Poem Analysis: The Trouble With Poetry By Billy Collins

I. My Question (s)

At the age of five, Billy Collins would pick up an encyclopedia while guests were over and pretend to start reading it (Lawlor 2003). Immediately I started to question why a child would want to impress everyone at such a young age. I also started thinking about if he started doing this at five years of age, what could he possibly do when he grows up? Billy Collins was born March 22, 1941 and came from an ordinary family. He was an only child and his father was an electrician and his mother was a nurse, yet he was more than just ordinary. At the age of ten, he recalled his first effort on trying to record his first impression in writing while sitting in the car (Lawlor 2003). At the age of ten, I was worried about what I

It may encourage them to write poetry about important topics that deal with worldly problems and issues or even to write about themselves and their daily challenges. The main point in this poem is to make sure that every opportunity is seized before it is too late. Every day we get chances to do something, but it only matters if we do something with it instead of letting it go to waste. He does not want us to waste time, but instead use it wisely and

He said in one of his interviews, “Your poet laureateship comes at an extraordinary time” (Collins 2006). What I take from this is how he did expect to be chosen to be a poet laureate. It happened after years of him writing and he was super grateful and appreciative that people loved his works. Another thing I found inspiring was how Collins only would write in the moment and did not save his works for another time. If the work did not fit for what he was creating now, he would not save it for another because he said that it would be scotch taped together. He wants raw and authentic work only which is why he works and writes in the moment. The Academy of American Poets love how the always are able to tell when a poem belongs to Billy Collins, but they do not always know how it is going to end because Collins does not end with what is predictable (Collins 2008). He ends with what he thinks would be the best ending which is not always what everyone wants. One thing that I thought was exciting was how he served as the Literary Lion in 1992 (Collins 2008). Billy Collins had taught me to look deeper into poetry because they may be talking about ordinary things or daily struggles, but there is always more to be said. There are more explanations as to the way a poem is written and by its diction the reader can be able to determine what the author is trying to say and show. Billy Collins may