Reading Task Overview
The United States Poet Laureate
For this unit, we will be reading poetry by the former United States Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Collins was the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001-2003. You can read about the Poet Laureate here:
The job of the Poet Laureate is described on the Library of Congress web site as follows:
“The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress serves as the nation’s official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.”
The Poet Laureate is paid $35,000 per year to promote poetry in the United States. So the U. S. government apparently feels that poetry holds some degree of value for our society.
Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems
(Parts 1 & 2)
by Billy Collins
We’ll be reading from Sailing Alone Around the Room. We are going to read about 3/4 of the book. The book is divided into 5 main parts. The first 4 parts are earlier books of poetry by Collins and the last part is New Poems.
Your first assignment is to read Parts 1 and 2 of the book. Please read the following parts:
- The Apple That Astonished Paris (Part 1)
- Questions About Angels (Part 2)
You will not need to read The Art of Drowning (which is Part 3) of the Billy Collins book.