Billy Collins puts the 'fun' back in profundity says poet Alice Fulton. Known for what he has called hospitable poems which deftly blend wit and erudition Collins (b. 1941) is a poet of nearly unprecedented popularity. His work is also critically esteemed and well represented in <i>The Norton Anthology of American Literature</i>. An English professor for five decades Collins was fifty-seven when his poetry began gathering considerable international attention. <p/> <i>Conversations with Billy Collins</i> chronicles the poet's career beginning with his 1998 interview with Terry Gross on <i>Fresh Air</i> which exponentially expanded his readership three years prior to his being named United States Poet Laureate. Other interviewers range from George Plimpton founder of the <i>Paris Revi</i>e<i>w</i> to Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Henry Taylor to a Presbyterian pastor a physics professor and a class of AP English Literature students. <p/> Over the course of the twenty-one interviews included in the volume Collins discusses such topics as discovering his persona that consistently affable voice that narrates his often wildly imaginative poems; why poetry is so loved by children but often met with anxiety by high school students; and his experience composing a poem to be recited during a joint session of Congress on the first anniversary of 9/11 a tragedy that occurred during his tenure as poet laureate. He also explores his love of jazz his distaste for gratuitously difficult poetry and autobiographical poems and his beguiling invention of a mock poetic form: the paradelle. Irreverent incisive and deeply life-affirming--like his twelve volumes of poetry--these interviews gathered for the first time in one volume will edify and entertain readers in the way his sold-out readings have done for the past quarter century.
Piracy-free
Assured Quality
Secure Transactions
Delivery Options
Please enter pincode to check delivery time.
*COD & Shipping Charges may apply on certain items.