Old Review of a Billy Collins Volume
Skewered
I will quite readily admit to having enjoyed a number of Billy Collins, but, upon some reflection, I have to say I enjoyed them in the same way I enjoyed Edward Lear's limericks when I was nine—that is, in a way that has nothing to do with poetry, but a great deal to do with being afraid of Poetry.
Billy Collins is a poet whose simplicity and easy charm acts as a prophylactic, "protecting" us from any poetry that is in some way challenging (and fertile), even while he acts as poetry's amiable goodwill ambassador.
I will quite readily admit to having enjoyed a number of Billy Collins, but, upon some reflection, I have to say I enjoyed them in the same way I enjoyed Edward Lear's limericks when I was nine—that is, in a way that has nothing to do with poetry, but a great deal to do with being afraid of Poetry.
Billy Collins is a poet whose simplicity and easy charm acts as a prophylactic, "protecting" us from any poetry that is in some way challenging (and fertile), even while he acts as poetry's amiable goodwill ambassador.
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