BILLY COLLINS
Billy Collins, a current teacher at Lehman College, was born in 1941 and has
lived in New York City since his birth. Collins has completed fellowships at the
New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and The
Guggenheim Foundation. From day one, his talents as a writer shined through, as
he was able to express his thoughts on paper well throughout grade school. Billy
Collins doesn’t force meter or rhyme into his poems in order to draw the reader’s
attention; instead he uses his witty descriptions and comedy. As quoted by
Richard Alleva in his article of "A major minor poet": “The most important thing
to say about Collins is that he is a deliberately minor poet, even a
rebelliously minor poet, a poet who would reject major status if it were thrust
upon him.” (Alleva, Richard. "A Major Minor Poet") Billy Collins has excelled
his way through poetry fairly easy with his light verse style poems.
Billy Collins has been very successful in creating six published books and is
featured around the country. His poetry is in many periodicals, and he does a
lot of public reading in which he draws a large crowd. Collins has earned many
awards for his incredible explanations through words. He won Best American
Poetry twice for two of his books, once in 1992 and once in 1993. He won the
Bess Hokin award in 1992, and finally, most recently was named US Poet Laureate
in 2001. This award is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, awards received
by a poet. Billy Collins has had no shortage of published books. The six
currently published are: Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the room, Picnic
Lightning, The Best Cigarette, The Art of Drowning, Questions About Angels, and
The Apple that Astonished Paris. Collins continues to strive as an achieved poet
as people continue to find his simplistic poetry great.
Billy Collins, a current teacher at Lehman College, was born in 1941 and has
lived in New York City since his birth. Collins has completed fellowships at the
New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and The
Guggenheim Foundation. From day one, his talents as a writer shined through, as
he was able to express his thoughts on paper well throughout grade school. Billy
Collins doesn’t force meter or rhyme into his poems in order to draw the reader’s
attention; instead he uses his witty descriptions and comedy. As quoted by
Richard Alleva in his article of "A major minor poet": “The most important thing
to say about Collins is that he is a deliberately minor poet, even a
rebelliously minor poet, a poet who would reject major status if it were thrust
upon him.” (Alleva, Richard. "A Major Minor Poet") Billy Collins has excelled
his way through poetry fairly easy with his light verse style poems.
Billy Collins has been very successful in creating six published books and is
featured around the country. His poetry is in many periodicals, and he does a
lot of public reading in which he draws a large crowd. Collins has earned many
awards for his incredible explanations through words. He won Best American
Poetry twice for two of his books, once in 1992 and once in 1993. He won the
Bess Hokin award in 1992, and finally, most recently was named US Poet Laureate
in 2001. This award is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, awards received
by a poet. Billy Collins has had no shortage of published books. The six
currently published are: Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the room, Picnic
Lightning, The Best Cigarette, The Art of Drowning, Questions About Angels, and
The Apple that Astonished Paris. Collins continues to strive as an achieved poet
as people continue to find his simplistic poetry great.