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This poem details a heros journey, just as this image does. Similarly to this image, the hero in the poem had to encounter lots of things, until they met a "new world". The only difference is that in the poem, the "new world" that is referred to is that of a personal growth, and development.

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This is a website with all of Billy Collins poems, if you are interested in reading more!

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Billy Collins Biography

(born William James Collins) is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York and is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida. Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004-2006. Early Years Collins was born in New York City to William and Katherine Collins. Katherine Collins was a nurse who stopped working to raise the couple's only child. Mrs. Collins had the ability to recite verses on almost any subject, which she often did, and cultivated in her young son the love of words, both written and spoken. Billy Collins attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains and received a B.A. (English) from the College of the Holy Cross in 1963 and received his M.A. and Ph.D in English from the University of California, Riverside. His professors at Riverside included Victorian scholar and poet Robert Peters. In 1975 Collins founded The Mid Atlantic Review with his good friend and co-editor, Michael Shannon. Career Collins is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx, where he joined the faculty in 1968 and has taught for over thirty years. Additionally, he is a founding Advisory Board member of the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies at Lehman College. He also has taught and served as a visiting writer at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York as well as teaching workshops across the U.S. and in Ireland. Collins is a member of the faculty of SUNY Stonybrook Southampton College, where he teaches poetry workshops. Collins was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2001 and held the title until 2003. Collins served as Poet Laureate for the State of New York from 2004 until 2006. Collins has been named Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Winter Park Institute in Winter Park, Florida, an affiliate of Rollins College. He is on the editorial board at The Alaska Quarterly Review, not actively involved since 2000. He is on the advisory board at the Southern Review, and is similarly named in other journals As U.S. Poet Laureate, Collins read his poem The Names at a special joint session of the United States Congress on September 6, 2002, held to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Though, unlike their British counterparts, U.S. poets laureate are not asked or expected to write occasional poetry, Collins was asked by the Librarian of Congress to write a poem especially for that event. Collins initially refused to read "The Names" in public, though he has read it two times in public since 2002. He vows not to include it in any of his books, refusing to capitalize in any way on the 9/11 attacks. However, "The Names" was included in the The Poets Laureate Anthology, put out by the Library of Congress, for which Collins wrote the foreword. The only published version of "The Names," it contains a number of regrettable typographical errors. As Poet Laureate, Collins instituted the program Poetry 180 for high schools. Collins chose 180 poems for the program and the accompanying book, Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry-- one for each day of the school year. Collins edited a second anthology, 180 More Extraordinary Poems for Every Day to refresh the supply of available poems. The program is online, and poems are available there for no charge. In 1997, Collins recorded The Best Cigarette, a collection of 34 of his poems, that would become a bestseller. In 2005, the CD was re-released under a Creative Commons license, allowing free, non-commercial distribution of the recording. He also recorded two of his poems for the audio versions of Garrison Keillor's collection Good Poems (2002). Collins has appeared on Keillor's radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, numerous times, where he gained a portion of his large following. In 2005, Collins recorded "Billy Collins Live: A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space" in New York City. Collins was introduced by his friend, actor Bill Murray. Billy Collins has been called "The most popular poet in America" by the New York Times. When he moved from the University of Pittsburgh Press to Random House, the advance he received shocked the poetry world - a six-figure sum for a three-book deal, virtually unheard of in poetry. The deal secured for Collins through his literary agent, Chris Calhoun of Sterling Lord Literistic, with the editor Daniel Menaker, remained the talk of the poetry world, and indeed the literary world, for quite some time. Over the years, the U.S. magazine Poetry has awarded Collins several prizes in recognition of poems they publish. During the 1990s, Collins won five such prizes. The magazine also selected him as "Poet of the Year" in 1994. In 2005 Collins was the first annual recipient of its Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts and in 1993, from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Awards and honors 1986, Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts 1983, Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts 1991, National Poetry Series publication prize - winner, Questions About Angels 1992, New York Public Library 'Literary Lion' 1993, Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation 1994, Poetry Magazine - Poet of the Year 1995, Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, Academy of American Poets - shortlist, The Art of Drowning 2001, US Poet Laureate 2002, US Poet Laureate 2004, New York State Poet Laureate 2005, Mark Twain Award for Humor in Poetry)

The Best Poem Of Billy Collins

Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

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Billy Collins - Poet Billy Collins Poems

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Billy Collins poems, quotations and biography on Billy Collins poet page. Billy Collins poetry page; read all poems by Billy Collins written.

