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Jack Doyle Erin Morris Brad Fortunato BILLY COLLINS “The Most Popular Poet in America”

Billy Collins

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“The Most Popular Poet in America”. Jack Doyle Erin Morris Brad F ortunato. Billy Collins. Background. Born- New York C ity on March 22, 1941 Son of W illiam and Katherine William- electrician Katherine- nurse. Background. B.A.- college of Holy Cross - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Billy Collins

Jack DoyleErin Morris Brad Fortunato

BILLY COLLINS

“The Most Popular Poet in America”

Page 2: Billy Collins

Background

Born- New York City on March 22, 1941

Son of William and Katherine William- electrician Katherine- nurse

Page 3: Billy Collins

Background

B.A.- college of Holy Cross M.A. & P.H.D. – university of

California Won many different awards

including poet of the year

Page 4: Billy Collins

Background

Leads a normal life in as a professor at Lehman university of the City University of New York.

Appointed as poet laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003

Page 5: Billy Collins

influences

Made suburban and for the middle class

Used other poets examples to find himself

Others poems influenced him The New Poetry book got him into

poetry Influenced by nature

Page 6: Billy Collins

influences-other poets

George Herbert, and John Donne.

Memorizing “The Sun Rising” by John DonneBY BILLY COLLINS Every reader loves the way he tells off the sun, shouting busy old fool into the English skies even though they were likely cloudy on that seventeenth-century morning.

And it’s a pleasure to spend this sunny day

But after a few steps into stanza number two,wherein the sun is blinded by his mistress’s eyes,

I can feel the first one begin to fade like sky-written letters on a windy day.

And by the time I have taken in the third, the second is likewise gone, a blown-out candle now,a wavering line of acrid smoke.

So it’s not until I leave the houseand walk three times around this hidden lakethat the poem begins to showany interest in walking by my side.

Then, after my circling,

better than the courteous dominion of her being all states and him all princes,

better than love’s power to shrinkthe wide world to the size of a bedchamber,

and better even than the compressionof all that into the rooms of these three stanzasis how, after hours stepping up and down the poem,testing the plank of every line,it goes with me now, contracted into a little spot within.

Page 7: Billy Collins

influences

His poems convey the fact that his life isn’t very exciting.

Bored as a child so he used his poems as an escape.

Tried to use humor, and transport himself to different places.

Exposed to these poems as a child

Page 8: Billy Collins

influences

Aristotle influences his work

Page 9: Billy Collins

influences

Everyday life influences his poems

No TimeBy Billy CollinsIn a rush this weekday morning, I tap the horn as I speed past the cemetery where my parents are buried side by side beneath a slab of smooth granite.

Then, all day, I think of him rising up to give me that look of knowing disapproval while my mother calmly tells him to lie back down.

Page 10: Billy Collins

Poem- suburbs and nature influence him

Her

BY BILLY COLLINS

“There is no noisier place than the suburbs,

someone once said to me

as we were walking along a fairway,

and every day is delighted to offer fresh evidence:

the chainsaw, the leaf-blower blowing

one leaf around an enormous house with columns,

on Mondays and Thursdays the garbage truck

equipped with air brakes, reverse beeper, and merciless grinder. “

CANADA

BY BILLY COLLINS

“I am writing this on a strip of white birch bark

that I cut from a tree with a penknife.

There is no other way to express adequately

the immensity of the clouds that are passing over the farms   

and wooded lakes of Ontario and the endless visibility   

that hands you the horizon on a platter.

 I am also writing this in a wooden canoe,

a point of balance in the middle of Lake Couchiching,   

resting the birch bark against my knees.   

I can feel the sun’s hands on my bare back,   

but I am thinking of winter”

Page 11: Billy Collins

Literary Criticism

John Taylor Says “His humor often seems simply a means, a invitation to serious reflection”

We did find this in his poems, funny leading to serious

“some examples of playful imagination”

You can tell in these poems that Collins is letting his imagination run wild

Page 12: Billy Collins

Literary Criticism-Positive “uses humor to lead the reader into

the place, often a serious and surprising place”

We found that the only type of humor in his poems is irony

“Collins often uses an abstract title which he subsequently explores in a variety of concrete images”

This is very true- we found that the title was only loosely connected to the poem itself

Page 13: Billy Collins

Literary Criticism-negative “seems to have been written in code” Seems clear but we understand why the

critics said this because his speech patterns are so random

“Collins technique produces poems that evoke no emotional response from the reader”

We tend to agree with this statement we don’t feel any emotional attachment to any of the things in the poem

Page 14: Billy Collins

Literary criticism

“He makes readers believe that the only way to approach a poem is to ‘tie it to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it’”

Its hard to just skim his poems- you have to really dig down and analyze them.

“We seem to always know where we are in a Billy Collins poem, but not where he is going”

Billy Collins doesn’t follow one set format- he just speaks what is on his mind

Page 15: Billy Collins

Thank You for listening

Billy Collins has made and continues to make numerous contributions to modern poetry