Billy Collins Biography

William “Billy” Collins is named “one of the most popular poets in America” in the New York Times. He is known for his humorous poems that have a lot of observation on the every day life. Collins says that his poetry is “suburban, domestic, middle class, and its sort of unashamedly that.” He was not very famous when he was younger, but now, his work is considered some of the best poetry in history (“Billy Collins”). Collins recognized his love for poetry as a young child, pursued his interests in becoming a poet, and was eventually recognized for his work. Collins was born in New York City on March 22nd, 1941. His parents are William Collins, an electrician, and Katherine Collins, a nurse. At age four, he had different interests than most kids his age. He liked to pretend he was reading an

Collins became a distinguished professor at Lehman College and Diane was successful in her work as an architect. His career as a full time poet did not take off until 1999 when the University of Pittsburgh did not allow Random House to reprint a few of Collin’s earlier poems because the Pittsburgh press “found them profitable.” This was a major conflict and was one of the top news stories in the New York Times. This publicity resulted in his poems being recognized which helped him become a known poet (“Billy Collins Biography”). Collins made many contributions to literature, but one that stands out is his ability to write humorous poetry and turn it into a message of observation on the every day life (“Billy Collins”). His poems are simple, yet mean more than his words can express. John Updike, an American novelist, says, “Collin’s poems are limpid, gently and consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe all the worlds that are and were and some others besides.” Collin’s takes a different approach to how he views his literature (“Billy