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Sigmond Freud created psychoanalytical theory. He is considered the father of psychoanalysis. 

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Carl Jung created Archetypal Theory. He was a student of Sigmond Freud, another psychologist interested in the unconscious mind. Jung concluded that there are 3 archetypal theories: Archetypal Characters, Archetypal Images, and Archetypal Situations.

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Mothers in this society are expected to be caregivers that do their best without getting anything in return. In reality, this is the biggest thing a person can do, and any gift in comparison is insignificant, but they are expected to be delighted with a gift anyways.

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"Trying to protect his students’ innocence he told them the Ice Age was really just the Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters."

This stanza demonstrates the teacher trying to protect his students by lying to them, but this instead implies him projecting due to his discomfort for reality.

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"Follow your nose and the road will start to appear beneath your feet."

This line symbolizes a call to adventure, one that starts a journey of self discovery.

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Context: Directions

Written in a time of Billy Collins life when he was reflecting on his life.

Uses metaphors, such as 'directions' meaning finding peace and preparing for death.

Not a literal poem, instead an analogy for an emotional journey inwards.

Uses lots of Archetypal imagery, to create mood and symbolism.

Using archetypal theory, this poem is seen as the hero's journey.

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Context: The History Teacher

Written by Billy Collins while he was a teacher.

Reflecting on education and sugarcoating information to children.

Highlights the dangers of misinformation.

Uses irony to demonstrate that avoiding the truth leads to ignorance and cruelty.

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Context: The Lanyard

Written later in Billy Collins life.

Inspired by a real story.

Combines humour with a heartfelt message.

Explains the thought that children misunderstand their mothers sacrifices.

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This is the Google Docs of work done, for more notes to study.

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ENG4U1 Poetry Assignment (Billy Collins)

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Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time                                                                    This is an inspirational TedTalk spoken by Billy Collins      

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Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time

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Even though the history teacher sugarcoated the violence throughout his teachings, his students still learned how to be violent in the playground. This shows that it is important to teach history correctly, so that the students know right from wrong.

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Even though he sugarcoats the violence, his students learn to pick on their peers in the playground. Not learning history, they do not know right from wrong.

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The Archetypal theory - Directions

Focuses on symbols and the types of characters in a story. Symbols can range from rocks to the sun or the moon. This theory focuses on generalizing common occurrences in stories.

The initial connection is the quest. The quest refers to a journey or endeavor a character takes on. Applying this to the poem, we see the poet vividly describe a path. He gives a description of the nature and the elements of said path.

The theme of birth and rebirth is seen in an excerpt from the poem, Collins speaks as though nature loses itself and, through a natural process, comes back alive, greener than ever.

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"She gave me life and milk from her breasts, and I gave her a lanyard."

Billy Collins goes on to write about how much she had done for him, and how he thought giving this meaningless gift would make them even, displaying how little women in this society are appreciated and thought for.

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Feminist theory - The Lanyard

A poem that reflects on maternal feminism.

Dissects the underappreciation of maternal labour in society and households despite their efforts and imperative roles.

The Lanyard focuses on the efforts of the mother. The vital efforts that can never be truly paid back

It symbolizes how society and children, especially sons, attempt to repay their mothers sacrifices with inadequate gestures that are insignificant.

The receiving from the mother represents the silent acceptance that women in society bear without complaint. A critical interpretation of this poem can be demanding recognition of their work.

The mother never complains, or expects more, reinstating how mothers are expected to give without ever expecting anything in return.

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Psychoanalytical Theory – The History Teacher

The history teacher uses repression and denial, key defense mechanisms in psychoanalytic theory, by sugar-coating historical events to avoid confronting harsh truths.

His choice to soften reality may stem from his own unresolved trauma or discomfort with the past.

He projects this avoidance onto his students, believing he is protecting them from the pain he once experienced.

This can be due to the fact that the history teacher is himself uncomfortable with how the world has been.

This behavior suggests that shielding people from truth doesn’t protect them — it distorts their worldview and stunts emotional maturity.

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1.  Billy Collins is a New York-born poet.

2. He was born on March 22, 1941.

3. He received a Ph.D. in Romantic Poetry from the University of California.

4. His style often mixes simple experiences of life with analyzed philosophy. Many of his poems incorporate humour, a satirical approach, and realism.

5. Much of his work is quiet critiques of society, with a nostalgic aspect.

6. Some of his major works include “The Apple That Astonished Paris” and “Questions About Angles."