Billy Collins - Litany

If you like the video, share it with your friends on these social sites:

Title: Billy Collins - Litany

Added: May 28, 2008

Duration: 4:11

Description:
Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/04/07/A_Selection_of_Poems_by_Billy_Collins Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins discusses stealing material from other writers, and reads his poem, "Litany." ----- Poet Billy Collins is a unique literary figure - a widely read contemporary poet. The former US Poet Laureate and New York State Poet has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation, though his most dramatic honors come from a wide and appreciative readership. Collins's poetry collections, including The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems, Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the Room, and Picnic, Lightening, have broken records for poetry sales. His writing is marked by inventiveness beyond traditional poetry forms with ironic twists and lyrical turns of phrase that resonate powerfully. An advocate for integrating poetry into everyday life, Collins compiled the anthologies Poetry 180 and 180 More with poems for every day of a typical school year. Billy Collins has been a professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York since 1968 - City Arts & Lectures Billy Collins is the author of several books of poetry and two anthologies of contemporary poetry, including The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems; The Arts of Drowning, which was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall prize; and Questions About Angels, which won the National Poetry Series in 1990. He is also a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College (CUNY). Collins served as US Poet Laureate (2001-2003) and as New York State Poet Laureate (2004-2006). Collins' poetry has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Harper's, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among many other journals and periodicals. He has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has won several awards and prizes.

Channel: Entertainment

Billy Collins - Litany

Tags: poems poetry reading reads author poets stealing steals funny comedy comic on writing writers creative foratv

Billy Collins - Litany

poems poetry reading reads author poets stealing steals funny comedy comic on writing writers creative foratv

Youtube Comments: 109

slutloverjulia Says:

Aug 22, 2010 - Sorry, I like the was the 3 year old boy does this more.

Arcangelo Says:

Aug 22, 2010 - Difference between a WRITER and a performer.

thecoolstuff99 Says:

Aug 22, 2010 - "I am the sound of rain on the roof" what does that mean?

SherriSLC Says:

Aug 23, 2010 - I am the lanyard and the half-eaten biscuit.

napalmnacey Says:

Aug 24, 2010 - @davidvcar Well, the three year old boy does an earnest, straightforward reading. Mr. Collins reads it in his original intention - sardonically and dryly. It gives the poem an entirely different feeling. It becomes absolutely hilarious. That was the point. The kid, he's friggin' talented. But Mr. Collins knows what his poem is about, and reads it that way.

jgonnerman85 Says:

Aug 24, 2010 - My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.

OntoitinThere Says:

Aug 24, 2010 - No matter how one tries to cut it or serve it, Jesus will always be the bread and the wine - yes he got the wine - how lucky is that! Jesus is not and never will be the pine scented air (Christmas with all of it's fixings). Imagery can stick but generally means something different to everyone with the exception of a few classic examples. God is whatever we perceive God to be. Great poem.

OntoitinThere Says:

Aug 25, 2010 - The meaning of this poem to me is rather deep and yet simple at the same time. No matter how one cuts it up and serves it (religion), Jesus will always be the bread and the wine – yes,he is the wine – how lucky is that! Jesus is not and never will be the pine scented air (modern Christmas with all of its fixings). Imagery can stick but generally means something different to everyone with the exception of a few classic examples. God is whatever we perceive him or her and even it to be.

JerBushell89 Says:

Aug 26, 2010 - @OntoitinThere you may read too far into things. Billy Collins writes ironic and dry humorous tones into his works. Not too sure if he was actually referencing, no matter how losely, religion.

JerBushell89 Says:

Aug 26, 2010 - @thecoolstuff99 they are all references to things that make you feel at home or at peace. Stereotypical ones at least, for some people, including myself, i can sit and listen to rain patter on the roof for hours.

JerBushell89 Says:

Aug 26, 2010 - @Arcangelo that was how he wanted it read. dryly.... dryly and slowly

quintopia Says:

Aug 26, 2010 - @OntoitinThere Thanks for this interpretation. I nearly shat myself picturing Jesus making a little pigeon-poo on the general's head!

OntoitinThere Says:

Aug 26, 2010 - @quintopia You are welcome! Definitely there is humor in this poem no matter how one wants to interpret it.

OntoitinThere Says:

Aug 26, 2010 - @JerBushell89 If you interpret my interpretation of the way I interpreted his poem, I believe you will find humor there as well! Life is a poem. It would be interesting to know what Billy Collins thought about this...perhaps he will have the last laugh!

Parthianking Says:

Aug 28, 2010 - @aqariumperson: Thanks, but I love the intro! It not only brings light to the poem itself, but also reveals the mind of a man stunningly gifted in language. Collins' constant "ums" come not from a lack of eloquence, but from precisely the opposite. His performance is a perfect example of what happens when a linguistic prodigy speaks off the cuff--a sort of logjam of concepts and expressions, with every phrase being a kind of truce within a mind nearly tortured by its own brilliance.

eatsleepmusic Says:

Aug 28, 2010 - It's funny, I never imagined it evoking this kind of laughter (and I still don't think it's laugh our loud funny now). I sort of always thought of it as a quiet, smirking kind of humor... I guess it all depends on how you internalize it.

PointlessVidsInc Says:

Aug 29, 2010 - the 3 year old says it better

DirtyDerr1ck Says:

Aug 30, 2010 - it bothers me so much that i cant interpret poetry, i feel like im left out of an inside joke

IrvingBabe Says:

Aug 30, 2010 - You saw me post the 3 year old saying this poem. Here is the original author saying it. Fascinating how differently they are read.

hswatnik Says:

Sep 2, 2010 - slick as the top of his sconce-

luv2Bmuvd07 Says:

Sep 2, 2010 - I must say my 3 yr old nephew recites The Litany with way more intensity & expression than Billy Collins!!!

uberbowser Says:

Sep 3, 2010 - Hahaha.......?

themdg Says:

Sep 3, 2010 - An excellent poem. The word "somehow" makes the whole thing, for me.

sunriseinside Says:

Sep 6, 2010 - Fantastic, loved the explanation before the poem besides the poem itself!