Preview
[MUSIC PLAYING] BILLY COLLINS: Of all the things poetry is, I think the most important thing it is, it provides us with a history of the human heart. We have lots of histories, of course. And we have history departments in universities. And we have histories about truces and about boundary disputes, and inventions, and wars. But poetry is really the only history we have of the human heart.
And if you trace it back to the oldest poems we can find, at least in Western culture, starting with Catullus and moving up to today, they’re all speaking the same language. All these poets are really wrestling with the same things. And they’re wrestling with emotions of fear of death or embracing death, gratitude for what God has given them, loneliness, adventure, failure to assert oneself. They’re all humans.
Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, you see the same stuff in there. The language sounds very different. But underneath it all, we’re all after the same thing.
I’m Billy Collins. And this is my MasterClass.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I wrote a piece some years ago called “Poetry, Pleasure, and the Hedonist Reader” in which I laid out pleasures that poetry gives us. I could mention some of them. There was the pleasure– I call it the pleasure of the dance, which was the pleasure of the rhythms of the poem and how they modulate and affect your reading of it. The pleasure of sound, some would define poetry as words that mean more and sound better.
The pleasure of travel, the pleasure of moving from one place in the poem to a different place, moving from a familiar place to an unfamiliar place, moving from Kansas to Oz. All right? Good metaphor for poems. You start in a very familiar place in Kansas and you end up in some wildly conceptual, unhinged places.
And then there was also the pleasure of metaphoric connection, of poets coming up with wild comparisons and the enjoyment of seeing a new synapse kind of opened in your mind between two very unlikely things. The other pleasure was the pleasure of, I call it, the pleasure of companionship that comes from memorization. To memorize a poem is to internalize it. And you take it with you wherever you go. If you hold– if you hold onto it, memorize it, it becomes a companion.
Poetry is about time and especially what I would call the romance of time. And that’s just another way of saying carpe diem. The romance of time means we’re running out of it. All right? So and that’s– and so much poetry is a call to action– all right– and saying, live more. You know, get with it. Get your head out of the screen now, that kind of thing. Plunge in.
Let imagination lead the way
Known for his wit and wisdom, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins is one of America’s most beloved contemporary poets. In his MasterClass, Billy teaches you to appreciate the emotional pull of poetry. Learn his approach to exploring subjects, incorporating humor, and finding your voice. Discover the profound in the everyday, and let poetry lead you to the unexpected.
LESSON PLAN
01. Introduction: The Pleasure Poetry Gives Us
Meet your new instructor: Billy Collins, one of the most popular and prolific poets of our time. In your first lesson, Billy introduces the many pleasures of poetry and illuminates how poetry connects you to the history of the human heart.
02. Working With Form
Billy teaches you how to use form to win the love of your readers, an audience of strangers.
03. Discovering the Subject
In poetry, you can do anything and go anywhere. Learn how to embrace the freedom of poetry to embark on explorations of subject, progression, and the balance of clarity and mystery.
04. Writing the Poem
Billy teaches practical exercises that will galvanize your writing process.
05. Writing Process
Billy shares his personal notebooks and gives rare insight into the process of writing his poem “Grand Central.”
06. Reading: Connecting With Poetry
A poem is not a cookbook. Learn how embracing nuance and ambiguity can be your greatest ally when reading poetry.
07. Discussion With Marie Howe: Emily Dickinson
Billy invites acclaimed poet and friend Marie Howe to read and discuss Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” Learn how Dickinson’s creative use of capitalization builds an entire world out of a state of mind.
08. Discussion With Marie Howe: William Shakespeare
Billy and Marie discuss how the speaker in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73” uses metaphor to bid a final farewell to his beloved.
09. Sound Pleasures
Learn the tools beyond rhyme and meter that Billy utilizes to achieve a musical, toe-tapping kind of joy in his poetry.
10. Playing a Visible Game
Billy is a self-proclaimed “terrible rhymer.” Learn one of his techniques for capturing a reader’s attention without relying on rhymed or metered poetry.
11. Turning a Poem
Billy teaches you how to harness the imaginative flexibility of a poem, turning it in new directions to be playful with your reader.
12. Discussion With Marie Howe: “What the Living Do”
Learn how what began as a letter to her brother became one of Marie’s most acclaimed poems with “What the Living Do.”
13. Discussion With Marie Howe: “The Death of the Hat”
Billy and Marie unpack how Billy’s poem “The Death of the Hat” moves from being a poem about a hat to an elegy for his father.
14. Finding Your Voice: Influences
Your voice lies on the shelves of the library and the bookstore. Learn how reading the work of other poets will help develop your unique persona.
15. Finding Your Voice: Creating a Persona
Learn how to develop a distinctive persona for yourself, solving most issues around writing poetry.
16. Humor as a Serious Strategy
Billy shares how humor is an essential part of his persona and teaches you how to use humor in your poetry for serious reasons.
17. Student Discussion: “My (Muslim) Father Seizes the Thing on My Nightstand” by Sarah Iqbal
Learn how spacing and word repetition create tone in student Sarah Iqbal’s poem “My (Muslim) Father Seizes the Thing on My Nightstand.”
18. Student Discussion: “The Crash” by Paul Epland
Billy and student Paul Epland discuss point of view in “The Crash.” Learn how Billy’s suggestion to add three words helps with the turn in the poem.
19. Discussion With Marie Howe: Writing Poetry
According to Marie, “so much of writing is getting beyond the will.” Billy and Marie share practical exercises they use to get out of their heads and into their writing.
20. A Poet’s Journey
Billy invites you to join the club of poets who have been writing since the beginning of time.
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