him because of his creativity. I find his poems
very interesting. Theyre worth reading because readers can understand the message that is
being conveyed. Collins also cares not only about his own poems, but other peoples poems as
well. After reading his poem Introduction to Poetry, I have learned to enjoy reading poems
instead of worrying too much about the meaning behind them. Others may enjoy Collinss
poems too, because they will also learn to appreciate poems. They will like the poems because
Collins is convincing as well. In addition, Collins uses all different kinds of poetry skills. He
uses many metaphors to compare things. Readers are also able to visualize his poems because
Collins uses plenty of descriptive language.









Biography
Born during March 22, 1941 in New York, Billy Collins was an only child. He was also
a late one because his parents had him when they were around the age of 40. Collins went to
Catholic school from kindergarten all the way through to college. After that, he graduated from
the University of California.
Collins wrote his first poem, which was about a sailboat, when he was 7 years-old. When
he grew older, he became inspired by poets like Karl Shapiro and Howard Nemerov and Reed
Whittemore. Soon after that, Collins took a liking to the Beats. Collins was inspired by
several poets, which helped him in writing modern day poetry.
At the Lehman College of the City University of New York, Collins is a Distinguished
Professor, and at the Winter Park Institute, Florida, he is the Senior Distinguished Fellow. In
1992, Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library. From 2001 to
2003, he was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States. From 2004 to 2006, he was
selected as the New York State Poet.
Collins is now a poet whos written many books. Some are: The Trouble with
Poetry, Nine Horses, and The Art of Drowning. A poetic world filled with imagination is
created from Collins poems. His most famous poems include Litany and Candle Hat.
Litany is a love poem that Collins wrote to show that he thinks the person that he likes is more
noteworthy than him. This poem is well-known because many people like the kindness that
Collins showed towards his special person. Candle Hat is about Goya, a famous painter. He
invented the candle hat, which he wore when he was painting at night. This poem is well-known
because the readers are able to picture Goyas life in the old days thanks to Collins descriptive
language
Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
Or press an ear against its hive
I say drop a mouse into a poem,
and watch him probe his way out,
Or walk inside a poems room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to water ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the authors name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
In the poem Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins, the narrator explains that all
people want to do with a poem is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out
of it.
I think the narrator is trying to say that he wants people to enjoy poems, but instead, they
do the opposite. Therefore, we should just appreciate poems and not worry too much over the
meaning behind them.
Using the metaphors But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and
torture a confession out of it and They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really
means, the author expresses his sadness towards the way people treat poems. Instead, we
should be curious and entertain ourselves when reading a poem.



Today
By Billy Collins
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
In the poem Today by Billy Collins, the narrator is describing what you would do during a
spring day so perfect.
I think the poet is trying to express his happy feelings. Billy Collins was in such a good mood
that he wrote a poem based on the perfect day that he was having. He shares his joy with us by writing
about a wonderful day.
By depicting an image in our mind, the poet makes it so that the reader understands him. For
example, the lines so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze that it made you want to throw open all the
windows in the house allows the reader to relate that they would do the same thing if they were happy.
In addition, using the metaphors such as releasing the inhabitants from their snow-covered cottage, the
poet makes you feel like sharing the pleasure with other people, or in this case, the inhabitants. As you
can see, Billy Collins uses descriptive imagery and metaphors that allows us to comprehend his poem.

