In the early 1990s, Billy Collins became a major figure in the public imagination and, in the last ten years, has become arguably one of the most popular living poets in the United States, signing a six-figure book contract with Random House and being named as the 11th U.S. Poet Laureate in 2001. William Collins was born in New York City on March 22, 1941, to William Collins, an electrician, and Katherine Collins, a nurse. He was educated at College of the Holy Cross, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1963 and at the University of California, where he received his doctorate in English in 1971. That same year, Collins accepted a position as assistant professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, and his first collection, Pokerface, was released in 1977 by Kenmore, a very small press.

It was not until 1991, when Collins's third collection of...