The Unconventional Poet
Billy Collins may not appear to be a man “in touch” with today’s youth, but in high schools he is greeted by shouts of “Go, Billy!” and he is a major player in the movement to make poetry “cool” again. Anyone familiar with his work, however, understands why he may be just the man for the job. Most of his poems are humorous and many consider his work “accessible” (although he prefers the term “hospitable”). Collins renounces poetry that strictly abides by proper form – sonnets, sestinas, and villanelles. He even created his own poetic device, as a hoax, called the paradelle. He is critical of poets who write strictly for other poets and academics – yet his fan base encompasses both critics as well as “regular” people (a rare thing for a poet these days). Collins also deplores the over-analyzation of poetry; he does not see the use in discussing poetry beyond “its capacity to withstand discussion”. Collins says he always has the reader in mind when writing – especially those encountering his work for the first time; he likes to draw them in with humor and then take then to a more serious place. Collins has taught at Lehman College of the City of the University of New York since 1968. He has enjoyed numerous accolades and accommodations including having been the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 through 2003 and New York State Poet in 2004. In 2005 he was the first annual recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry given by the Poetry Foundation (Poetry Magazine). He has had fellowships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation and in 1994 he was named Poet of the Year in 1994 by Poetry Magazine. His poems have been published in numerous publications including (but certainly not limited to) The New Yorker, Poetry, Harper’s, The American Scholar, and American Poetry Review. Often compared to Robert Frost, Collins has fans such as writer John Updike, and poets Edward Hirsch and Richard Howard. He has been asked by some if he has ever thought about writing a novel or screenplay, to which he responds, “”It’s like asking a jazz drummer, ‘Have you ever tried the piccolo?’”. Although he does not play the piccolo, he does play the jazz piano. He says he goes back and forth between the ivory keys and the keys of the keyboard, “If one isn’t working, the other might.”.
After reading several of Billy Collins’ poems, I came across what was the obvious choice for me to write about – “Introduction To Poetry”. The title alone grabbed my attention since this class is my “introduction to poetry”. The poem explains how Collins wants his readers to read his work, “I want them to waterski across the surface”, he writes. He complains about those who want to “tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it.” and then “They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.”. Collins absolutely despises this abuse of poetry. He wants people to simply read and enjoy poetry without over-interpretation. I love this poem for a few reasons. Part of the reason I had concerns about taking this course was because I was expecting the professor to have us analyzing poetry to death. I assumed I would be expected to know what every word in a poem “really means”. Thankfully, this is not the case. Thankfully, the professor (you) has the same thoughts as Billy Collins when it comes to analyzing poetry. I was under the impression that poets and those who teach it enjoy and encourage tedious analyzation of poetry, but Ms. Mitchell and Mr. Collins have taught me better.
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 the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s 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.
The History Teacher – Billy Collins
Trying to protect his students’ innocence
he told them the Ice Age was really just
the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everyone had to wear sweaters.
And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age,
named after the long driveways of the time.
The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
than an outbreak of questions such as
“How far is it from here to Madrid?”
“What do you call the matador’s hat?”
The War of the Roses took place in a garden,
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom on Japan.
The children would leave his classroom
for the playground to torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,
while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.