Litany
By Billy Collins
You are the bread and the knife
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight
However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the generals head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind womans tea cup.
But dont worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and somehow the wine.
In the poem Litany by Billy Collins, the narrator compares himself to another person.
I think the narrator is trying to say that the person hes comparing himself to is superior
to him. He admires this person and says that hes appalling in comparison. I think that Billy
Collins wrote this poem to them out of respect or love.
Using an abundance of metaphors such as You are the bread and the knife, You are
the white apron of the baker, the evening paper blowing down an alley, and the blind
womans tea cup, the reader can understand what the narrator and the person are being
described as. The person is described as the bread and the knife and the white apron of the
baker, which all go together and are important for one another, so it means that the person is
important. The narrator is the evening paper blowing down an alley and the blind womans
tea cup, which are unseen, implying that the narrator is unnoticed or insignificant. Billy Collins
shows the reader the difference between the person that he admires and himself, and that the
person is better than him.
The Art of Drowning
By Billy Collins
I wonder how it all got started, this business
about seeing your life flash before your eyes
while you drown, as if panic, or the act of submergence,
could startle time into such compression, crushing
decades in the vice of your desperate, final seconds.
After falling off a steamship or being swept away
in a rush of floodwaters, wouldn't you hope
for a more leisurely review, an invisible hand
turning the pages of an album of photographs-
you up on a pony or blowing out candles in a conic hat.
How about a short animated film, a slide presentation?
Your life expressed in an essay, or in one model photograph?
Wouldn't any form be better than this sudden flash?
Your whole existence going off in your face
in an eyebrow-singeing explosion of biography-
nothing like the three large volumes you envisioned.
Survivors would have us believe in a brilliance
here, some bolt of truth forking across the water,
an ultimate Light before all the lights go out,
dawning on you with all its megalithic tonnage.
But if something does flash before your eyes
as you go under, it will probably be a fish,
a quick blur of curved silver darting away,
having nothing to do with your life or your death.
The tide will take you, or the lake will accept it all
as you sink toward the weedy disarray of the bottom,
leaving behind what you have already forgotten,
the surface, now overrun with the high travel of clouds.
In the poem The Art of Drowning by Billy Collins, the narrator talks about seeing
your life flash before your eyes when you die.
I think the narrator is questioning why people call the time you remember what you did
in your life, a flash. Therefore, he disagrees with the people who believe in it.
The poet comes up with different forms of ways to express your life instead of using a
flash. In the poem the narrator says, Wouldnt anything be better than this sudden flash? This
shows the reader that Billy Collins doesnt want it to be called a flash, and would rather change
the form to something else. The poem also says, But if something does flash before your eyes
as you go under, it will probably be a fish. The poet is trying to say that instead of the flash of
your life, what you would see would most likely be a flash from a fish, which is proving that the
flash of your life is false. As you can see, Billy Collins comes up with different ideas to counter
the opinion of your life flashing before your eyes.











My Grandma
By Sabrina Li

I remember the days
When I looked at the silhouette
Of my grandmas back
As she watered the flowers.
I remember the days
When I played with the hose
And filled the sky
With rainbows.
I remember the days
When my grandma takes care of me.
And she still does.

I chose to include this poem because it
brings back memories of the times I spent
with my grandma. I also enjoyed watering
the flowers in the garden and playing with
the hose when I was little.





Spring
Sabrina Li
Im the season
Of photosynthesis.
Plants begin to sprout,
Flowers begin to bloom
Leaves begin to grow,
Birds are chirping happily,
The sun beams brightly.
What season am I?
Im spring.

I chose this poem because I also like spring.
It describes the season perfectly, and
everything begins to grow.




Fall
By Sabrina Li

Its fall.
Walking in the park,
Snapping tree branches
As I take my stroll,
The leaves going
Crunch
Crunch
Crunch
Under my feet.
Its fall, the most colorful season of the year.


I chose this poem because Im reminded of
the wonderful colors that the leaves turn
during autumn. There is onomatopoeia in
this poem as well, which makes the poem
interesting.







Today Response
By Sabrina Li
If you ever had a spring day so perfect,
So uplifted by a warm intermittent waft
That it made you want to push
Open all the windows in your house,
Well today, is the right kind of day.

I chose this poem because I was inspired by
Today, the poem that Billy Collins wrote.
I wanted to improve it by mixing in my own
words.






Litany Response
By Sabrina Li
You are the soup and the spoon,
The cup and the water.
You are the tea in a tea cup
And the cherry on a cake.
A quick look in the mirror, youll see

Nor the boat alone in its boathouse.

I chose this poem because I was inspired by Litany, the poem that Billy Collins wrote. I
wanted to change the words to make them seem better.































That you are neither the umbrellas in the corner

Works Cited Page
http://billycollinsmarekperiod3.edublogs.org/2011/12/11/billy-collins-biography/
http://allpoetry.com/Billy_Collins
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19796