school day. The anthologies Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry and its
follow-up, 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (2005), both edited by
Collins, feature poems that, as he says in the introduction to the first volume,
“any listener could basically ‘get’ on first hearing—poems whose injection of
pleasure is immediate.” The poems can be accessed online at the Library of
Congress website. Students may wish to compare some of Collins’s selections
in regard to form and subject matter. Alternatively, students might consider
choosing from among Collins’s choices to create their own anthologies on a
smaller scale: Poetry 30 with a month’s worth of poems, or Poetry 7 for a week.
Like Collins, students should include critical introductions that explain the
criteria for selection.- In “Art over Easy” Jeredith Merrin gives three reasons for not liking Collins’s
work: sameness, self-centeredness, and his “esthetic of easiness.” Students
might discuss whether or not they agree with Merrin’s assessments. Questions
to consider include: Are Collins’s poems (those discussed in the article and
others) alike in terms of form and content? If so, does this similarity add to or
detract from their overall effect? Does the predominant use of the first-person
singular prevent readers from identifying with the sentiments in Collins’s
poems—that is, are they too personal? Are his poems “easy”? Is a poem’s dif-
ficulty related to its quality?
RESOURCES
Primary Works
The Apple That Astonished Paris (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press,
1988).
Collins’s first book of poems.
Grace Cavalieri, “An Interview with Billy Collins” (December 2001) http://
[http://www.gracecavalieri.com/poetLaureates/billyCollins.html](http://www.gracecavalieri.com/poetLaureates/billyCollins.html>) [accessed 26 Feb-
ruary 2010].
Transcript of an interview that originally aired on the National Public Radio
series The Poet and the Poem at the Library of Congress. Collins discusses the role
of the poet laureate, his use of humor in poetry, and teaching.
Elizabeth Farnsworth, “Elizabeth Farnsworth Talks to the New Poet Laureate,
Billy Collins,” Online NewsHour (10 December 2001) http://www.pbs.
org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec01/collins_12-10.html [accessed
26 February 2010].
Transcript of an interview in which Collins discusses his “accessibility,” humor,
and quick writing process (“in one sitting only”).
George Plimpton, “The Art of Poetry No. 83: Billy Collins,” Paris Review, 159
(Fall 2001): 182–216 http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/
prmMID/482 [accessed 26 February 2010].
Discusses the process of writing a poem. For Collins “it’s a very sporadic
activity.”